The transition from the question ‘Why Am I In This Mess?‘ to ‘Can I Change?’ is wholly dependent on help. A person comes to us often as a last resort. They have tried every bit of counsel and advice that the world can offer. They know they have a problem. They know they are in a mess. They likely made several pit stops before you met them.
This means that they are not likely to quickly trust the only solution that we offer. Their mess hasn’t changed yet so they may be skeptics. Can you blame them? I am quite a skeptic of the world’s offer. You probably are as well.
Therefore, you must go back to the beginning with them. For them to gain an understanding and a trust for what you offer them (Jesus) then they must understand God’s intended design as well as see the interruptions in that design brought about by sin (see last week’s blog post titled Discipleship Beginnings – Made to Marred.)
Why? The work of Jesus is the work that comes to a person who understands their need of Him and Him alone. He isn’t only a ‘get-out-of-hell-free-card’ nor is He simply a ‘felt-need’ healer.
Mended – A seeker who meets the creator that made them and encounters the sin that marred them can not meet the ultimate mechanic that mends them. This is salvation. This is the ‘New Creation’ transformation. This is the point that angels celebrate and churches rejoice over. We focus at the onset on three points to our mending:
1 – We are Mended by Jesus and Jesus alone who came on a rescue mission to seek and to save that which was lost. No other mechanic will do. No greater love exists than the love of God expressed thru the life, death and resurrection of Christ.
2 – We come to Jesus by grace alone through faith alone. As we do this, He transfers us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light! We are given the inheritance of salvation that restores and mends the relationship that we had back at the beginning.
3 – Why don’t we just get beamed up to heaven when we extend faith in God through Jesus? He doesn’t transfer us into that Kingdom instantaneously because He has a new life for us here and now not just there and then. We get to be a part of His mission that He prayed for in that model prayer – Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are raised up to walk in new life at the point of salvation until our final mortal breath.
Once mended, what now? Do all of our problems just dissolve? That’s for next week!
[Admin Note: This is part 4 in a 7 part series. You find the others in the series here.]