We Laughed Until We Cried

Our youngest daughter got us a game for Christmas called Speak Out.  Believe it or not, we were just able to play it for the first time this week.  Through January-February I had been sick, and then time got away from us in March and April.  As you might imagine, I have been anxiously waiting for a time when we were together without anyone being sick, so we could play it.

If you are not familiar with this game, let me explain it.  It comes with adult and kid-sized plastic spreaders for your mouth.  Once inserted, you have to try to speak non-sensical phrases and get your partner to guess them.  To picture it, imagine you are sitting in a dentist chair having a root canal and trying to talk.

We literally laughed until we cried.  It was so much fun and so hilarious to try to figure out what we were each saying.  As a side note, I must say that I had to switch from the adult size to the kid size because of my tiny little mouth. (Okay, nobody believes that’s the reason, but I’m sticking to it.)

Like this game, I wonder if sometimes when we try to get the word out about Jesus and the Good News of salvation for all, our message comes out kind of like the garbled words of this game—misunderstood and sounding like non-sense to unbelievers.

This is a real problem.  If we cannot accurately and clearly convey the joyous news that Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead—for each one of us, so that we may have eternal life with God—far too many of us will continue to reject that fact.  And still many others, will live unaware of it.

We have got to remove the obstacles that are preventing our ability to get this message out, and, honestly, some of those obstacles come from us, sometimes without us even realizing it.

Obstacles that get in the way of proclaiming Christ as we have been reading about Paul and the others in the Acts of the Apostles, can sometimes come out of fear.  Jesus speaks about fear in today’s reading from the Gospel of John, Chapter 14, as well:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

We learn a few verses later in the same gospel, from Jesus that, “the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”

Can we say the same thing?

We must acknowledge in addition to fear, another obstacle is our feelings of inadequacy.  The “I don’t know enough” excuse is often cited.  But the truth is, if you know Jesus, through your prayer life and practice of faith, then you probably know much more than you think you do.  Certainly, you know enough to begin to speak of your personal belief in Christ.

Another obstacle we have standing in the way of our ability to proclaim Christ to this generation, is our desire to fit in with the crowd, to not appear prudish, or to be an outsider.

These may not be obstacles we often think of, and for most of us (if we are not missionaries), they are far from what Paul experienced when he was stoned and dragged out of the city, but here’s the thing:

Paul kept doing what he knew needed to be done, regardless.  By his proclamation, scripture tells us he made a “considerable number of disciples” and he was able to accomplish his work because he had been “commended to the grace of God.”

Who among us will speak out today and “persevere in faith” so that we and others may “enter the Kingdom of God” knowing we have done all we could?

Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.blogspot.com
janetcassidy.blubrry.net