He Needs Jesus Too
Ephesians 2:1-6
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
If you have never worked in customer service count it a blessing that you haven’t seen people in such a bad light. I don’t know what it is about being on a certain side of a counter that makes people think you don’t have dreams, hopes, or aspirations and that your existence is solely to serve them but it’s a thing. Part of me is very thankful for the time that I have spent working in customer service because it has, as people say, “ helped build character.” For the most part I have been able to stay pretty positive about it and shrug off rough encounters by saying, “maybe they’re just having a really bad day,” but if I’m being honest, the more time has progressed since I felt the call to go on the World Race I have found myself less tolerant of rude people. For example: I currently work at a very nice hotel, believe it or not people find things to complain about at hotels. WHAAA??? Anyways, a man complained about me to my manager the other day, saying I didn’t acknowledge his membership status (aka kiss his boo-tay) at check-in while he forgot to mention to my boss the important detail that he was on the phone during the entire check in process!!! What the heck broseph?! Needless to say I was a little perturbed when I heard what had happened, but why? Why was I getting so upset about this mans silly complaints about me and why was I feeling anger towards him? I didn’t even know him!
When I brought it to the Lord, He convicted me HARD! Without even realizing it, I had dismissed this man of being worthy of the unconditional love of Jesus. We hear these powerful testimonies of prisoners sharing the crimes they’ve committed and how they came to know the Lord and that their sins are covered now by the blood of the lamb! Why is it so easy to believe it for those men and women in the inspirational videos but so hard to extend it to the people who hurt us personally? BECAUSE IT’S PERSONAL! It’s too close to us and we’re naturally too selfish to see past our own offenses. We’re too selfish to acknowledge that we were and are still in desperate need of that same forgiveness. My mind was set on the future thinking that’s where God was going to use me, on my missions trip, not here, not now. He reminded me that he has called me to be a light to ALL PEOPLE AT ALL TIMES not just the people I think are deserving of the gospel. That mindset is the complete opposite of the gospel!!! Immediately, I asked the Lord to remind me daily of the grace that has been shown to me, the grace I’m so undeserving of, the grace that is available for that suited up business man on his cell phone.
The gospel isn’t biased or judgmental, the gospel takes you right where you are and evens the playing field making ALL available to enter into His grace. Your “positive vibes” aren’t going to earn your way into it. When you understand how much grace has been extended to you, the result of that is an outpour of grace to others. When you have a good grip of the gospel in your own life, loving others isn’t forced. Love and forgiveness is naturally given because the greatest act of love was already displayed for you. With a deeper understanding of the gospel we are compelled to care and love for others. So let’s get to the root of our selfish nature and not just pray that God would make us people who love better but that He would reveal to us more and more the power of the gospel and we would be reminded of the amazing grace extended to us that we are ALL so undeserving of.
