LI F E L E S S O NS
Making the Cut Pat Cirrincione
At one time or another I believe we’ve all heard the phrase, the cut, the default is to seek help and hope in lesser places, making the cut. ( Whether its in a sport, a theatrical when only the Lord can meet our deepest needs. production, a sorority or fraternity or a job, it means that Every individual is important. The corporate unity and wemadeit,werein.Wegotontheteam,intheplay,inthe purity of God’s people must be internally preserved. club or got the job. Coming from a sports-oriented family, Believers are called to expend e ort to seek out and he I’ve heard that phrase numerous times in my life; however, others make the cut into God’s kingdom through grace, when a friend from church called me to say she had made not performance. the cut into a woman’s group, I was taken aback. I had Christians are equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16never heard that term used within a Christian community, 17). So do not keep what you know about God to yourself. but then, God turned the light bulb on over my head. Extend love and grace to the truly needy in society—the Allow me to go back in time—all the way to the days of elderly, the lonely, the outcasts and the underprivileged. John the Baptist and Jesus. John was deQnitely di erent, the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes in Remember living in the wilderness, wearing a garment of camel’s hair Matthew 5: 1-11 and people to make the cut into the kingdom and a leather belt around his waist and a diet of locusts of God by his words in his book, the Bible. and honey. The only way you could “make the cut” with When one makes the cut, they are assured of things hoped John was to be baptized and confess your sins. John was for and the conviction of promises not yet seen. By faith, all about preparing the way for God’s Son. when tested, they do not grow weary but are pushed forward Then along came Jesus, the Savior, the Son of the living God, with endurance to Qnish the race. (The Book of Hebrews one of the biggest inRuencers of his day, and stillreminds going us of this.) By faith, we who love Jesus stay strong strong.(AlthoughthewordinRuencer(isatermassociated and courageous because we know that he is at work in us. with social media, I thought it described Jesus perfectly). On Good Friday, we remember the one who took our sins For those not accustomed to using the word inRuencer inbody, with every lash of the whip, so that we may upon his everyday conversation, here is what the Miriam Webster have forgiveness of sin and eternal life; for those who are Dictionary says: An inRuencer is a person who is able to according to His purpose; for “God so loved the called generate interest in something by posting (talking) about world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes it. They are people who have dedicated followers and are in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) viewed as experts within their market or Qeld of expertise. Remember, if you don’t rest your soul in Jesus, you’ll They have thousands to millions of followers, and they never Qnd the peace and purpose in making the cut into have the power to a ect buying habits, change individual God’s kingdom. Choose for yourselves this day, this Easter thinking and even form public opinion.” Jesus was, and is, season, and all through the year, whom you will serve, without a doubt the greatest inRuencer then and now. and what making the cut means to you without Jesus, the Then there were the bashers, or the Pharisees, Sadducees Savior, the Son of the Living God. and scribes. It was their self-appointed job to publicly What kind of inRuencer do you mock Jesus and make sure that he wasn’t allowed to make wish to become? Who will you the cut into their circle of inRuence. serve? The god of Super Bowls, the Oscar idol, the Now let’s fast forward to today. As I said earlier, making the Olympic gold? What cut are cut means to succeed at something, to be chosen out of a you looking to make? Qeldofcandidatesorpossibilities.tmeansbecoming apart Because “as for me of a Super Bowl Team or getting a part in a movie that allows you to win an Oscar or Academy Award or being chosen to and my house, we will serve compete in the Olympics with some of the best athletes in the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15) the world. However, for the vast majority who don’t make
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