Years ago I attended a men’s prayer breakfast. Mr. Larry Carlson was the speaker. He was director of Youth Haven, a Christian nonprofit organization that operates two ranches, one in Arizona and the other in Michigan – and, by the way, they take no government money. At these ranches, the staff ministers to children ages 7 to 12 who come from the worst imaginable family situations. One child, after hearing Larry Carlson talk about Jesus, came up and asked, “Why did Jesus’ parents give Him a swear word for a name?” Don’t laugh. We religious people are tempted to be smug in our beliefs and to look down on others. Pharisees are not extinct. What does Jesus say? “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).
When Mr. Carlson shared that story, he went on to explain to us that everything in the young lives of these children has been damned. In so many families, Jesus Christ has been misused to cuss out the wife, to cuss out the husband, to cuss out the police, the company, the neighbor – and Jesus Christ was used to cuss out the young, impressionable child. Youth Haven is serving seriously disadvantaged children who will never be able to repay them. Serving people who will never be able to repay us. Get it? The promise of the resurrection at the end of time, the promise of the heavenly banquet where we unworthy sinners will be guests – that is repayment enough.
Adapted from “In All Good Works Increasing” in “Word Alive,” my new collection of sermons available from www.tripillarpublishing.com
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