31 Mar

The Loss of a Great Idea

posted by Andrew Hebert

Do you remember the first time you went on a rope swing over a river or a lake? I remember the first time I ever used one. All of my friends were egging me on, daring me to swing out over the water and let go of the rope. All of the older kids had already done it, and it looked easy enough until…I actually had to do it. I remember holding the rope, swinging back and going all the way to the edge, and then just as I was about to let go, fear got a hold of me, and I stayed on the shore. It looked scary out there over the water! But I remember the first time that I was willing to risk my life out there over the water, because death by rope swing was definitely better than living and enduring all of the jokes and scorn of my older friends for the rest of my life. I pulled all the way back and then swung out over the water, and even though it was scary, I let go of the rope. Then there was a moment of intense midair flailing and flying, followed by being swallowed up in the water where I was sure I was going to drown. But then I finally came up out of the water, and I realized it was the most awesome thing I’d ever done, and I couldn’t wait to do it again!

The Christian life is kind of like that rope swing. A lot of times, life is scary out over the water, and we are afraid to let go of our lives - the rope - and so we hold on. But as soon as we realize that we can no longer hang onto the rope and we let go and give our lives to God, even though it might be scary out there, we realize that we’ve found life like we never knew was out there. And we find that life was nothing before we gave it to God.

This week was Great Commission week at my college. We had a speaker who spoke on the importance of following Jesus’ command to share our faith everywhere we go. He brought up a very interesting point that I’ve never thought about before. He said the problem with churches and Christians today is that we’ve lost the concept of a great idea.

Have you ever thought about what motivated the terrorists on September 11, 2001, to hijack several planes and fly them into buildings in suicide missions? They had what was for them a great idea. Now I am in no way endorsing what they did, but it is interesting to note that they so believed in their cause, their “great idea,” that they were willing to give their very lives for it. How many Christians today would be willing to give their lives for our cause, our great idea – the command to go and make disciples of all nations? I think we aren’t willing to give our lives is because we value our lives more than we do the Gospel. We are afraid of losing our lives because we think that we are the most important part of our existence. We’ve lost sight of a great idea that supersedes the importance of individual lives. Instead of telling God that we will go and spread the Gospel wherever He sends us, even if it means that we may lose our lives in the process, we have gotten to the point where we won’t even share our faith with a neighbor because we value our reputation more than we do their eternal destiny.

Jesus said that in order to find our lives, we must first lose them (Luke 9:23-24). He says that we must take up our cross and follow Him. The Apostle Paul says that he dies daily and that he is crucified with Christ. That means simply that in order to follow Jesus, I must value Him more than I do myself. I die to myself so Christ can live through me (Galatians 2:20). Will I lose my life? Yes. Will I find my life? Yes!

Let go of the rope and live your life for God. Grasp the great idea of the Gospel and give yourself to it!

Filed in: Fear, Responding to God, Take action

About the Author

Andrew Hebert is a student at Criswell College. He enjoys reading, eating Mexican food, watching the Houston Astros, and listening to any kind of music. He and his wife, Amy, reside in Dallas and are expecting their first child in June.