One as He is One

This past Friday I helped out my good friends at Faith 2 Faith Ministries International with a regional youth event they run every fall called Overtime. This is an all-night event where kids from all different churches see a killer main event concert with a gospel presentation and then are let loose to do activities like rollerskating, bowling, sumo wrestling, junk food eating and much more mayhem all night long.

The event was exciting, yet draining at the same time. However the pain was worth it as we saw 48 teens (at least what was counted) who made decisions for Christ. Five of those decisions were for the first time!

This year one of the things I did was help out with the registration of the different groups. It was so exciting to see the number of churches involved this year! It reminded me of this scripture:

"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands."

-Revelation 7:9 (NIV, emphasis added)

Churches that participated this past Friday were from a variety of different denominations and all of them were crammed in one room. Lutheran kids were chillin' with Pentecostals, Congregationalists were cracking jokes with Charismatics, and all of them were praising the God they loved. Doctrinal differences of predestination, eschatology, and spiritual gifts didn't matter. The order of worship in their Sunday services didn't matter either. What mattered was Jesus being glorified!

That is all that will matter in the end. It doesn't matter what denomination we associate ourselves with because every denomination will be represented in the life to come! If we consider ourselves to be united with Christ, we should likewise be united in Him. This was one of the last prayers that Jesus prayed during His time on earth:

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." -John 17:20-23

Oh Church, why can't we be like this more often?

"It's better to be interested than interesting."

Let me paint a scenario for you....

You decide to log onto your AIM account for the first time in a long time and see one of your old friends from high school on. Just for kicks you decide to Instant Message her, say hi and catch up for old time's sake. You ask her, "How's it going?" and she responds like this: "Not much...my best friend committed suicide last week."

This was where I found myself a few years ago with an old friend of mine I'll just call Stephanie. Sitting there at that moment I immediately prayed, "God, what on earth do I say to this?! Do I tell her Jesus loves her? Do I tell her this person went to Hell and so she should embrace Jesus as her Savior while there's still time? (which I don't know for a fact by the way)."

It sounds ridiculous, but I prayed that prayer at that moment because I wanted to help! I wanted to say something to her to make her feel better, but absolutely nothing was coming to mind.

Then at that moment I had an epiphany: this girl didn't want answers, she just wanted ears. She may not have believed in Jesus as Lord and she may not have liked Christians, but for some reason at this moment she was opening up to me. Why? Because at that moment she trusted me to listen.

So I typed back, "Wow...how long did you know her?"

"My whole life."

"Are you doing okay?"

"Meh, I've been better."

"Yeah, I bet..."

Sometimes when people come to us, whether Christian or non-Christian, they aren't always looking for a sermon. Sometimes they are just looking for a pair of ears to listen, a pair of eyes to look at them with compassion, and a shoulder to lend if they want to cry on it (if you're talking with the opposite gender, proceed with caution, haha).

Yes people need Jesus, but do we always have to share Jesus with words? I think it is important to when the time is right. Speaking from experience, I actually spent plenty of time preaching to people when the time was wrong. And yeah, seeds were planted, but they will probably be growing in spite of me, not because of me. I actually did this with Stephanie in a later conversation, which is one of the reasons why she doesn't talk to me much anymore.

A beautiful example of this in the life of Jesus is when he approaches his dear friend Mary, who just lost her brother Lazarus. Mary is beside herself and immediately comes to Jesus, collapses at His feet, and says, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11:32). Jesus at that moment could have preached to her and made similar statements like what he made to her sister Martha earlier, but instead He weeps.

At that moment, Jesus knew what was going to happen, but knew Mary did not need an answer. Mary just needed some sympathy, pity and comfort. And that's exactly what she got.

So next time you want to give advice to someone who comes to you with a problem, ask yourself and God if they are really looking for answers, or instead just for someone to listen to and cry with them. But if you screw up, it's okay, too. Jesus can and still will be glorified though you regardless!

God bless you,

Steve