A few days ago, I woke up early in the morning as usual to go to a nearby coffee shop and enjoy some quiet time with the Lord before starting ministry for the day. I strolled down the busy street dodging bicycles, mopeds, cars, and the occasional bus along the way. I stopped by a little food cart to grab a quick bánh mì op la (a common Vietnamese fast food sandwich) and exchanged a polite “xin chào” with the sweet little lady running the stand. With my spicy bánh mì in hand, I rounded the corner and entered the coffee shop to find my seat across from Kyle.
By now we feel like we’re practically locals. We eat street food for every meal, we sit in the clouds of cigarette smoke swirling in the most popular coffee shops, we drink some sort of black tar that resembles coffee, and we skillfully navigate traffic like the seasoned pedestrians we are.
At first we would get some sideways glances when we opened our bibles and spent a couple of hours studying them and writing in our journals, but after a few days the regulars began to get used to us — even in a “closed” country.
Within 60 seconds of sitting down, I already had my usual order of black tar (aka Vietnamese coffee) and a cup of dark yellow tea in front of me.
“Good morning,” said the worker with a warm smile.
“Xin chào!” I replied with the same grin.
With that, he scurried past our table perhaps to refill someone else’s tea or get them a new pack of cigarettes.
I opened my bible and picked up where I had left off the day before. My thoughts began to wander as my eyes followed the words on the page. My mind kept going back to that exchange with the waiter. I thought about how funny it seemed that we greeted each other in a different language. It was almost as if we met each other in the middle of the language barrier that we both clearly recognized. He knows very little English, and I can barely call my three or four poorly memorized phrases “Vietnamese.”
Yet we both met each other where we were.
The Lord redirected my focus to the pages before me and I began to read words from the prophet Isaiah. I read about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I read about the God who “made the earth and created man on it.” He says, “it was My hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host” [Isaiah 45:12]. I read about a God who is just and holy. A God who wiped out entire nations for the glory of His Name. A God who set apart a people for Himself and threatened to punish them for their disobedience. In the midst of His power and might and righteous anger, I saw a God of compassion — a God of redemption.
He is a God who meets us where we are.
On our own we are broken and helpless. We are rebellious and arrogant. We are sinful and self-righteous. On our own we are without hope.
Enter Jesus: through Jesus we are made whole. Through Him we are justified. Through Him our sins are forgiven and our transgressions are blotted out like a cloud.
Just like the Vietnamese coffee shop worker used what little English he had to meet me where I was, our God the Redeemer has done the same! In our case, however, we have little-to-nothing to offer the Creator of the universe in return. In my own flesh and broken ways I sometimes tend to think that I have good works or some sort of skill set to offer Him in exchange for redemption.
The truth of the matter is, I have absolutely nothing to offer Him except a surrendered heart and even so He delights to take me as I am.
“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
you who are far from righteousness:
I bring my righteousness; it is not far off,
and my salvation will not delay;
I will put salvation in Zion,
for Israel is my glory.”
[Isaiah 46:12-13]
If we could even begin to center ourselves on the freedom that this released us into, our relationships with others and our own hearts would look drastically different. If we faithfully see that God is who He says He is and we begin to appreciate the finished work of the cross, we will see that our salvation depends nothing on us or our works. My salvation was paid for on the cross of Calvary and my victory is claimed through the empty grave!
I do not work for the sake of the Gospel because I have to. No, I serve the Lord because I have fallen in love with Jesus, and I have put my trust in a loving Father.
If the God of the universe is always pursuing His children to meet them where they are, why shouldn’t I join Him in doing the same? With only one more week of ministry left in Asia, my heart is filled with beautiful memories of the people I have met along the way. I have seen God’s hand in a way that I have never experienced before, and I’m expectant to see Him even more clearly with every passing day. Please join me in praying for the ever-growing boldness to take opportunities to share the Gospel to people like the waiter at our favorite coffee shop. Pray for those seeds that have been sown and for the fields that are just waiting to be harvested.
Pray for opportunities to follow Jesus into people’s messes to meet people where they are, and thank Him for doing the same for us!
