Strange title to this blog right? Well, it’s a combination of Afrikaans (a language that I was educated in while growing up in South Africa) and English. “Gooi” means to throw. “Gooi it” is something that my 2 sons and I say to one another every morning when I drop them off at school. It’s meant as an encouragement and we are basically saying to each other that we need to seize the day and not allow the things that might happen during that day, to seize us.
As Christians, we can often fall into the trap of allowing modern day, liberal thinking to “gooi” us. Our attitude becomes, “What’s the point of fighting against a majority? There’s no way that my Christian morals and values can stand against a world that believes the opposite. It’s being as effective as a spark inside a bushfire. What’s the point to gooi it?” Well, we need to remind ourselves that we haven’t been put here on earth to win a popularity contest. We all have a purpose to make a difference and the only way we can do that is by being a light. The choice we need to make is whether we are going to be:
- a candle that will be blown out by the winds of change
- a torch that’s batteries run flat when the going get’s tough
- a solar light that get’s its “gooi it” from the Son (Jesus)
Our calling is to live and to love like Jesus did. That means that we mustn’t accept everything that society throws at us. And it will be painful at times. If Jesus was in it for popularity, He would never have died. He would never have rubbed the religious leaders up the wrong way. Like Jesus, we need to forget about the world’s call to be popular and we need to heed His call to be of good moral fibre. The world shows us how to be weak and give in to peer pressure. God shows us how to be strong and “gooi it”.
It’s time that the church stands up and becomes what Jesus intended it to be be. In the past the church was married to poverty, prisons and persecution. Today it is married to prosperity, personality and prosperity. So, in the words of Joshua, “as for me and my family, we will “gooi it” for God.”
Have a awesome day!
Mark Davidson
