How far are you willing to go?

“…urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people.” Jude 1:3

Awhile back Steph and I went to breakfast with some friends. They know that our faith is very important to us and we had a nice discussion about it and why we follow Christ. After talking with them about our walk they began to talk about how they do believe in Jesus and what He did for us. Their problem was with the church and the problems that it faces. Both of them were raised in the church and once they got to a certain age they stopped going for all types of reasons. To this day they still have not found a church that they are willing to try out. I do trust that the Lord will send them when they are ready. We are able to talk about prayer with them quite frequently and they do check in with us to see how the prayers are being answered. I do pray for them though that they are able to find a family like we have to strengthen their faith and they will see the church the way Christ intended it to be. These friends are some of the nicest people that any of us will ever meet and have two of the biggest hearts that I have ever encountered.

Well after the meal, the bill came and I took the check to pay for the meal. They have done so much for us, it was the least I could do to show them our appreciation for all they have done. This is were it gets interesting. Our friend decides that he is going to pay the bill and under no terms was I going to pay. I proceeded to get up and go pay for the bill and he follows me to the register. As I walk up there he reminds that he is a sinner, just like you and me, and he has no problem raising a fuss in order to pay for this meal. I told him that it did not matter to me what he did I was buying breakfast. After this he proceeded to tell me that it did not matter to him if they had to call the police he was going to pay for breakfast and he was serious. He then proceeds to tell the waitress that it is going to get ugly if he is not able to pay for this meal. Well push came to shove he ended up paying for the meal. I have been able to return the favor since then, but it is usually a fight.

The part that sticks with me to this day about this whole experience is he was willing to put it all on the line for a simple meal. Are we willing to put it all on the line? We have something more than just a meal in Christ. Are we willing to go to the ends of the earth to defend the faith he has entrusted to his holy people? How far are you willing to go to defend the very thing that we strive to center our entire lives on? Are we willing to go head to head with a good friend over a ten dollar meal because he believes that he should pay for it?

God Bless,

Rick