Join me today over at Do Not Depart where I’m sharing a post as part of our month about adoption. Adoption: It’s a joint effort. You’ll find out what
part the Father, Son, and Spirit play in our adoption. Take a look and leave with fresh confidence that you are so loved! It’s a small glimpse into the great book of Galatians.
What does it take to cause a ripple? Are ripples only from smart people? People with money? Attractive people? Well traveled people? Winners? What does it take to be an influence?
Today I’m starting a study group using Carol Kent’s Becoming a Woman of Influence: Making a Lasting Impact on Others.
Jesus wasn’t anything especially unique to look at, as men of the Galilee region went. “For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:2-3).
No majestic. Not beautiful. Despised by other people. And yet He created ripples that changed the world and, thankfully, my life. He used people like Anna Ruth, Mary Ellen, Carol, Wanda, and Gretchen to start the ripples that touched my life and changed me. Are you touching anyone? Maybe we can make some ripples in His name to touch more people.
It doesn’t take someone extraordinary to start a ripple, just someone willing to use their pebble.
Would you toss a pebble right now by clicking on this window of Compassion (if reading on a phone, click the Compassion link) and offer a single prayer for a child needing to be touched by a ripple of living water?
Do you remember singing the song “Jesus is the sweetest name I know?” Well, in a lot of the world, people don’t think the name of our Savior is sweet or even welcome in their culture. In some places, use of His name can get you stoned, deported, or arrested. It hurts my heart to know that in some of the world He came to die for, “Jesus” is a dirty word.
“So how do we talk about Jesus online if we have to hide His name?”
We don’t have to hide His name, but we have to be thoughtful about how, when, and in what way we use it. This is nothing new. The world knows that there is POWER in the precious name of Jesus. Romans agrees with Old Testament words about the Christ when God said, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” (Romans 9:33). Jesus still offends people, though He is just what the world needs.
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
How can we talk about Jesus to other believers online (or even in person) without robbing them of their freedom to share Him? We aren’t trying to eliminate persecution, because we know we won’t. We aren’t trying to make living the Christian life easy, because we know it’s not. But we want to speak “love” to people in words they understand and behave in a manner that conveys Christ-like consideration.
I never want my careless communication to be the cause of having missionary friends ejected from their country of ministry or the cause of spoiling their influence. We must remember that the worldwide web is … worldwide. Our Facebook friends are NOT the only ones listening. Jeff recently posted a picture of one of our national partners; a handful of our Facebook friends “liked” it, but several hundred national friends of the friend “liked” it within the first day. To post online is to communicate publicly and globally.
visualbiblealive.com
(Notice these are not original with me … God gave them to us.)
We want to keep the doors of hearts open in our own communities and in those of our missionary friends, so many will hear and believe in the one name that promises salvation. After all, for all the nations there will be a day when:
It IS the sweetest name I know! Let’s share it in such a way that people call on Him, put their faith in Him, and claim Him as their Lord.
Next week we’ll look at another dirty word, and this one has YOUR NAME written all over it.
