Worry implies that we don’t quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what’s happening in our lives. Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance.
Pride… man, I’m full of it. I often forget that I’ve been forgiven, that my life here is brief, that I’m headed to a place where I won’t be lonely, afraid, or hurt ever again. In the context of God’s strength, my problems are so small. I need to get over myself and realize that I’m not in control. I realized that Jesus wants all or nothing, and that I’m not really giving it all to Him.
Luke 14:33 and Matthew 13:44 explain the heart of the matter… give your everything to Him. God is holy. In heaven exists a Being who decides whether or not I take another breath. This holy God deserves excellence, the very best I have. “But something is better than nothing!” some say. Really, is it? Does anyone enjoy token praise, much less our holy God? I sure don’t. I’d rather you not say anything than compliment me out of obligation or guilt. Why would we think God is any different? Being sold out to Christ is difficult. I’ve realized that I’m lukewarm if I don’t give it all up. Christ must be central to everything we do and are. How many of us would really leave our families, our jobs, our education, our friends, our connections, our familiar surroundings, our comfort, and our homes if Jesus asked us to? Where is our faith?
Much of the writings above are quotes from my favorite pastor, Francis Chan, in his book called “Crazy Love”…. and a lil bit of Jake thrown in. This is what I’m learning. But I didn’t learn all of this from Mr. Chan. I learned some of it from a new brother of mine. His name is Kevin.
I met Kevin yesterday, in a place called Imara. Our assignment for the day was to invite people to the Imara church campus that our mother church planted, and also to do some evangelizing. :] The second house that Joy, Courtney, and I (my lil team) stopped at belonged to Kevin, his mother and sister. A 25 year old Kenyan guy who had a soccer jersey on and an inviting smile answered the door and invited us in as if he’d known us as family. We entered into his home, which was surprisingly nice, and offered us some juice. We gave our lil sales pitch to see if Kevin would like to come to church, and turns out he attended ICC Imara with his best friend Brian already! It was exciting to hear, but I wanted to know more about him, so I asked if he was a born again Christian and he answered with an embarrassed face: “No, I’m not saved. Neither is Brian. I have the desire to get saved, but I have too much going on in my life…” It was amazing to hear how honest he was, so I thought I’d ask him a little more about his experience with the church, his past life, his family, friends, and ultimately what was keeping him from turning to Christ. With the help of Joy and Courtney, he slowly opened up about his past and my heart sank. It was hard to listen to him confess all that he had done, from all the drugs he’d done, trying to impress people, things that he’d do to keep his reputation, all the way to trying to commit suicide. After he was done, he began to weep. I scooted over and wrapped my arm around him, and tried to comfort him. I explained how I also struggled with impressing others and keeping a reputation for men instead of God. (Gal 1:10) Kevin explained that he knew he should get saved but he didn’t know how to turn from his friends, how God could forgive him, how he could even forgive himself, or how to give EVERYTHING to Jesus. Then God asked me a question: “Jake, do you even give EVERYTHING to Me?” …..Wow. My buddy Drew would refer to this as a “Jesus slap.”….. God then told me to ask Kevin a simple question: “Kev, do you know what GRACE is?” Kevin had never heard of the word associated with God, Christianity, or the church. I explained grace for a few brief moments and persisted to tell him that God loved him and that the reason we wear crosses around our necks is cuz of this thing called grace. Before I knew it, God was leading Kevin in the prayer of salvation through me. This convo took bout 45 minutes and the rest of the group was waiting on us. So we said a quick prayer for Kev afterward and told him we’d see him Sunday. He walked us out with such an expressive joy that I haven’t seen in a long long time, and as we stepped outside the gate, Brian came rollin in from work. Excited as ever, Kevin turns to me and tells me: “Jake, we must save Brian today! Will you pray with us?” It was unbelievable. My mind was going crazy. Here I was leading this guy to Christ, and now he’s smackin me upside the head wantin to save his best friend. Now after meeting up with the whole group, we all walk back to Brian’s house, sit down in his living room, talk to him for a little bit, and lead him in the prayer of salvation!!! It was a good day.
Turns out Kevin taught me just as much as I taught Him. He taught me to give EVERYTHING to Christ and I got to teach him about the grace of God. Thank God that Joy and Courtney were there to back me up. So, thanks a lot to the Holy Spirit, Francis Chan, and Kevin for helpin this crooked soul stand up straight.
Oh and I just finished planting a church today in a place called Kiserian with my friends Kelsey, Jeff, Marla, Taylor, Omosh, Machel, Ben, Sam, Fred and a few others. So that was amazing.
P.S.
Family and friends, our whole missions team has been fasting from many different things, and one of those happens to be face book and e mail. Just so ya know. Aub, Joe, Kay, Ma, Pa, Granith, and Auntith and the boys, I would appreciate it if ya’ll would still send me messages on FB telling me what the heck your summer has been like so far and how you’re doing. :]
If ya’ll wanna know what I’m thinking, listen to “take off my shoes” by delirious… it’s what my heart is singing right now.
Shout out to my boy ROYCE!!!… Prayin for ya, bro! Please send me a message on FB to tell me what God is doin and what I can be prayin for. Love ya, man.
Sorry this was so long… longest “P.S.” ever.
Grace and peace,
Jake Smith
