“Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'” Acts 2:38

I LOVE Crocs! You know… the shoes. Years ago I saw my son wearing a bright orange pair and I laughed at him. He smirked, then said… “try ‘em on!” I did… and was sold. I’ve had MANY pairs since. The problem with Crocs is that they have holes. My side yard has gravel, and every time I walk there, a rock gets in my Croc.

We’ve all experienced rocks or pebbles in our shoes. The best word I can think of to describe the feeling is ‘irritating!’ Moving and shaking doesn’t seem to help in removing the rock either. It only seems to make the situation worse. Until I stop, take off the shoe, and deliberately dump it out, it remains a hindrance.

Yesterday I met a man who likes to speak his mind. We have a mutual friend and that was enough to get conversation going. Mentioning God, he started pontificating on HIS philosophy of religion. While it seemed it was his main reason for living, listening was like having a rock in my Croc. It was very uncomfortable.

I listened for a while. Then… a little longer. Finally I had to simply blurt out, “but what about JESUS?” That was all it took to put the shoe on the other foot! He included Jesus in His philosophy of religions, but He failed to make Jesus the CENTER of his discussion. So I asked him “what are your plans for avoiding Hell!?”

At that very instant, he had to stop, take off his proverbial shoe and address the REAL issue. At that point, my job was done. It was like when Peter gave his first sermon after the Holy Spirit came upon, and invented, The Church. Peter’s mission was NOT to be a nice, comfortable guy. But call people to REPENTANCE!

The world is a mess and getting messier. I sometimes get far too concerned with trying to analyze and clean it up, instead of simply pointing out the necessary ROCK that needs to be dealt with. Why not give it a try and simply invite someone to get rid of their rock of sin by receiving Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit?