A few months ago, I was leaving the grocery store and, as is very common in the area, a man was standing on the street corner. He was holding a piece of cardboard that said something like “Homeless. Veteran. Anything helps.” I didn’t have any money on me and had somewhere to be so as I drove by, I waved to him and went about my way. I didn’t get very far down the road before I felt like I should go back. After stopping by the nearest gas station to get 10 dollars cash back, I made my way back to the parking lot. I parked my car and headed up to the young man. John was his name. I gave John a handshake and asked him what his story was.
Over the next five minutes, I listened to him speak about what was happening in his life. We conversed for a few minutes after that, and I proceeded to hand him the 10 dollars. It wasn’t much compared to what he needed, but his facial expression changed at that moment. He started to reach out for the 10-dollar bill and hand it back to me. “I can’t take this,” he said.
“No, I want you to have it,” I said.
“Most people just give me a couple of bucks and then tell me to go get a job,” John stated.
This took me aback for a second. It was only 10 dollars and he was surprised to receive it.
In this instance, I was reminded of God. Just like John was asking on that corner, God invites us to ask him for what we need.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)
God’s Greatest Gift: Himself
That’s what he did for me. He met me on that street corner, like a beggar at the foot of a king. However, God didn’t just throw a few bucks at me and tell me to get it together. He reached out his hand and gave me everything for nothing. He met me right where I was. That is what he does for you too. He freely gives us the greatest gift on Earth, himself. God doesn’t tell us what to fix in order to be given more. No, he gives us everything when we have done nothing to deserve it.
“1Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.” (Isaiah 55: 1-3)
There is nothing we can give to God that would be profitable for him. So, he freely gives it to us. You have no money for this priceless living water? Then I will give it to you for free with great pleasure. God already paid for it so he could give it to us as a gift. He paid for it with his only Son.
Here we are, beggars on a street corner. God comes into our story and gives us the most valuable thing on Earth for free. Not only that, but he also let his perfect son, whom he so dearly loves, die on the cross to give us this gift.
Giving a few bucks and then telling us to get a job is far from how my Jesus works.
I am incredibly thankful that my Jesus does not tell me to “go get a job.” He isn’t the kind to tell me to get my life together before I can come to him. Jesus came near, all the way from heaven, to hold me in his loving arms.
Love, the truest Love, finds you right where you are.
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” Psalm 34:18
God Pursues Us
It is the brokenhearted ones that Jesus is near to. Someone free of guilt and sin can’t be brokenhearted. So God is saying bring your sin, bring your weakness, and I will be near to you. He wants the broken ones under the shadow of his wings. He does the opposite of what we would expect a person to do. God comes closer when we are covered in dirt. He wraps his loving arms around us, not afraid of the dirt getting on him because it was already put on his son when Jesus died for us.
A.W. Tozer said, “When Adam sinned, it was not he who cried ‘God where art thou?’ It was God who called ‘Adam, where art thou?’”
God is the one who pursues us. His goodness and unfailing love pursue us all the days of our life (Psalm 23:6).
When I come to his throne, I don’t bring what good I have done in my life. That won’t do. All I must bring is the bad. I bring my weaknesses, my mess-ups, my regrets, and my sins. I say, “This is what I have. This is who I am. This garbage is all I can bring to you. Let it plead for me.”
“While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”” (Mark 2: 15-17)
It’s our brokenness that pleads for us because that is what Jesus came down to Earth to save. He came to save the sick and sinners of which I am one. He came near, to suffer for our sake, for our broken pieces. So bring those pieces, every one of them. That is what he wants.
“So Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’” (Luke 15:3-6)
You are being pursued by the living God with perfect goodness and unfailing love. The God of the universe has left his 99 sheep and is going after you. Not to give you a couple bucks. Not to tell you to get a job. Not to tell you to get it all together. He has come to give you the greatest gift. Right here. Right now. For free.
In John 4, it talks about the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman.
“1Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). 3 So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.4
He had to go through Samaria on the way.
Jesus didn’t HAVE to go through Samaria to return to Galilee. In a matter of fact, most people avoided going that way even though it was the shortest route. He “had” to go through Samaria because there were people there that needed him. Even though he doesn’t have to come our way, he does. Though some people may avoid us, he doesn’t. He takes the road less traveled to get to us.
5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans.[b] She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”
10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
You Have Not Because You Ask Not
All it took was to ask. Just ask. Something so simple, but I think we make it something so complicated. If only we knew everything God would give us, we would ask for it. He would give us the all-satisfying treasure found in him so that we would never have a longing in our soul again. We would be redeemed, saved, forgiven, and truly free. We would be given the Holy Spirit to guide us, to give us perfect peace and comfort. We would be given all we truly need. Jesus would satisfy the deepest longing of our souls if we just ask.
11 “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”
13 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
He will give us something life-giving if we only ask. Because it is a bubbling spring within us, we can constantly drink this water and never be thirsty again. It will never run dry. It will always fill the deepest void of our souls. It will always quench our deepest thirst.
All you must do is ask, for everyone who asks receives. Everyone.
By Grace Alone,
Rebekah Elizabeth
Leave a Reply