People Are Listening

"When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him."
Mark 6:20

I've had Herods in my life before.  I'd like to have more. 

This was a man who did not know Jesus.  He was far from God.  But he obviously saw something in John that Herod felt drawn to.  He didn't yet "get it" but he loved to listen.

I hope that people, who do not yet know the hope of a Savior, see us and recognize a hope that they are missing.  Herod talked to John, a prisoner, and liked to listen to him.  What must John have been talking about: getting out of prison, how hard his life had been, what all he had lived without, how inconvient this prison time was, where he'd rather be?  We don't know.  But his speech must have been full of hope and life and joy and peace.  Herod saw something that he had never seen before and liked listening to whatever it was John talked about.

I have learned that most people who are living far from Christ hope that what we have is the real thing.  They may not say it and may even communicate the opposite, but they hope you're right.  Everything they have placed their hope in has come up short, guaranteed!  When they lay their heads on their pillows at the end of the day, they do not have the peace that is available to Christ Followers. 

That is why it is important for those of us who do place our hope in Jesus Christ to live with the peace that is available to us.  The Herods of the world are watching and listening.  We are Christ's ambassadors, representing His heart and hope to a lost and hopeless world.

What are you talking about as people listen?

I pray that this Christmas Season our speech will be full of hope and truth and peace before those who do not yet know Him, but for whom He came to seek and to save!

"Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.   His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:7