Friday, October 02, 2009

What's Your Angle?

There are some people who have been so incredibly hurt by the very ones who were supposed to love, care for and provide for them. So now, they trust no one...not even God.

I recently had someone ask me in my office what my angle was, what was the "game" I was playing? And what I wanted from him. I had shown compassion, kindness and the love of Christ to him and this just did not compute in his world. He told me he trusted no one. One parent abandoned him at birth, the other parent when he was six years old. He had lived on his own since age fourteen. Trust, love, kindness were foreign concepts to him. He did not know what love or trust was...neither had been modeled in his life. Trust can't develop in children if the ones who are supposed to care and love for them have not been trustworthy. No one trusts someone just because they are the authority in their lives but only as they exhibit trustworthiness over time. So in a sense trust is earned.

And so it would "seem" that because he had been deprived of the love and care every child should have, that God was not trustworthy as well. He had people tell him that Jesus loved him and God could be trusted but he didn't believe it. He also shared that God could never forgive his sin because it was too great. My heart was broken for this deeply, deeply hurt man.

You and I are ambassadors for Christ, His representatives on earth (2 Corinthians 5:20 "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us"). That doesn't mean that we will never hurt someone, or let them down because, let's face it, we still have this thing called "flesh" this side of heaven. However, we never know when someone crosses our path or we talk to a stranger that this may be the only chance this person might have to see "Jesus" and His trustworthiness and His love modeled through Christ who lives in us.

What's my angle? To be the light of Christ to shine for those who don't know Him, so that they will be drawn to Him and experience His love for themselves and so that they, too, could shine the love of Christ to someone else.

God will never let my friend down and in time God will be shown trustworthy to him through God's Word and His promises. In turn, God can use his life in a powerful way, showing His love and trustworthiness through him to the next hurt and broken person.

Psalm 9:10 "Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you."

1 Corinthians 13:6-7 "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

In Christ,
MaryAnn

This year's BINDING UP THE BROKEN-HEARTED: FAMILY AND FRIENDS ADDICTION SEMINAR is shaping up to be our best yet. You won't want to miss it. October 8, 2009 8:30 AM -3:30 PM at America's KESWICK. The $25.00 registration fee covers the sessions, materials, continental breakfast, lunch and snacks. Pastors attend free with 5 paid reservations. Every pastor, youth ministry worker, parent of a teen and loved ones of addicted family and friends should attend this seminar. Call today for your reservation 800.453.7942 or 732.350.1187.

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