I Too

9.1.2010

Psalm 70:5 5 But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay! ESV

Much of our present day evangelical theology is faulty – we in the church somehow feel the need to call the sinner a sinner. The problem with that is he knows he’s a sinner; he has no qualms with that at all. But he also knows he isn’t loved and he can’t quite figure out why the church doesn’t love him. So he lashes back in defensiveness that the church is a bunch of hypocrites who cannot tell the truth; and the battle rages from there seemingly never to be settled.

But even sinners get broken, and when they do they’re looking for answers and the pain is real, and they want fixed; they may not want God but they do want fixed. That is when we in the church have a golden opportunity to call out like David, “But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay!” Sinners need to see the life of Jesus in our behavior and the brokenness of Christ in our speech. Sinners don’t need to be condemned by the churchy; they need to get to the place where they too, before God, cry out, “I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God!”

Yes, sinners sin, but the truth is I do too. I need to be a spirit-filled, spirit-led witness and look past their sin to their potential in Christ and share His salvation from a heart that says, I too am poor and needy and without the Lord, I am doomed. I cannot excuse their sin but I can say with conviction and love, but for the grace of God, there go I…

Father in Heaven,

You are the Eternal Healer, Helper, and Friend to the sinner who gets to the place where he recognizes his sin without my help. Help me to love and minister love, and witness to sinners around me that but for Your grace, there go I – in Jesus’ Name, amen.