Tuesday, August 11, 2009

A Man In a Hole

It seems like nearly every day now, I'm encountering people who are broken, hurting, struggling, and just fighting to survive. I was talking this week with a dear friend of mine who has a counseling ministry here in town and he says that they are busier now than they have ever been. He said that he has never seen so many people and families in distress.

I've had several conversations with people in my office in the last couple of weeks that I never imagined wold take place. One young man, who I have always perceived as one of the toughest people I know, sat and wept like a frightened child as he explained his struggle to shake the chains of addiction and find a real and meaningful relationship with Jesus.

He's been a drug addict, a thief, a liar, and an enemy of God. He has tried numerous times to "straighten himself up" by giving up drugs and "getting back in church". He grew up in church, went to Sunday School every week, and even knows the Bible about as well as most anybody. On the outside, he looks as clean and innocent as anybody on your pew at church. On the outside, he's got it together, but on the inside, well that's an entirely different story.

As this big, strong, tough, former inmate sat across from me and shared his struggles, I will admit that I had little to offer him. He's heard all of the religious cliches. He's "been saved", "given his heart to God", "come to know Christ", "prayed the simple prayer", etc. He's gone down front and taken the pastor by the hand. He's joined the church and been baptized. I had absolutely nothing to tell him that he hadn't already heard a hundred times. He was looking to me for answers and I had none.

As unnerving as the situation was at the time, I've actually learned to enjoy those moments when I have nothing to say and would be speechless were it not for God whispering the words into my heart that need to be shared. So I did the only thing I could do.... I just shared the thoughts that God was whispering to my heart with this young man who was, in essence, doubting whether or not he even believed that this whole "God thing" was even real.

I can't remember what I said to him, but I can assure you that it wasn't nearly as important as what God was saying to him. After an hour and a half of sharing, it was as if God had touched his eyes and removed the blindness of religion that had kept him from seeing God for so long. He began to see that God was at work all around him and the evidence was overwhelming!

I watched in utter amazement as the seemingly impenetrable walls of self sufficiency that he had been building for so many years began to fall down. He was sensing God's presence for the first time in a very long time, and in a more real way than ever before. I can't recall ever seeing such a visible picture of how God's grace, mercy, and forgiveness invades a heart.

As I have relived that morning over and over in my mind, I've find myself wondering why we don't see more encounters like that. It's certainly not a lack of desire on God's part to redeem, pardon, and restore sinners. Perhaps it's more likely that we aren't really looking at hurting and broken people the way God does. We might feel sorry for them, or even pray for them, but for the most part we're just too busy with our on lives to really care enough to get dirty.

I came across a really cool video clip that illustrates what our walk with Jesus should look like when we encounter someone who is broken and hurting. Keep in mind as you watch that we are to imitators of God.....


Whatever It Takes,
Chip

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