What are you willing to do ? ? ?

That was my question to our students this past Sunday evening. The question actually went something like – what are you willing to do to get someone to Christ? This questions stems from the scripture in Mark 2:1-12. If you have been in church for any length of time, this is a familiar story. This is the story of four men who brought a man to Jesus but could not get into the house where He was teaching. These men had brought someone to Jesus so that his legs could be healed because he could not walk. Since they could not get into the house because of such a large crowd, they changed to a more radical plan – they tore the roof off and lowered the man down into the room where Jesus was teaching. They did what ever it took to get this man to Jesus.

My question to our students was, once again, what would they do to get someone to Jesus? Sometimes I think that we will do whatever it takes as long as it fits in our schedule, or it’s not to inconvenient. Yet the example set in the scripture involved hard work. Chances are it did not fit into their schedule, since this meeting happened when people found out that Jesus had returned. It was a spur of the moment, it brought about a change in plans. These men had an urgency about what they were doing, since they actually tore up someone’s house. It does not say in the scripture, but they probably had to repair the house after the man was healed. The point is that they were willing to do whatever it took to get this man to Jesus.

So, once again – what are you willing to do? Are you willing to invite someone week after week until they say yes? Are you willing to get others involved to get that one person to Jesus? Are you willing to pick-up the tab for lunch to get them to church? Are you willing to change your schedule, to be inconvenienced, to work hard, to get someone to Christ? Are we willing as followers of Christ to set aside our personal preferences in order to see people accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord. What I truly believe is that when we get to the point of understanding that what we are called to do has nothing to do with us and everything to do with Jesus, we will do whatever it takes to get people to Jesus.

The mission that we have been called to do, is the last words spoken by Jesus to His followers in Matthew 28:19-20. These are the marching orders of the believer. The work is laid out before us. So my question to you is – what are you willing to do?

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and do what ever it takes to get them to Jesus.