After a simultaneously depressing/inspiring Summit Adult Leadership meeting last Sunday night, I purposed to be more intentional in sharing my faith this week. The depressing part of the meeting was that I have not shared my faith with more people and the inspiring part was there is still time!
I thought today would be a perfect opportunity as I had a hair appt. I was seeing someone fairly new so could take the opportunity to find out where she stood spiritually. The minute I started talking about my faith, she opened up and shared that she had recently joined a church and proceeded to ask me about my faith. We got on the subject of marriage as she is seriously dating someone and was very interested to talk to someone who had been married forever and forever! Really! Am I that old?Apparently the answer is yes! I was able to talk about marriage in the context of my faith with this young woman and plan to drop off the book, Love and Respect, a book on marriage.
Later in the week at the information desk where I work, I struck up a conversation with someone who I had recently seen at the showing of "Faultless", the film put on by the Married and Families/Adoption ministry here at our church. He asked me if we had attended the meeting because we were considering adopting. I told him that we had already adopted 3 children and that we went to support the ministry of adoption. He proceeded to ask me to pray for him and his wife as they contemplate adoption. He then proceeded to share that he himself had aged out of the foster care system as a child and that he would love to prevent one child from experiencing what he had experienced.
While I earnestly had prayed for an opportunity to share my faith with those I came into contact with, it looked nothing like I thought it would look like. I was not able to lead anyone to making a decision for Christ, yet anyway. I am hopeful that the conversations I had will lead to more and deeper conversations about Jesus Christ. I know that both of those conversations were ordained for me to have.
It brought home the powerful reminder that you can't judge a book by its cover. My new salon friend looked like another hip chick in her stylish clothes and hairstyle yet she is a young woman trying to find her way to a fulfilling marriage. The man who spoke to me about adoption looked like just another man killing time in the lobby yet when given the opportunity, shared his heart with me.
Was I scared? yes Was my heart beating fast? yes. Would it have been easier to make small talk? yes. Am I glad I shared? oh yes!
We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize . . . but one who in every respect has been tested as we are. (Hebrews 4:15)Mass murder is why Jesus came into the world the way he did. What kind of Savior do we need when our hearts are shredded by brutal loss?
We need a suffering Savior. We need a Savior who has tasted the cup of horror we are being forced to drink.
And that is how he came. He knew what this world needed. Not a comedian. Not a sports hero. Not a movie star. Not a political genius. Not a doctor. Not even a pastor. The world needed what no mere man could be.
The world needed a suffering Sovereign. Mere suffering would not do. Mere sovereignty would not do. The one is not strong enough to save; the other is not weak enough to sympathize.
So he came as who he was: the compassionate King. The crushed Conqueror. The lamb-like Lion. The suffering Sovereign.
Now he comes to Newtown, Connecticut.
- Perfected through suffering. (Hebrews 2:10)
- Hated by the proud. (John 7:7)
- Demonized by the strong. (Matthew 9:34)
- Willingly poor. (2 Corinthians 8:9)
- A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. (Isaiah 53:3)
- Planning to be crushed. (Isaiah 53:5)
- Despised and rejected. (Isaiah 53:3)
- Ready to be wounded. (Isaiah 53:5)
- Submissive like a lamb led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7)
- Enduring anguish. (Isaiah 53:11)
- Poured out in death. (Isaiah 53:12)
- Risen to help. (Romans 14:7–9)
