Pit Bull

I happened to see Armando Christian Pérez aka “Pit Bull”, popular rapper and singer, on a national newscast give an impassioned appeal for people of substance and/or skills to save Cuba, his family’s native land, from violence and potential obliteration. He appealed for people to “stand up, step up…wake up!” 

Thinking about this, isn’t this same impassioned plea that the Bible through Jesus and the Apostles has given us?  Looking at the condition of the world and the lack of response from His followers, he cries out to us “stand up, step up…wake up.”

Stand up.  Jesus calls us to give our hearts wholly to Him…not partially but totally.  Jesus says it this way in Matthew 16:24-25, ^“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”  Paul the Apostle pleads to us in Romans 12:1-2, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship not conforming to the pattern of this world but being transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Step up.  Jesus calls for us in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Jesus empowers us to fulfill what He calls us to do.  Acts 1:8 declares, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Wake up.  Ephesians 4:14-16 is clear, “’Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’  Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

It’s time for all of us to get with it.  I make a plea, “Stand up, step up…wake up!” I have heard it said, “a few people make it happen, others watch it happen with most left to wonder what happened.”  Christ-followers, make it happen!