Our first few days on the small peninsula town of Adjahui in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire were physically a bit rough. I’m not going to sugar coat it, the heat here is hardcore. In combination with the extreme humidity levels, it can easily make for some sweat-soaked, sleepless nights. Such were and still are many of our evenings.
Yet, we have so much to be thankful for. Our ministry hosts are some of the most servant-minded people I have met on this adventure thus far. They selflessly do everything they can to meet our needs, even going so far as to ensure each member of my team has a mosquito net covering their bed, and that every window in the home is covered by extra mosquito netting to help combat the risk of getting bit anywhere inside the house.
A few days in we created a program with our hosts regarding the ministry we would be doing during our time here and began some time of evangelism. Our first day out in the sandy streets of Adjahui, I had the privilege of being put in a group with two of my teammates, Katy and Mary Jane, and one of our translators. We walked around searching for someone to talk to, and not long afterward we found two young people in the streets and quickly began a very deep conversation.
The young man we were speaking with was clearly very hungry for knowledge concerning the Bible. He asked several great questions, but the one that hit home for me was this…
“When Jesus was dying on the cross, why did He say The Father forsook Him?”
I immediately jumped on this question, and the resulting answer that came literally brought me to tears as I was speaking to this man. It’s difficult to grasp the concept that Jesus literally had to become sin for our sakes. He was perfect in every way, the final Passover lamb meant to die for the sins of the entire world. The cost of sin is death, as the Word tells us, and Jesus chose to take that price upon Himself because He loved us so much. When He made this sacrifice for us while on the cross and became sin, The Father could no longer look upon Jesus because the other cost of sin is Separation From God as we learned in the Garden. Jesus, the one and only Son of God, had to be separated from His own Father because of me. Because of my sin.
While I explained this to our new friend Fabris, I found myself coming to tears as I considered this price. That should have been me. I should have been the one who was forsaken by God, but Jesus loved me so much He chose to take that cost for me. How amazing His love is for us. Spend some time thinking about this today.
