I have been meeting one-on-one every week with a young man who is asking questions… Questions about truth… Questions about faith… Questions about life and eternity and a guy named Jesus Christ. Our conversations are often deep. Sometimes they are not so deep. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable when he asks questions that I feel inadequate to answer. But the amazing thing is that God always shows up and He doesn’t expect me to have all the answers. God expects me to respond to His love with compassion. God expects me to see my friend through the eyes of the One who saw me fit to receive forgiveness. But you know what? Sometimes, it’s really hard to see past ME.
If the world is to know we are Christ’s disciples by our love for one another, what then would the world have to say about us? Often, it seems like we, the church, are more concerned with pursuing our own agendas than we are about showing compassion to those who seem to “get in our way”. Jesus tells us to settle our disagreements and to be reconciled with each other quickly. Unfortunately, the church finds itself looking just like the rest of the world when it comes to bickering, back-biting, and bitterness. The outside of the cup can look neat and tidy, but means absolutely nothing if the inside is caked in bitter hearts, spiteful grudges, and selfish motives. I bring these things up as a sinner saved by grace who struggles with these very issues. I wrestle with myself and others over “serving God” MY way. But when I sit down with my friend over coffee and read about Jesus while he asks questions about why life matters, I begin to remember that it’s so much NOT about me. It’s not about doing ministry MY way or anybody else’s way for that matter. It’s about loving God and loving people.
Life matters because people matter… to God. He has created us and us alone in His own image. We are valued and loved by our Wonderful Creator. Understanding God’s love frees us to walk humbly with Him and to stop demanding more from Him and those around us. Walking humbly with God produces peace in our lives and enables us to engage a world full of people in need of forgiveness with compassion. We were created to walk humbly with God through this life, through death, and out the other side to eternity with Him.
