We expected maybe five students to come this time, but due to various reasons, only two were able to join us. These two guys have spent a lot of time with the guys on my team this week. I've enjoyed hearing the stories, and it was nice to spend time with them as well.
We had an agenda, but the night didn't exactly go as planned. We talked about sharing the gospel with other students. Then one of the students bravely admitted that he wasn't ready to do so.
He felt far from God. He needed to get closer to God before he could be involved in ministry. He had work to do. He needed help. He was trying, but nothing seemed to be working.
I sat there listening to him and to my teammates and his friend speak truth to him. They encouraged him. They showed him love.
I've been there -- that place of feeling far from God, that place of feeling incapable of being involved in ministry without being a hypocrite, that place of needing help, that place of trying but not seeing change.
Maybe you've been there too. I know some of you have.
Over the years, I have listened to friends express those same thoughts. We don't want to read God's word, or we try and it still doesn't make a difference. We sin, and we feel like we are beyond forgiveness, beyond hope. No matter what truth people say to us, it simply can't be for us. It may be for others, but it's not for us.
My teammates were speaking truth to our new friend, but he couldn't accept that it applied to him. Have you been there too?
In January, I was in that place of feeling far from God, that place of feeling incapable of being involved in ministry without being a hypocrite, that place of needing help, that place of trying but not seeing change. I couldn't pray. I hated prayer. I used to love prayer. I always wanted to pray, but then January hit and things changed.
I shared my new struggle with my teammates and some friends from home. One friend said, "You don't always have to be the one talking. Why don't you just try to listen instead? Maybe God wants to be the one talking."
Her words scared me. I didn't want to listen. I was afraid of what I would hear. I felt like a kid who broke the window after being told to stop playing baseball in the backyard and had to tell her dad about her disobedience and mistake.
But I took my friend's advice (because she always gives good advice). I sat down, and I listened. God didn't speak audible truths to me, but he reminded me of truths and led me to them in his word. He didn't speak the things I was expecting. Instead, he reminded me of who I am in Christ.
It's easy to think we are defined by our sin, by our mistakes, by our inability to pray or be close to God in the ways we expect to be. But that's a lie. If we are in Christ, we are defined solely by Christ.
Tonight, I sat listening, trusting that my friends would speak truth to our friend who is hurting. I sat thinking about how I have had the same conversation with other hurting friends. I sat remembering how others have had the same conversation with me.
Before we ended, one of my teammates asked me if I had anything to add. I said some things, but the main point was: in Christ.
If we are in Christ, it means God sees us in Christ. He doesn't see us in our brokenness; he sees us in Christ.
If we are in Christ, it means we are God's holy ones, the saints.
If we are in Christ, it means we are adopted into God's family. It means we are redeemed. It means we are continuing to be redeemed. It means we are free. It means we are more than conquerors. It means we are loved unconditionally. It means we have the Holy Spirit.
If we are in Christ, it means we will always be in Christ -- now and for eternity.
No lie we begin to believe, no sin, nothing can take that away. If we are in Christ, we are in Christ.
We simply have to take God at his word and trust that he can change us, trust that being in his word will change us.
The book of Ephesians has been helping me understand more and more of this. It's all about Christ -- not just Ephesians but everything. It's all about Christ.
But I still recommend reading Ephesians for some sweet reminders of who Christ is and who you are in him.
Maybe you're reading this and thinking, "Wow. That sounds great, but I don't know what it means to be in Christ." Reader, that's okay. I didn't know what it meant for a long time, but it's changing my life. If you want to know more about it, you can click the "Connect via Google+" tab to the right and send me a message or send me a Facebook message. I would love to talk with you more about being in Christ.
What does it mean to you to be in Christ? How does that change the way you view yourself? How does that change the way you interact with the world?
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