He told me to tell you that
KEN ANSELL
Ihave a friend who is dying, and we talk on the phone almost every week. I will ask, “How are you doing?” My friend replies with, “Oh, not very good but praise the Lord.” I know a lot of people say things like this, but my friend means it. I’m not sure I know a more sincere Christ-follower. After the latest phone conversation with my friend, I had to pause and take one of those “What’s important in life inventories.” If it was a test, I did not pass. I’ve shared that I meet with a small group of people during the week for a discipleship event. We typically have “snacks” (the Blonde’s favorite word—no kidding) and prior to the phone call I had been thinking about what “snacks” to add to the snack bowls. It’s not that snacks are bad (ask Jennifer) but Chick-O-Stick seems like a silly thing to think about when people are dying. Priorities matter. Distractions are a challenge. Keeping the main thing the main thing is hard. Blah, blah, blah. Somewhere Jesus is shaking His head. In many ways we have one job and when I get caught up with the things that don’t really matter, I hear Jesus saying, “Kenny, you have one job. Do it!”
It’s not that the church has a mission, it’s that God has a mission, and He has included His church in that mission. The mission is to tell other people about His love, His goodness, and the freedom they can experience through the forgiveness of their sins.
It’s a joy to share how people can be included in this mission and live daily with purpose no longer guessing why they are here, where do they fit and what they should be doing with their life. If people accept the Good News of Jesus Christ when they approach their own death bed they can be like my friend, “I’m not doing very good but God is good.”
What is it that keeps you from allowing your relationship with the Lord to be a priority? Why is Sunday morning just another day for some people that claim to know and love Jesus? And listen, it’s not that I have to go to church (well, I do but you don’t) but rather I get to go to church. Actually, it’s that I get to go and worship the one, true living God.
Jesus is alive today and He’s preparing a place for me in Heaven where at some point in the future I’m going to join Him and live forever in a place that has no more sorrow, no more sickness and no more sin.
Between today and my final day I want to be all about Jesus (mostly because I love Him and want to please Him more than anything) because not only is Jesus preparing a room (John 14:2-3) for me in Heaven right now but one day I will stand before Him as judge (2 Timothy 4:1).
One of our goals should be to stand before Judge Jesus and be “presented as mature (all grown up in Him) in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).
I don’t know about you, but it takes everything I’ve got to work towards this spiritually grown-up version of little Kenny Ansell. Chick-O-Stick is good, but I can’t let it get in my way.
One day because of the way I served I want to hear, “Good job! You did it! Welcome home, good and faithful servant (my paraphrase of Matthew 25:23)!”
He told me to tell you that.
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