In his book, “It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It,” Craig Groeschel shares this illustration. Imagine if I asked you, “Could you come up with a hundred thousand dollars by the end of this week?” Chances are unless you’re megarich, you’d probably say, “Wutchu talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?” In your mind, I just asked you to do the impossible. You might think, There’s no way I could come up with that kind of cash. I can barely pay my bills.

Now let’s do another imaginary exercise. Think about someone you love most in the world. You might think of your spouse, your parents, your kids, or a very close friend. Do you have a person in mind? Now suppose I told you that your special loved one is very sick. I’m not talking about the flu or even H1N1. I’m referring to a “you’ve got less than a month to live” sick.

Now imagine that the doctors are certain that your loved one has no chance of living beyond the month unless you get them a very rare shot by the end of this week. And because of the scarcity of this shot, it is very expensive.
You’re probably thinking, Money is no object! If this shot will cure my loved one, I’ll do whatever it takes!

So, you ask, “Doc, how much is the shot?”

Soberly, he replies, “One hundred thousand dollars.”

Remember a couple of minutes ago, you thought getting a hundred thousand dollars in a few days would be impossible. But now your perspective has changed. Even though it will be difficult, you’ll find a way to get the money. You might seek a home equity loan. You might call a rich relative. You might sell everything you own. You’d do this because your loved one faces a life and death scenario.

People of God, you have loved ones who are in fact facing a life and death scenario. They could spend the rest of their lives going through the motions, without meaning or purpose, with an God-less eternal destiny in hell. OR, they could spend forever with God in heaven and the rest of their lives on earth with joy, passion, and the meaning and purpose that comes from being “hopelessly dependent on God and wholly devoted to serve.” It’s worth doing whatever it takes to partner with Jesus’ intervention in their lives. That’s where we’re going. Are you coming along?