If you are willing…

Hey Friends,

It’s about 10:00 PM and I just got home from the National Youth Worker’s Conference in Columbus, Ohio. What an amazing adventure it was this past weekend. The team had an incredible time. The worship was authentic and spirit-filled. The teaching was biblical and relevant. It was all about conversation and relationship in the context of building up youth ministries that remain faithful and obedient to God. 

I can look back to so many things from this weekend to highlight, and I’ll eventually get to those this week. But for now, I just want to leave you with this.  I promise this won’t be boring. 

Last night before I hit the hay on the awesome wood gym floor at Broad St. Church where we were so graciously put up downtown, I stumbled across a passage from the gospel of Matthew. In the passage, Jesus and His disciples are just coming down from a mountainside (8:1-4) In it, there’s a man that the text says is filled with a skin disease-possibly Leprosy. When this man sees Jesus, he comes before him, kneels down at His feet and says, “Lord of you are willing, you can make me clean.” Right at this moment, all power, all grace, all love is in the Savior’s hands. If He is willing, He can make this man clean. Jesus himself has this choice. What an unbelievable moment here for humanity Friends. First off, I’m not sure about you all, but I’m a very prideful man, and when I’m sick, when I’m lost, when I’m hurting-one of the last things I want to do is ask for help. To expose myself in vulnerability. To expose that little darkness that dwells inside of me. But right here in this very text, this man comes before him humbled and in need. Physically he is ruined and spiritually he’s already surrendered himself to the God of this universe who does immeasurably more than we can even possibly imagine. 

So what does Jesus do?

Our Savior, Jesus Christ reaches out His hand and touches the man. He says, “I am willing. Be clean.” I don’t know about you Friends, but this is so unbelievable to me right now. His life speaks to us, “I am willing to take your burdens upon myself, upon that cross so that you may have life.” 

A little earlier this evening, I was at Sheets on Linglestown Rd. filling up the rental van from this weekend. As I was getting into my car, a lady named Josie pulled up next to me. Inside her car, black trash bags filled the back seats and I noticed she had a lot of her belongings in her front seat. She asked me if I was willing to put some gas in her car. Now, you have to understand Friends how much I was graciously given this past weekend by several of my leadership team members. Meals tabs were picked up for me by them, bottled water throughout the weekend was covered by others, $1 chair massages were a luxury to accompany the hard wood floors. 

However, in complete honesty-I really didn’t want to fill her car up with gas. I questioned her motive. I questioned why she’d be driving around in circles in a gas station and how long she might have been doing that and to whom had she already asked the same request for help. And then it hit me Friends, the scripture of the man with the skin disease consumed my mind and my heart. Josie, in complete vulnerability asked me if I was willing to help her, to take a burden from her upon myself. I was also reminded of when Jesus says, “Whatever you do to the least of these brothers and sisters, you do to me.” 

I couldn’t help but take that burden from her. I had to be willing. Friends, this isn’t a story to detail how marvelous a deed I did tonight. Not at all. It’s a plea for us as Christ’s sons and daughters to be willing just like Jesus. To be willing to ignore the people who come up to me and tell me that Josie has been doing this all day around Harrisburg-collecting money from people from gas station to gas station. To ignore the part in my heart that questions and challenges the needy and the lost. And to ignore the devil’s plea to hold onto everything for my own selfish desires.

Friends, I’m so blessed to be on this journey with you at CrossPoint. It’s an absolute honor to serve you and love you. I’m blown away that a perfect God would use an imperfect man like me to bring people to their knees for Him.  Jesus demands that we deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him. He was willing on our behalf for the sake of Salvation. I desire to be willing as well. My hope and prayer is that we, His people would be willing and ready!

So, are you willing? 

In His Dust,

Josh