Life on Mission - SHARE

Psalm 49:1-3, 7

Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in the world, both low and high, rich and poor alike: My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give understanding…No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—that he should live on forever and not see decay.

I can't really remember the day someone shared Jesus with me. I know that I heard about Him in religion classes at the Catholic School I attended.  I knew all the interesting stories that children's picture Bibles illustrated. But, I was well into adulthood before it started to mean something to me. And even then, it was a slow process. 

Perhaps it is that way with most of us.  The happenings of life begin to shape us, they instill an attitude of rebellion or repentance. Usually rebellion happens before repentance - at least in my case it worked that way. 

The way I encountered Jesus tells me that perhaps I am not alone. I mentioned that it was a slow process. I had to experience pain and tragedy before I thought that maybe there was something to the concept of pursuing a personal relationship with Jesus.  It was for certain the relationships I formed to that point weren't helping me find peace or hope.

Psalm 49:15

But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself.

I cannot point to the specific day or date when it all began to make sense, but I do know it all began because someone cared enough to challenge my stubborn way of thinking. This person, a woman I did not even like to be around, invited me to church and kept after me until I went. That was all she had to do. The Holy Spirit took over and the rest is history.

God redeemed my life from the grave, all because one woman had the courage to SHARE, then she moved into the background of my life and allowed the Holy Spirit to take over.

The Story - Chapter 5 - Exodus 24

Human nature gets blamed for many of the ills of this world. We attribute disobedience and rebellion as the path to maturity. When our children act out we are not surprised but shrug our shoulders and say, “kids will be kids.” As our offspring mature and enter adolescence they step up the revolt and may experiment with drugs, alcohol or sex and still our response is, “they need to get it out of their systems.”

When Moses was given the Law by God he then communicated to God’s people those decrees and explained the expectations. The people willingly complied and assured Moses they understood all he had said to them.

Exodus 24:3 (MSG)
“So Moses went to the people and told them everything GOD had said—all the rules and regulations. They all answered in unison: "Everything GOD said, we'll do."

Moses worked with the people, explaining the Book of the Covenant. He made certain they understood what God demanded of them regarding worship. Moses prepared the people, telling them all God had told him, so if they did not understand or agree, they should speak up and ask questions.

Exodus 24:7 (MSG)
“Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it as the people listened. They said, "Everything GOD said, we'll do. Yes, we'll obey."

When we are ‘in the moment’, we make promises which at the time seem reasonable. We are confident we can fulfill our words. Our minds cannot even conjure up a scenario where we would not do as we said we would. The possibility of rescinding a promise does not enter into the equation. Then it happens, our world is shaken, or an event takes place that shatters our security and we forget.

It becomes so important to take care of ourselves, we ignore others. Our sinful human nature takes over. The fact we can turn on a dime like this is reason to keep close to God. It sounds trite and seems unproductive, but when tragedy strikes or catastrophe occurs, it is the relationship with our God that will remain constant. It is the hand of God that will guide, protect and comfort us during the storm.

Read Exodus 24 here

Listen to Exodus 24 here