Un Challenge...

Someone once said to me that reading the Bible can sometimes be like chewing dry Weetabix... At first I was shocked, HOW could you say this about the living Word of God?? Then I realised, they weren't saying it about the living Word of God, they were talking about the lethargic mind of man(kind). If I was perhaps REALLY honest, I could even relate.

There are days when the Bible reading can be hard work, yet there are also days when you have to read a chunk ten times because it has jumped out of the page to hit you like Pinky Punky might have on Wack-a-day in the '80's!! Oh yes, Timmy Mallet!! (What an idiot...) *INTERLUDE* I have just discovered that you can actually buy a Pinky Punky mallet from the gadget shop online!!! SHRIEK!! ***

Anyway, back to the point. As you may well have guessed by now, it happened to me t'other day when I was reading 2 Corinthians 5. Check this out:

11 "Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. 12 Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. 13 If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. 14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

How much do I want to have a sincere heart rather than brag about a spectacular ministry?? How much easier is it to talk to my friends at Uni about turning the Odeon cinema into a 2000 seater auditorium to make church sound cool, than it is to talk about how much I personally love Jesus, how I talk to Him and He talks to me, how I pray and worship and go to church for Him, not as a 'do-gooder'.

How much is this true in the rest of my life? We are always out to impress so much (build a spectacular 'ministry of self') - I get upset when people assume that I'm really unintelligent (is that a word?! DOH!) and when they seem genuinely shocked if they happen to find out that I did well at school. But what does this really matter? I would prefer to be known as someone who loves and someone with a sincere heart. It is all too easy to name-drop if we know someone famous, or to exaggerate our own successes, but people see through it.

We have no less than a 'fearful responsibility to the Lord' to tell people about Him. Fearful!! That means serious!! I mustn't faff around any longer chatting about big events or the latest Christian insight into 'coolness'. It is time to look at the truth and speak with a sincere heart.