One summer afternoon four year old Justin and his friends were playing outside. When his mother called, he ran in to see what she wanted. She said that she was making lunch for him and his friends — a kid-friendly feast of mac and cheese, carrots sticks, strawberries, chips and brownies. Justin’s mouth watered just hearing the menu. His mom said that he should tell his friends and bring them in after about half an hour.

So Justin went back out to tell his friends, but quickly got caught up in a heated battle of King of the Hill on top of the monkey bars — totally forgetting about lunch. As his friends got hungry, they went home to ask their own moms for lunch leaving Justin to come in by himself. Surprised, his mom asked, “Where are your friends? Didn’t you tell them to come in for lunch? Immediately, Justin knew he’d dropped the ball.

And sometimes, so do we. Many of us know the good news that the penalty for our sin was paid on the cross by Jesus’ so now we are living in the joyful, abundant new life promised through His resurrection. Yet we can still get caught up in our own pursuits. Sometimes we, too, are so distracted by our own struggles to become King of the Hill that we forget to tell our friends what Jesus has done for us.

Why is it important to tell our friends? Well, if they don’t understand that Jesus paid the price for their sin, if they don’t invite Him to lead them in their new life, then they will miss out on way more than lunch! They’ll miss out on the heavenly banquet — a joyous celebration that will go on forever. I don’t want to see Jesus in heaven and have Him ask me, “Where are your friends? Didn’t you tell them?” How about you?

Verses to Ponder:

John 1:41 — The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).

Mark 16:15 — He (Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”