We tried a new church yesterday (and are pretty sure it will become our new church home).  It was very “un-churchy” which captured our hearts right away.  It was real.  It was relaxed. It was casual. It felt like home.

We heard a great talk on the difference between being passive followers of Jesus and being active followers of Jesus that are spreading His reputation, His love and His accessibility with other people.

It was based on the story of the the four men who were so intent on bringing a paralyzed man to see Jesus, to experience His love and healing power, that they gurneyed up their friend and lowered Him through the roof of the very crowded room of people.  They did whatever it took to make it happen.  They gave their time, their strength, their resources.  They demonstrated their love for this man by bringing him to the one place, the one PERSON they knew he needed to meet.

(Read the whole story in Mark 2:1-12)

It got me to thinking….

Are we doing whatever it takes to introduce people to the Life-Changer, our Hero, our Savior, our Friend?

I have a MacBook Pro.   It is, of course, an Apple product.

I would venture to say that nearly everyone  on this planet knows what Apple products are.  The name is familiar and the reputation well known.

But there are still a lot of people who haven’t experienced a MacBook or an iPhone or the countless other products in the Apple line.

If someone asked these people, “Do you know about Apple?”, their response would be “yes”.  If someone then asked them, “Have you heard its reputation?”, the answer, again, would be “yes”.

But if you said, “Do you own an Apple product?”, there are still many out there who would say, “no”.

Those of us who have a MacBook know that once you’ve tried it, you never want to go back to a PC.  We know more than its name and reputation.  We know how it works.  How user-friendly it is.  And we love it.

Most of the people who inhabit this earth have heard Jesus’ name.  They’ve heard stories about Him.  They know His name. They’re familiar with His reputation.

But there are still a lot of people out there who haven’t ever experienced Him – His love, His grace, His forgiveness, His healing, His companionship and friendship.

There are many reasons and unfortunately  many of those reasons have to do with those of us who DO know Jesus firsthand.

Maybe we brag about the “product” with terms that are foreign to the “non-user”.  Maybe we carry our “product” around as if we are better than others that haven’t tried it yet.  Maybe we DON’T talk about it at all.  Maybe we think that Jesus is just our own personal business and that we don’t need to share Him with others – that they’ll figure it out on their own.

None of those scenarios are accurate.  In fact, they are all dead wrong.

Owning a MacBook Pro doesn’t make me a better person.  It just means I have discovered and experienced a great product.  And it has changed my life. 🙂

The same is true of  Jesus.

I am always telling others of my love for my MacBook Pro.  I want them to experience the same things I have.

Am I doing the same thing with my love for Jesus?  Am I bringing my friends “through the roof” to come meet Jesus? Am I introducing them to the “product” I can’t live without?  Am I taking the knowledge they have of a name and reputation and helping them expand it to a relationship?

I really, truly hope so….

Psalm 96:3 – Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.