Desperate For A Savior

The other morning my husband found my dad’s empty meth stash. My mom has stage-4 kidney cancer and my dad has been staying with us to help us fix up a place for her to live on our property. I suspected my dad was using again, and I asked my husband to try and confirm it.

My dad is a drug addict and an alcoholic, and I swore I would never put myself in a position where I had to depend on him again. My dad left me and my mother when I was about 2 years-old. But when my mom came to live with us this past Spring, it seemed like the only option we had at the time was to ask for my dad’s help. This is real life for so many people besides me. There are people in the church who, just like me, have a parent who is a drug addict or alcoholic. Or who have children who are drug addicts or alcoholics, or siblings who are drug addicts or alcoholics. There are people in the church who are trying to overcome sexual abuse, or who are dealing with sexual abuse. This is real life on planet earth for so many.

You cannot minister to people like this by offering them their “best life now” because we aren’t looking for that. We are looking for a Savior, not a Disney-version of Jesus. We are so far beyond any cookie-cutter version of God that much of the church seems to offer nowadays. We don’t care about promises of financial prosperity or “5-steps to a happier self”. We are hungry for a real, sovereign God Who offers much needed salvation from a very broken world and a life full of hurt and disappointment. We are desperate for a God Who can reach down into the mess with a strong, sovereign hand and draw us to Himself and never let us go.

We need a God Who knows what it is like to be human. A God Who was born in a barn to a young couple who weren’t quite sure what they were involved in. A God Who has experienced real life in this broken world. A God Who knows what it’s like to be betrayed and lied to and rejected. A God Who can show us how to love those who have hurt us, because He lived it—because He was hurt by those He loved, and He loved them back anyway.

Maybe you need a God like this too. And beloved, I would love for you to know Him. His name is Jesus Christ.

(Matt 1:20-23) …an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”

(Isaiah 9:6,7) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

(Posted on Facebook 12/14/2020 Talitha Koum)