Working in a restaurant, you can never be to certain when you’ll get to go home. Last night was one of those nights. As I was just about to be let go, one last table walked in. I went to greet the proper little boy and his mother. About 12, he wore a fancy collared jacket and a watch that took up half his wrist. He spoke in a dignified (european?) accent.
“I’d like my steak mid rare please… Do you have a greek dressing? Italian will do, then. Thank you very much.”
I chuckled as I walked away at just how formal this little boy was.
“Where are you from, ma’am?” I asked as they were finishing up.
“Russia,” she told me.
I’m certain my excitement showed. I shared with her my love for travel and told her I had done some missions work.
“What’s the mission?” she asked.
“Sharing Jesus,” I told her.
“Do you preach?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“What would you tell me?”
I stopped; my heart racing at the sudden open platform to share with her the very thing we’re here to be told. But what? Can it be summed up so briefly? Isn’t there some kind of scripture that says I’m supposed to know what to say when someone asks me this very thing??
Well, yes. It’s 1 Peter 3:15, “…always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…”
But my mind went blank. I walked away very discontent with what I told her. Something about Jesus being the only way to heaven, something about him dying to save us, something I’m sure she had heard many times.
There was nothing wrong with what I said; it’s all true.
But I myself revisited the awe of the gospel. A spotless being, all God and all man, came down from heaven to the earth we roam. He died as the perfect, all sufficient, and only sufficient sacrifice for all the wrong we’ve done against God. And he did it in order to bridge the gap between us and Himself. The love in this story can hardly be fathomed.
And yet we claim to believe it, sometimes without truly understanding what it means.
The truth is this. If you have not been changed by what happened on the cross, if you haven’t accepted that YOU are so deeply loved Jesus did this for YOU, not just the person next to you, I wonder if you believe the thing you claim to when you call yourself a Christian.
What Jesus did is spoken of so apathetically, we have come to overlook the perfect love it mandated. The power of the amount of love that must have been required of God to have towards you specifically, in order that he would allow His perfect son to pay your penalty, is overlooked and underemphasized. That’s a lot of love. Jesus has a lot of love for us. For you.
When you hear of the cross, you are hearing of a murder that happened for you and in place of you. This was in order that the death sentence your sins earned you, are no longer accountable to paying. His blood paid your bail. And all you are accountable to now is accepting this gift, and being in love and in relationship with the one who first loved you.
An urgency shot up in me. She may have heard it before. But, if she understood the cross, this woman would already be saved by it. What if all she’s ever heard about Jesus is a story so underemphasized she hasn’t truly grasped it? What if nobody ever shares with her the love behind the action? The relationship in place of the religion?
I knew I had to go back. I had to say more. I was nervous though; we were slowing down and the restaurant was quiet now. I’m sure my friends could hear me. I’m sure they will think I’m even more weird and my manager will pull me in her office one more time making sure I’m not talking too much about Jesus at work.
I went back over anyways.
“Ma’am, I thought about the question you asked me. And no one has ever asked me that before. I thought more about it and this is the one thing I want you to know. God didn’t create religion. Knowing Jesus doesn’t mean going to church every sunday or praying at specific times of the day. Jesus died so that we can be in relationship with the father. He knows you, wants to be in relationship with you, and he wants you to know that you are so very loved by him. That is why Jesus died on the cross.”
Ok, truly, maybe it wasn’t that well worded in the moment. But the woman listen and thanked me for coming back over. And now, she can’t say she’s never heard how loved she is by God. I wrote my blog down for her. And maybe, by God’s grace she will read this story from my perspective. And she will receive the full word God gave me for her, and the cross will change her, and she will let Jesus save her.
If there is one thing to know, it’s love. It’s relationship, out of love. Not religion out of obligation. That’s why we have free will to choose. God knows intimacy needs consent.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7
God doesn’t just have love for us, but He is love to us. Love is a verb in action displayed on the cross. What Jesus did is not a story, but a historic event. It was relevant before the earth was formed and 2,000 years ago when Jesus died on it. It is relevant today as you carry the weight from the shame of your sins, maybe self hatred, like a burlap sack on your shoulder. Is it getting heavy? Give it up.
I think of the blood of Jesus like a Christmas gift. It can be purchased for you, stowed away in a closet, wrapped up with your name on it, even. Whoever bought it can outstretch their hands, holding it out for you to take. But if you don’t show up to get it, if you don’t reach out a hand to receive it, or if you just don’t want it, you don’t have to take it. And it will never be of any benefit to you, even though it belongs to you.
Friends, the blood of Jesus has your name on it.
All you have to do is accept this gift.
Don’t let the love displayed on the cross become old news. Hear it for the thousandth time, and still be in awe. And share it like it’s the first time someone’s heard it, because when they really hear, when they really truly hear you, you will know. When people are touched by the love of God, souls will go from death to life.
I have surely failed at explaining the cross. I know that even I, as I try and explain it, am stumped at how incredible and great and vast this love must be. Only in heaven, face to face with the one who was killed in my place, will I look into the eyes of love and feel the presence of love without hindrance or distance or dullness or uncertainty. And my prayer for you is that you are so greatly moved by this love from your God, that you return it, and share it. If you do, then you too will look into the eyes of love someday soon with complete certainty of how much you’ve been loved all along.
