This is a long post and is part of an email I got last week. It was about christmas cards and living water and then took a turn which at first read I didnt know where it was going about Christianity. It worth the read. These wells require some upkeep. If the water was completely free, the villagers would be more likely to blow off the maintenance, because they wouldn’t have any skin in the game. Makes sense, right? It’s the same reason why you perhaps charge your building prospects for designs. If something’s free, we’re much less likely to respect it. We don’t see it as valuable. Charity: water figured that out, and it makes their projects more successful. That’s not an Ethiopian way of thinking. Or an American way. Or a first-world way. It’s just how we -- people -- think. That’s one of the problems with Jesus. Christianity’s sales pitch doesn’t seem to make sense. It goes against human nature. That’s because, unlike other religions, Christianity starts with a free gift. No upfront fee required. Imagine you’ve got a touch of insomnia. You stumble into the living room and flip on the TV. Up comes an infomercial, and this is what you hear: God loves you. God is perfect. You and I sin. We screw up. We don’t like to admit it, but it’s true. God wants us to be with Him for eternity (because of #1). Problem: If we, with our sin, hang out with a perfect God, our imperfection rubs off on Him. It’s like having one bacteria get into a sterile operating room. It’s still pretty darn clean, but it only takes one blip to make it not sterile. To make a wrong into a right, someone has to pay. Any kindergartner knows that. And the same goes with God. So sin (from #3) has to be addressed. Solution: God sends Jesus, his perfect son, as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus pays the price (from #6) to make it right. The Result? God is still perfect and we can still joyously live with Him for eternity – through no effort of our own. How’s that for the late night infomercial pitch? Your B.S. detector would be redlining, right? You get the BEST gift ever – free, eternal life in paradise with a God who loves you – and no purchase necessary? No “just pay shipping and handling” fine print? Yeah, I think I’ll pass. After all, there’s got to be a catch. This can be especially hard for business owners to stomach. In your business, you can catch breaks. Some sales are easier than others. Some meetings just flow like you want. But most days, you’re having to work for it -- hard. There’s no free lunch. You pay your dues. You work your tail off… … and THEN you get the reward. But Christianity gets the whole thing backwards. You get the free gift first. Then your life starts to look different because of the transformation that happens because you got that free gift. Anything worth having in life is worth working for. - Andrew Carnegie If you’ve built a business or a career worth having, there’s probably part of you that rightfully distrusts a promise of something for free. That’s why I think non-Christian religions have an easier sales pitch. Just like the clean-water projects we’re helping to fund, it’s easier to require some investment before you let someone into the club. But someone ALWAYS has to pay. Someone always has to work for it. Christianity doesnt disagree. In fact, in Christianity, someone did work and pay the ultimate price. It’s just not you or me. Jesus picked up the tab for us to have eternal life with a God who loves us. The only thing we have to do is... accept it. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. - Romans 10:13 Simple as that. Just believe. The offer is there waiting for you and me, with open arms.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 13:07:13 +0000
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