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Jesus Really Is Enough

The day started with a small miracle. I counted nine cars, trucks and vans in our little convoy to Franklin Square in Washington, DC. It was the destination for our trip to serve homeless people on an amazingly warm Saturday after Christmas.

“Please, Lord,” I prayed, “provide enough parking spaces for all of us.” Over the years, I had learned to pray for parking. As we approached the park, I was shocked and delighted to find enough spaces for all nine vehicles to park together. In over 20 years of ministry, that was a first for so many cars. Little miracles always lead to good ministry trips.

I had intended to just lead the group down, make sure they got set up and head home early, but God had other plans. As I was watching the teens and adults putting out food and clothes, I got into a conversation with Mac. He was a portly man, average height, with a kind expression on his face.

The conversation started with “How was your Christmas?” Mac at first said his wasn’t good. He didn’t have the money to get his kids anything, and that really bummed him out. But after a brief pause to search for the right words, he began telling me about how he was blessed. He started a new job the week before Christmas, and had been drug-free for two years.

Mac’s life had been vandalized by one mistake after another until he invited Jesus into his heart. Through that relationship and the encouragement of other believers, he was able to break the chains of addiction that had dragged him down to his homeless existence. He shared how it hadn’t been an easy road for him even after coming to Christ, but he had a new strength to deal with the set backs. Most importantly he had a hope that endured through his toughest struggles.

Less than a minute after I said good-bye and embraced my new found brother in Christ, I met Chuck and heard a very similar testimony. Chuck didn’t have a regular job yet, but the Lord had delivered him from his addiction. He had been drug free for a year and a half, and spent nearly a half hour sharing with me all the blessings and miracles the Lord had worked in his life.

Sometimes we start thinking that everything relies on us. When our plans don’t work out, we feel like failures. When we meet struggles and challenges, our first response is to fix it ourselves. I was reminded that day how wrong that approach can be. Instead I learned the path to victory from two homeless men:

1. Give yourself completely to Jesus. Make Him the Lord of every aspect of your life.
2. Cast your cares, obstacles & worries on Him. Things may still be tough, but you won’t be alone.
3. When God opens a door, walk through it.

Jesus really is enough.

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Fly By Evangelism

I watched the small group of young adults huddle in the corner of McPherson Square, just two blocks from the White House.  They each had a small paper bag filled with something.  After some excited discussion, they prayed and started walking toward groups of homeless people scattered throughout the park.  They reached into their bags, handed everyone something and said a couple of words.  Within 5 minutes they had completed their task and left the park.

 

One by one, most of the homeless men in the park either dropped their new treasure on the ground or tossed it into a trash can.  The “treasure” was a gospel tract.  It was the “This Was Your Life” tract.  I looked around the park to see if anybody was reading the tract they were given.  Not a single person was reading it.

 

At that moment, I was embarrassed for Jesus.  Have we learned nothing from His example?  Look at each encounters He had with people; the woman at the well, the 10 lepers, the rich, young ruler, the blind beggar, the lame man by the pool.  He invested His time in each of these people and met them at their point of need.  By meeting them at their point of need most of them believed in Him.  OK, so the rich young ruler walked away.  It just goes to show you that some peoples’ hearts are hardened to the point where they can’t change.  Accept it and move on.

 

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) we don’t have the ability to peer into the peoples’ souls.  So it may take us a little longer than our Lord to figure out a person’s real needs.  But when we meet those needs, we earn the right to share the Gospel in power.

 

During Advent, we read with nostalgia the words from John’s Gospel: “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  The Word of God must still become flesh to poor and hurting people before they can turn their troubles, fears, hearts and lives to the One who, better than any of us, can turn their lives around.  God’s Word becomes flesh through us.  Do you want to win the hearts of poor people for Christ?  You show them Christ first.  Then you can fill in the blanks with words.

 

God’s grace to you,

 

Steve Jennings

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Win the Battle – Lose the War

Pro-family forces have been giving themselves high-fives since the 2008 elections when Proposition 8 in California and other pro-family referenda passed.  Tens of millions of dollars were pumped into these campaigns.  The victories were exhilarating for pro-family advocates who have fought long and hard to bring about change in public policy.

 

What difference will it make?  Will the passage of Proposition 8 or the other pro-family initiatives cause even one homosexual to abandon that lifestyle?  I doubt it.

 

Now don’t get me wrong.  Advocacy for change in public policy has its place in the “culture wars.”   I’m not suggesting we should just roll over and let the “other side” have their way in the legislatures and courts, whatever the issue may be.  As Americans we have a right and a responsibility to work within our political and judicial systems for what we believe in.  But I am suggesting that this type of advocacy shouldn’t be our first priority if we truly want to change the culture.  That is not how the Christian faith works.

 

The growing popularity of pushing for change in the political/judicial arena has supplanted, for many Christians, the real work of advancing the cause of Christ.  We may feel that we are fulfilling our calling in Christ by participating in marches, contacting our legislative representatives or giving our time, talent and treasure to advocacy organizations.  It’s a cleaner, more glamorous way return our nation to its Christian roots.  The problem is that if we rely on changing our country this way, we will certainly fail.

 

The real work of the Gospel isn’t so clean or glamorous.  It’s often dirty, unrewarding and invisible to most people in this country.  We have to get involved in the lives of others and make ourselves vulnerable to the disappointments and emotional risks of real relationships with people who aren’t like us.  But more than advocacy, more than preaching and Christian media, it is through relationships that we change our world.  It may not seem like much to our number-obsessed American minds, but God has made clear that each human life, each human heart, is precious to Him. 

 

I use Proposition 8 merely as an example.  The same principle applies to all the other issues in which Christians stake out a moral position, whether it be racial injustice, poverty, international oppression, human rights or abortion.  The only way to truly bring about change in the lives of most people is to show them, one-on-one, the better love that comes through a real realtionship with Jesus Christ and His followers.  You can’t do that through the courts or referenda.  It can only happen one heart at a time.  When you change each heart, you come just a little closer to changing the culture.

 

God’s grace to you,

Steve Jennings