About a year ago, I went on a mission trip to Berlin, Germany with a group from Colorado Springs. The trip was amazing and we got to see God reveal His love to the people of Berlin in such a way that brought many to surrender. I truly felt honored that I had been chosen by God to go to Europe and speak to His people; but of course I was chosen. After everything I have done and given up for God- not to mention how much I had grown in Him these past few years- how could I not be? God was lucky He had someone like me ready and willing to go. Wait, what is this called again….pride.
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| The Prayer Wall: 100 years of 24 hour prayer |
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| Lending a helping hand at the Berlin Wall |
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| The House Ball: someone dared us to climb it |
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| Mission trips can be exhausting.. you learn to grab a nap when you can |
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| The Berlin Cathedral |
This is the hardest piece I’ve ever had to write. Coming to the end of yourself is something that MUST happen to each one of us, and I had my turn on the eve of our departure from Frankfort, lying on a bunk at a Mennonite house in Berlin. What happened: I think, for the first time in my life perhaps, I truly saw my own sin. I saw my own hopelessness. I saw my very own faults that caused Jesus to have to die on a cross. I saw my imperfection. But most importantly, in the midst of all this, I saw God’s unconditional, unrelenting, and unfailing love for me….regardless of me.
I've always understood, "For God so loved the world..." (John 3:16), but to come to the realization of my own desperate need of a Savior, and how pathetic and worthless any of my attempts to save myself are, only to find that the absolute, perfect King over everyone chose to die for me! Now if that doesn't cause you to fall on your face and call Him Lord, I don't know what will.
Did you know that if you were the only person on this earth, Jesus still would have come and died just for you? Just so He could be with you forever? This is the kind of relationship God wants so desperately to have with each and every one of us. Whether you accept it or not, there is a God who wanted you so desperately, that He would rather send His own perfect son to die for your imperfection, so He could be with you and see His glory revealed through you…just so you would have the option to love Him back. My friends, this is love.
The truth is, it’s not about you, and it’s not about me. It’s all about Jesus and how good He is. And while it is important to understand your own need of a savior, and to realize you cannot make it on your own, this profits you nothing if you can’t see God’s all-powerful grace at work in your life as a result of His love. So I say enough groaning, enough complaining, enough “I’m only a sinner saved by grace…” If we have truly been saved from sin, then why are we constantly using it as an excuse? As christians, we have been given a new identity. And to say that you are anything less then the absolute, beloved child of Almighty God, is to slap Jesus across the face and say, “You weren’t enough for MY sin.” Talk about pride….
So, the inevitable question arises: If it wasn’t me, then how did I go from hopeless screw up to the child of the King? Simple really:
He chose you
He wants you
He is good
Why do we have to make everything so complicated? It’s not about right or wrong, or what we should do or not do. It’s not even about sin (shocking I know). It’s all about Jesus and how much He loves you.
He set you free, what would happen if we lived like it?
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