*insert sheep noise here*

I hate cliches. Do you want to know why I hate cliches? For one, I can't spell it right while typing because I don't know how to get the little dash over the "e", and for two, every cliche was once a powerful statement of truth. That's, like, their catch-22, their kryptonite. Because a statement is powerful and true, it is said frequently as a testament to that power and truth. Eventually, it becomes said so frequently that it, while true, has lost all of its power. But we keep saying it. We're beating a dead horse.

What's sad is when that dead horse has to do with Jesus. Christianity is full of cliches. Full. All of those phrases that have been slapped on bumper stickers and t-shirts from the dawn of time - "Jesus loves you." "What would Jesus do?" "I am a child of God." "He died for me." "God is love." "I have a new life." etc. - have been driven into the ground. They're actually annoying now. Cliches cheapen their purpose. But, when you strip them back to what they mean, they floor you with truth. God's done that to me a few times. I'm sitting here, just reading or listening along, and all of the sudden, WHAM. A phrase that my eyes once glazed over suddenly becomes the most beautiful and vibrant nugget of truth ever, so good that it almost hurts. And the crazy thing is that, the more you think about it, the more you realize that you've been stunned with only a facet of the truth that that phrase holds. It's become a treasure trove, and you can't handle it all at once, it's that good.

God did that again today. You know those phrases, "Jesus died for you." and "Jesus died for the world."? Well, at church this morning, a friend of mine was talking to everyone about the sheer necessity of evangelism, and he said something about how it's too amazing of news not to tell, about how Jesus did all of this for him. It hit me then that Jesus did everything that He did - left heaven, came to live as a human, grew up, started His ministry, was ridiculed and criticized and hated, lived a life on the road, was betrayed and abused and killed for my sins, lives again! - He did all of that for me. Me. And I know that there are so many ways to unpack the immensity of truth that that is, but the part that hit me in it all today was that I could take those two phrases that I mentioned earlier and smush (that's a technical term) them together to read, "Jesus would've died for you if you were the only person in the world.", and it would still be true.

Here, read this.

"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it - there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue." Luke 15, 3-7 MSG

A hundred sheep - that's a whole lot of sheep - and any person in those days would've stopped everything and done anything to find it. Why? Because sheep had enormous value in their eyes. Well, this is a parable, so it also applies to Jesus. He would've stopped everything and done anything in order to bring one lost, searching, and hurting soul back to Him. Yes, He did just that for the entirety of the human race, but He would've done it for just one person. He would've done it just for me. Why? Because I have enormous value in His eyes.

Because He loves me.

The enormity of that is staggering. It's hard enough to wrap my mind around the fact that God would bother to save the world, but that He would've done the whole thing even if it were just me? Really? I can't understand it, and every time that I try to grasp it better, I just kind of wind up melting into a pool of extreme gratitude and love. The fact that someone - not only just someone, but the Creator of the universe and the King of everything! - would willingly die for me... whoa. I'm a sheep. I don't deserve that. I in no way deserve that. But that's the glory and the wonder of it. That's love.

And to think that that's the kind of God that I serve? Well, then my friend is right. I have to tell people. It's not a "have to" out of obligation, it's a "have to" because the core of my soul aches to. It's like the difference between being told by your mom to go use the restroom before a trip and actually having to go extremely bad to the point where it's not even a question - you're going to use the restroom. I know, I know, wacked out analogy, but it makes sense, doesn't it? I have to tell people about this. If I don't, I'll burst! The more that I sit here and think about it, the more that I just wonder at how much God spoils me... it almost hurts because I'm not capable of dealing with the emotions! Mmmmmm.... I have to tell people. Those girls that I've had on my heart the past few days? I have to tell them. I have to take advantage of the opportunities that I haven't been taking to tell them. The people that I rehearse with day in and day out? I have to tell them. Actually tell them. It's not even a question anymore. I want to.  I have to. I need to.