A Dangerous Follower

A Dangerous Follower

It’s interesting that there was nothing said at our church last Sunday about it being Palm Sunday, but I still thought a lot about the arrival of Christ in Jerusalem the week before his crucifixion. I was reading John 12, and I came across something that I had probably seen but never noticed before.

In short, I want to be like Lazarus. Read these verses: “So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus” (John 12:10-11, NIV).

Imagine that your testimony or ministry were so strong that people wanted to kill you. Imagine that your teaching were so effective and your testimony so bold that so many people were believing in Jesus that people wanted to murder you for it. What a testimony! What a ministry!

Lazarus wasn’t just enjoying the blessings that Jesus had to offer him; he was living life full on for Jesus. He had every right to live like that. Jesus had saved him from death. He had called him out of the grave. He was no longer dead, but alive through Jesus Christ.

Isn’t that the same thing that we claim as Christians? Don’t we claim that Christ has rescued us from death? The life that we now live we no longer live in the flesh. We live it by the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.

But we choose to live in mediocrity, timidly accepting life as it comes. Or we oppose everyone and repel them. The people wanted to see and be with Lazarus.

Think about the show that Lazarus was. He was once dead. I mean, people would come from miles away to see him. And he was drawing all sorts of people to Christ because of his testimony.

What about us? What are we doing to cause a stir like Lazarus?

Image by: dtcch

St. Patrick the Missionary

St. Patrick the Missionary

Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He lived from 415 to the 470s (his death date is disputed), and he was a missionary who often referred to himself as a sinner. He had an enormous impact on both Ireland and the rest of Europe.

He was an evangelist who also worked to abolish slavery. In Patrick’s lifetime, the Irish slave trade ended.

An interesting fact about Patrick is that he never thought of himself as worthy or intelligent enough to minister. He was a humble man who was used by God.

The legend that is St. Patrick and the facts about his life have become mixed over the years, but there is no doubt about his missionary influence on Ireland. He was also an inspiration to many missionaries who followed him.

For more information, check out this article. Here’s an excerpt.

Patrick also became the model for later Celtic Christians. He engaged in continuous prayer. He was enraptured by God and loved sacred Scripture. He also had a rich poetic imagination with the openness to hear God in dreams and visions and a love of nature. Hundreds of Celtic monks, in emulation of Patrick, left their homeland to spread the gospel to Scotland, England, and continental Europe.

VIDEO: Churros

Here’s some video I took yesterday of our trip to El Moro in downtown Mexico City.