²⁵ God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. ²⁶ This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. ²⁷ For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

Colossians 1:25-27

Dear God, Jesus lives in me. This gives me assurance of sharing his glory. That’s the secret, according to Paul. That’s the secret to share with people. Everyone, everywhere.

I had a couple of interesting exchanges with two different people yesterday. One was with a woman I greatly respect and admire. The conversation rolled around to the Olympics and the little sketch that was done at the opening ceremony seemingly mocking the Leonardo DaVinci’s representation of the Last Supper, with drag queens playing the roles of Jesus and the disciples. I told her I was disappointed in the global church’s response to them. It was outrage and disdain. “How dare they?!?” But I don’t think that is how Jesus would have reacted. Basically, they were inviting a Christian response into their lives. They were hoping for outrage and disdain, and that is what they got. But what if we had taken that opportunity to say, “What a great reminder that was of what Jesus was doing the night before he gave everything for all of us, including the wonderful people in that sketch! I hope they will know that he is God and the peace they are looking for.” How might those words have touched one of them.

The other conversation is with a friend who is an atheist. I suggested he read the book I’ve talked a lot about over the last few months, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, by A.J. Jacobs. He emailed me yesterday to say he finished it. He came to a lot of the same conclusions I came to with the exception of believing in you. Maybe one day you can introduce yourself to him through me or someone else. Maybe you’ve planted a seed that will fester. Or maybe nothing will change. It certainly won’t change how much I love and care about this friend.

Father, help me to share your Good News today. I know I’ll be having dinner with some people I don’t know well, and I believe most or all of them worship you and love you. But I still want to be who you want me to be for them. I also want them to be what you want them to be for me. I am sure I have much to learn from them. From what I can tell, they are good people. So with everything I do today, help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and love my neighbor as myself. For your glory, oh Lord, not mine.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen