Have you ever went through the worst experience in your life and you feel like no one else understands or knows about it? Or is it just me. You could be having a horrible day but to everyone else it’s just an ordinary Monday morning. Everyone everywhere is going through a battle that I might not know of, and truthfully that reality pierces my soul.
“I don’t go to church,” said the elderly man at the coffee shop. “I was burnt by the church long ago and religion is too much; that stuff is just not for me.” As I listened to his description of church and the Bible, I couldn’t help but have a swarm of thoughts and emotions towards his response.
How many of you have ever been there before? Ever thought doing so much and being some “perfect person” in life is just straight up draining? I do. It’s exhausting and does not feel genuine. No matter how much I try to be better or look like I’ve got it all together, I can never measure up.
“I don’t believe in religion, I believe in a relationship.” I replied to the man.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Well..have you ever heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ?”
“No, what is that?” he stated.
What is that? Woah, here I was a Christian girl all my life caught up in Jesus, thinking people have heard about the gospel down south and I get a “No, what is that?” response. As this man sits in front of me struggling with battles that I might never know of, it burdened my soul to know that he has never had the hope of knowing Jesus in the midst of those times.
“I am a broken, messed up, sinner that doesn’t have it all together and am in need of a Savior. I found my life when I met Jesus.”
I went on to explain it’s not about a list of doing, going, and being. It’s not a superficial religion it’s a supernatural recognition. That there is nothing that I could do to earn my way to God, it is in what has already been done for me.
Friend, can I just tell you something….
The gospel is 4 words:
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Jesus
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In
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My
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Place
Reality is, I make mistakes and have regrets but when I came to Jesus just as I was in my messiness, He welcomed me home and gave me a new life in Him.
“God loves us so much that He knew that we could not do things in our own strength to have a right relationship with Him because of our sin. He had to send His son to take our place, to die on a cross the death that we deserve and He conquered and rose again to defeat sin. Now we have a choice to believe and know that Jesus is Lord and desire Him as our Savior.”
After saying this, I asked “What do you think it would take for you to believe in Jesus?” He paused and took a moment to think. He told me many rough trials that he went through in his life and that those things would have had the ability to point him to God. I asked him, “How did you get through those trials?” He said he just did like everyone else but he knew he went through those hard times without peace and joy. Those battles were fought without hope that ultimately comes from knowing Jesus.
Now I’d love to tell you that I as I shared the gospel, beaming angel lights came down and the man had a revelation and came to Jesus…but He didn’t. He thought it was interesting and stated that in the end we all have a choice, his choice was different than the gospel. After we conversed a bit more, I knew if anything I believe that conversation was still on purpose. As I left, I knew I had to leave him with those 4 words.
“Yes that we do have a choice but just remember 4 words: Jesus in my place.”
I don’t know the whole Bible word for word, I struggle with memorizing verses because I forget. I usually don’t have good comebacks in order to back up my faith when people ask tough questions, nor do I want to. I don’t want to be forced into eating carrots (cause I hate them) nor would anyone want to be forced into some sort of religion they don’t want.
The problem is this faith is not a duty to me, it’s a desire. When I recognized the extreme measure that someone perfect and blameless did for me that I deserved, it compelled me to respond. That was when I found out that this man named Jesus came to this earth to die for my sin, and took my place because He loves me. This recognition is too real to hold back and not share. It’s like when you love someone so much, you can’t help but not talk about them. Same with Jesus, He’s too good to not share. It’s your choice, you don’t have to come to Him with a pretty smile, and a fake life, (thank Jesus that’s not the case) I’d definitely be out of that invite. He desires all to come as you are, to grow to know Him and know what He has done in the gospel. This is what compels my heart to go to reach the unreached with the good news of the gospel.
CHECK OUT the video below of the 11 countries my team and I will be going to this October.
