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09 November 2009
In life we come across people who are dirty, bruised, broken and cut up by the world. Some choose to be that way and others are a product of a fallen world. Most of the time we see them and we stop to help, doing what we can. We might tell them about God, how He can heal them, how Christ came to save them, where to look and what to say to find Him, but then we leave.
Instead of picking them up off the street and showing them a physical/visible manifestation of God’s Grace through our actions, we simply tell them the best way to begin heading in His direction.
Do you ever see Jesus, in the Gospels, witness to people the way we do? Giving them the best formula for salvation?
There is a story about a broken, short, dishonest man who Christ happens to see in a tree as He is coming into town. When Christ looks up at him, do you recall what He says? He essentially says:”Come down. I’m going to your house for dinner.” Jesus doesn’t look up and say, “If you were to die today would you go to heaven or hell?” Why do we make the Gospel un-relational?
Perhaps Christ knew that investing Himself in the lost was more important than a regurgitation of a formula for salvation. Perhaps Christ knew that people don’t crave formulas. They crave healing, peace, grace. They long for something bigger than this world, bigger than themselves.
Now we can tell these people where to find this healing, where to find this peace, but is that what our calling truly is? Absolutely not! So why would we rather tell people about Jesus instead of showing them Jesus? Why do we expect a lost person to gladly accept our invitation to church, when we know how intimidating it is for believers to walk in for the first time?
Instead of inviting people to us—where we feel comfortable—why don’t we go to them? Not with the goal of getting our idea of eternal life explained in one five-minute conversation, but rather with the intention of picking them up, dusting them off and walking with them.
As we walk with them, we can share the beauties that are held in the grace of Christ. We can share how He changed us. We can show them what Jesus intended for all of us, by lovingly serving them.
What if we got off our butts and walked with the lost towards our Savior instead of simply pointing them in the right direction. We are called to be men and women who lead people to Jesus, not point the way.
Today may we seek out the broken, the bloody, the bruised. May we pick them up, dust them off and walk with them, all along the way telling them about our Father and showeringthem with His Love.
