Kissing Frogs

My Dad was a little league football coach for many years in the 1970's and 80's. Before many of the games he coached he would deliver the following pep talk to his 8-11 year old players: Football is supposed to be fun. And the best way to have fun on a football field is to hit somebody. So get out there- and HIT somebody!!!"

Jesus gave similar pep talks. He told his disciples and followers over and over again that God is love, and that our main task is to help people connect to that love. He wanted the lost and the lonely- the ragamuffins- to know that the grace and forgiveness of God was meant for them. He left little doubt as to the best way for us to do that- get out there and LOVE somebody!!! But too often we try to make God's love and power an intellectual exercise. It is much easier to talk about than to demonstrate. Witness the following account from Lois Cheney's classic 1969 devotional book God Is No Fool:

A woman came from seeing a religious movie. She was moved by it. She thought of the technicolor wonders of God. She mused on the stereophonic destruction of evil.  All the way home she thought and thought. Before she fell asleep she told her husband about the movie, and said, "It really made you think."

A young man went to church after a long, too long absence. The minister spoke of the Love of God and the Grace of God. The young man was troubled and he was stirred. That evening, as he kissed his girlfriend good-night, he told her about the sermon and said, "It really made you think."

A grown man read his Bible everyday. He read of the Love of God, the Need for God, the Hope of God and the Promises of God. He would read late into the night. At breakfast he would tell his wife why he had stayed up so late. He would tell her about the wonders of scripture, and he would say, "It really makes you think."

Could it be that the loneliest book in the Bible

is the book called "ACTS?"

Jesus told us to take care of one another, to love one another, to feed the hungry, to give hope to the hopeless and offer grace and forgiveness to our neighbors. When asked, "Who is my neighbor?" he told the parable of The Good Samaritan, which illustrated that everyone is our neighbor. To do these things, we have to "get out there and hit someone!" We have to SHOW people God's love, not just tell them about it. Now I don't know about you, but it seems to me like there are a lot of folks in this world who are not easy to love. They are not yet princes; they are still frogs. Yet Jesus calls on us to love them as they are, not as we wish they were, because that is the love He offers us. We are all frogs until we experience the love and grace that Jesus brings us. 

So what is our task as Christians? It's simple. We are called to kiss frogs! Now get out there and KISS someone! Have a blessed Sunday...

Because of Jesus,