Reinstating True Identity

It happened again. But this time it was worse than when it happened a few years back. A well known man in the church was drunk and stumbling in the streets. This time some of the kids who looked up to him saw him. Word got around the village quickly. The man's face who was always at the front of the church, was now the topic of the gossip around town.

I've seen this happen several times growing up in church.  A leader falls, people start talking, he/she are asked to step down and then they're never seen again.

Luckily, this story headed a different direction.

I have worked pretty closely with this guy since I got here.  God has changed him completely since I came in 2009, and yet he had a slip up.  But this slip up was not an indicator of who he is or how Jesus saw him. Luckily, this time around there were enough people inside of the church who know who he really is.

The next time I saw him he stood outside of the property of the church that he dedicated himself to so faithfully.  His head was held low. Emily and I ran up to him to hug him. I'd envision Jesus doing the same thing, but more like an all out tackle.  We talked a little. Then the pastor, whom he had apparently been avoiding, walked up to him. They talked. The pastor told him he was more than welcome to come in the property lines, come to church, that he had been looking for him and wanting to talk. They decided they would talk later.

The next week I had a talk with him after he had been received back by so many, his heart seemed so full. He seemed to be doing well.  He told me that in the past, he had gone to several churches in the area and that no other church would ever treat him with such love like our church community did. My heart welled up with joy.  He said he felt so loved by us, the pastors, and even his kids came and ran up to hug him shouting his name.

"When I first heard what happened, I knew that isn't who you are. You are not that person." I told him. "That love that you felt from all of us, that is the smallest, just the tiniest portion of the love that God has for you." He had no response. He just nodded his head. As I said that, my heart welled up again, and my eyes. He needed to know that. He already knew what everyone else thought. He already knew the gravity of what he did. God wants for him to know how God feels about him, that God did not want him to get swallowed up by an alcohol problem; that God created him for much more. That's what we get to do as believers. Tell people how God sees them.  I believe that when people understand God's heart for them, then they want to know the Father.

God was pouring out this kindness on this guy.  God wants to see him set free.

It confirmed something in my heart that says "This is the purpose of life and the reason for any ministry. People need to know the Father."  I've never been great at group Bible studies, or church ministry.  I don't lead 5 people to Christ per week or see 10 healed a month or complete any other figure that many missionaries can rejoice about. But with those whom we get to share the Father's heart, even if it is only small instances, it is worth anything and everything we can offer. People need to know who they are, who God is, His kindness and liberty, and that He wants them to live in their true identity.