Desperate

Written a couple days ago. . . Final touches tonight.

It is 10:21 pm on a school night and my wife is tutoring a student at the dining room table. She has been tutoring kids all evening, as she should be, it is finals time and Jenny is the most coveted Pre-AP Algebra II and Pre-AP Pre-cal tutor in the community. Earlier I answered the door for her 9:30 appointment welcoming a student I had never met before. He introduced himself, awkwardly shook my hand, and took a quick scan of my entryway as if he thought he might catch a glimpse of my wife's magic potion that transforms failing students into geniuses in 60 minutes. There was something I noticed about this particular student though, he was different, or at least "different" in comparison to Jenny's regular tutoring customers. Maybe it was because he had never been to our house before or maybe because he was intrigued by the mystique that surrounds my wife's magical tutoring skills. Either way, there was a quiet, but obvious desperation about this kid - like he knew he had absolutely nothing to offer, an understanding that there was nothing other than this tutoring that would help him pass. Jenny was his only hope, he was at the end of his rope and was willing to do nothing short of kissing my wife's feet to get the help he needed.

*************

I write this because I think God wants us to be this way with Him. Humans (Americans especially) by nature feel like they can pull up their boot straps, dig their heels in and take care of business. This, however, does't give God what is rightfully his - the credit. God wants us to have a clear understanding of our sin. . . And I know what you are thinking, here He goes again, talking about sin. . . Didn't he already blog about that??? But seriously, if I feel it necessary to blog about more than once, then maybe you should pay attention. William P. Farely writes, "the cost defines the love." Jesus died for sinners, he took YOUR (and MY) punishment. The bible says that we are objects of God's wrath, enemies of God because of our sin. If we see ourselves as the sinners that we are, then we humbly come to the foot of the cross, desperate, just like that kid that came to our door for tutoring. If we understand that we truly have nothing to offer, we see Jesus's death on the cross all the more powerful. He didn't die for good people, he died for you. Romans 5:8 says, "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

This is the definition of grace, THIS should be the driving force behind EVERYTHING you do. . . And as a result, out of your desperation, God is not robbed of what is rightfully His. . . Glory.

Consider this thought before you go to bed tonight: "The cost defines the love" - the price Jesus paid was immeasurable - what does this communicate about His love for you?

 

Education and the Great Commission (Part 1)

The other day a friend of mine asked me how I thought my profession (education) fit into the gospel/great commission.  While at the moment I didn't have the best answer, on my way home I was reminded of a quote from the book Radical, by David Platt.

"I think of Andrea.  She is a college student who, by her own admission, doesn't like college.  Upon graduation from high school, she immediately wanted to go to another country.  In her words, 'I did not want to go to college because I felt like it would be a waste of time.  After all, people were dying without Christ, and I did not have time to be educated.'  Her parents wisely persuaded her to go to school in Alabama, far away from Asia or Africa, where she really wanted to be.  

Andrea struggled with the relevance of school until one day in our worship gathering we were talking about the needs among the Bedouin people, most of whom had never heard the gospel, and it clicked.  Andrea was in school for the sake of the Bedouin.  As soon as she was able, she signed up for Arabic classes.  Not long after beginning these classes, she e-mailed me that she was going to spend a semester studying Arabic in the Middle East, where she would have the opportunity to be among the Bedouin people.  She wrote, 'I wanted to let you know that Brook Hiss is going to run into the Bedouin people this semester, and I will have the opportunity to tell them about Jesus.'

Consider what happens when all of us begin to look at our professions and areas of expertise not merely as means to an income or to career paths in our own context but as platforms for proclaiming the gospel in contexts around the world.  Consider what happens when the church is not only sending traditional missionaries around the world but also businessmen and businesswomen, teachers and students, doctors and politicians, engineers and technicians who are living out the gospel in contexts where a traditional missionary could never go."

There it is, David Platt says it all for me.  Education opens doors to unlimited opportunities - one of which could be bringing the message of Jesus through whatever service an individual might offer.  A profession, that otherwise wouldn't have been achieved if it weren't for public schools (more than likely).

Will be digging deeper into this topic on Part 2 - stay tuned!