The most recent upload of our podcast (Episode 181 The Great What If) concerns a study by Barna revealing the large percentage of Christians who are afraid to share their faith out of concern they might offend the person to whom they're talking. Since you can listen to the podcast, I won't invest any more time in explanations.
However, after that podcast was "in the can" and ready for release, the Holy Spirit woke me up in the middle of the night with a question that was so plainly spoken, I thought it was an audible voice: "What about the other 'What if?'"
"The other 'What if?' What do you mean?"
"The good 'What if?'"
Shaking the sleep away, I kept asking, "What do you mean?" Suddenly, the answer appeared in my mind like a flashing neon sign: What if people who claim to be my followers got really serious about that calling? What if they lived the kinds of lives that caused the space between what they read in the Bible and what they experience in their day-to-day lives to become indistinguishable? What if they started living the first half of Matthew 19:27 instead of the second half?"
That question really threw me, so I found my glasses and the Bible app on my cell phone and looked it up. Peter was talking to Jesus. The first half of the verse: "We've given up everything to follow you." The second half: "So what will we get?"
Ouch!
As I considered the sting of that statement, and wondered whether this was a dream or one of those 1st Samuel 3 kinds of events, I thought about how much we (and by "we," I mean me) are like Peter. We're looking for God's quid pro quo formula. "God, I'll do this, this, and this for you. What are you going to do in return for me?" I'm pretty sure God frowns on that kind of bartering.
What if, instead of bartering, we really did start completely trusting Jesus regarding our finances? What if we really did start praying with and for people as one of the principle activities of our day? What if we became as concerned about inviting people into God's Forever Family as we are about the win-loss record of our favorite sports team?
What if this very day, we really did make Jesus first in everything we do? God, what might happen?
The answer came back loud and clear: "Miracles, Bear. Miracles. My Word is full of them. And the greatest miracle of all is redemption of lost souls. Want to see miracles? Ask me. Trust me. Walk in my ways, instead of yours."
The possibilities of this "What if?" are so glorious I can barely keep the smile from my face. How about you? But we have to step out of the hypothetical and into, "Here am I, Lord. Send me." What if we really did that?
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