Almost every morning in the office I see a lineup of mugs with hot water in them. This very serious stretch of winter has impacted the temperatures in our kitchen cabinets and consequently the temperature of every mug stored in them. It can be a bit disconcerting to pour a cup of hot coffee or tea, only to have it be lukewarm when you arrive at your desk. Solution? heat the mug before you pour in the good stuff.
Jesus dispatched His disciples on a similar path when He instructed them to move into the cities and villages to show compassion for the broken and the lost. Our Lord uses us to ?warm the mug? so that the impact of the gospel finds a receptive place. Our authentic and loving relationships create a place where the truth of God?s unconditional love finds companionship and credence.
The final words of Christ to His followers bring clarity to this concept. He said:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses. ~ Acts 1:8 (ESV)
Our lives invite others to accept the powerful, transforming, blistering hot glory of the gospel. We get the mug ready. He, by His Spirit, actually uses us to bring cold and empty lives to a place where the Gospel is Good News.
Jesus knows just how cold the cabinet is. He knows that a sterile presentation of the facts typically isn’t the way that “lifelong followers” are birthed. So He instructs us and equips us to be an agent of change; individuals that heat the mug so that the “good stuff,” the real stuff, the only stuff that really matters, finds an embrace.
There are a lot of cold mugs in the cabinet, by His grace, in His mercy He uses me. Not to convince, but to radiate.
…in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
For the sake of the “Good Stuff.”
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