Holy Week and Beyond … Are You All In?
As Holy Week approaches, we have the sense of peering into the Holy of Holies where high priests long ago came into the presence of God on behalf of their people. In this week and those following, we remember the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Anointed One of God. It is a time set apart, a time to remember, to watch, and a time to worship. Remember who your high priest, leader, and Lord is. Remember what He has done to open the way into God’s presence. Remember His great love for you. Then rise to serve in His name. (from “Lead Like Jesus”)
This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 JOHN 4:10-11
Someone very dear to me recently let me skim/read one of her newest books, “All In’ by Mark Batterson; and I found a particular challenge by the author says it all. The inability to do nothing!” Isn’t that the standard Jesus set? He single-handedly turned the temple upside down and inside out by turning over tables and tossing out money changers. He confronted the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. He exorcised an evil spirit from a man possessed by demons. And He stopped a funeral procession in its tracks by raising a boy from the dead.
Jesus was anything but passive. He was the epitome of passion. In fact, the last week of His life is called “Passion Week.” So regardless of personality type, His followers ought to be the most passionate people on the planet. Going ‘all in’ means defying religious protocol for the sake of God-ordained passions – like the most famous party crasher of all time who broke open her bottle of perfume to anoint Jesus’ feet.
When will we realize that indecision is a decision? When will we come to terms with the fact that inaction is an action? The church was never meant to be a noun. And when it turns into a noun, it becomes a turn-off. The church was meant to be a verb – an action verb. So … are you all in?
Blessings,
John Meeuwissen, Lay Leader