He Couldn’t Stop Talking About What He Loved
I remember the first time I learned about fly-fishing. I knew of fly-fishing in general, though I had never actually seen it in real life. Then I met Chuck Farneth. This guy was crazy about fly-fishing. It’s almost all he talked about. If you spent two minutes with him, he’d find a way to turn the conversation to fly-fishing. He tied his own lures (called “flies”), loved leading father-son trips, and he has spent all day standing in the river in the same spot hunting down “the’big one” (even skipping food because “you can eat any time, you can’t fish any time”). What I found most interesting about his passion was how he would practice his casting for an hour a day, in the street, in front of his house. There’s nothing stranger than seeing a guy fishing the pavement for an hour in the evening, but he didn’t care; he was that dedicated to improving his craft, because he was crazy about fly-fishing.
When you are passionate about something, you can’t keep from telling others about it. Everyone around you will know about it. This is part of what Jesus was hinting at when he described his followers as salt and light in Matthew 5:13-16. The disciples were to spread the message of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world, just like salt is meant to be spread around and light can’t keep from shining. This message is so important to Jesus that they are also some of the last words he gave to his disciples: go and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). As a result, the central task of the church is to continue this mission of telling the world about the hope we have in Jesus. If you know Him and if He has changed your life, you can’t keep from telling others about what He has done in your life!
Sunday we took a step of faith to come down front and grab a copy of a simple Gospel booklet, a short outline of the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. First I asked that everyone take time to read it. Second I asked that everyone pray every morning for God to open a door for you to talk with someone about your faith. You don’t have to use the booklet, there are many ways to share your faith, but if you pray every day this week for an opportunity, there’s a good chance God will open a door.
This Sunday we will have time dedicated during the service to hear what doors God opened in our church during the week. If you had a chance to talk about your faith with someone this week, we want to hear about it! May God answer each of our prayers this week and open a door for us to talk about the hope we have in Jesus. This is our mission as a church and this is our passion.