Preface: This Post is only a few months old....and is still posted on October 2....but I wanted to bring it up front....if for no other reason than to answer a question that you may have had.....'why do I keep on pumping out these posts?' Folks....it's been forty years....and I still....'gotta tell somebody....gotta tell somebody....what Jesus did for me!'
I often wear a pendant around my neck. It's is silver....and quite frankly reminds me of a fancy fishing lure....with all the curves that sparkle and flash. It was a gift many years ago....and has two words etched on the back....PRESS ON. Now Paul wrote that saying in his letter to the Philippians....3:14....."I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus".....but I have to confess that at the time I was given this pendant for around the neck....I chose those words from the mouth of Thomas Jonathan 'Stonewall' Jackson.....for that is the command with which he would motivate his 'foot calvary.' Either way the meaning is the same....keep on going no matter what.
Let me use this as an example. Somehow you have come up with or discovered some vegetable drink concoction that is amazing. It's almost as if you have energy superpowers. Now being the nice and caring person that you are....you tell as many people as you can about the drink. This might go on for years....and you might become known as the guy who is always talking about that concoction....so the thrill lessens....maybe even becoming a negative for your reputation....consequently your hyping of the concoction lessens also. Or another example....maybe you found a way to play the slot machines....or a surefire investment scheme on Wall Street....whatever....you become a volunteer salesman simply for the good of the people....but it lessens with time and maybe even goes away?
With evangelicals....forty or fifty years ago....it was a similar situation....yet totally different....when we were given eternal salvation.....and just had to tell somebody. In fact Don Francisco had a song of that title.....I pulled it up right now and I'm listening to it....Got To Tell Somebody. It's a rather long ballad on how Jesus healed a little girl....but the lyrics go on and on at the end as the tempo and crescendo increases....
I got to tell somebody
I got to tell somebody
I got to tell somebody
I got to tell somebody!
I got to tell somebody!!
I got to tell somebody, got to tell somebody!
What Jesus did for me!
Folks this....proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ....isn't some health drink or money making scheme....(although unfortunately it is with some professing Christians)....and not only that....it is not of man himself. The gift of salvation was a miracle. Why you? Why me? So that you and me can go out an tell somebody! When the difficulties come we don't have the option of quitting. We didn't choose this....God chose us! This desire to tell others is not born in the flesh as it would be with the health drink concoction! This is all of God....the healing and the thankfulness and the zeal.....everything!
And there is another difference....you see Satan doesn't care when you push a health drink or an investment scheme....or anything....and he has no reason at all to bother you.....but start making inroads with the gospel on his territory....and you are going to have all hell come against you! Everything within you will tell you to quit....you did your job for a while but you failed....let someone else take their turn!
It is here that Paul's words come to us....Press On! I have only one piece of information to add to that....there is no alternative! When one has seen and drunk from the well of the glories of Christ....there is no other water!
Note: donfrancisco.com
