I love evangelism. I love to teach it, write about it and be up to my neck in it. I have tried different methods, learned and used tools, even wrote a book about it. I love evangelism, but with it comes a danger that sometimes I forget that no one else needs Jesus as much as I do. I am a dirty, wretched sinner and I can’t do anything to save myself and I must have Jesus to lift me out of the pit of despair, I need Jesus.
I work with great guys, but many of them had to overcome some major troubles. I work with guys who have suffered from addictions to drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling and womanizing. I work with guys who have made mistakes that have cost them a great deal and had to pay for their sins in a way I’ve never had to do. They have to wake up every day with reminders of what they had done, and I am blessed to know that several of these guys have been rescued by the Redeemer. It would be easy to look down on them, because they had sins that were punished by society, but I need Jesus more than they do, because my sin is the most deadly of them all.
Where they have been humbled, I have found pride. Where they are low, I have elevated myself. They are grateful, but I can be spiteful. Jesus spent time with the sinners, because those who called themselves saints rejected Him, they didn’t think they needed Him. They were fine on their own. They grew up in the right home, had the right education and then had the right job and the right kinds of tassels on their cloaks. They didn’t even know that the pride in their heart was the sickness and cancer that would leave them in eternal darkness. More than the sinner, more than the tax collector, the prostitute or the beggar, they needed Jesus. They needed Him to pull them out of the tar pit of pride and arrogance, but the tar covered their eyes and made them blind to their own destruction.
Every day I wake up, there is tar that threatens to cover my eyes. I have gifts and talent, I am a smart guy and I have great problem solving skills. I have an advanced degree, I have abilities, so I often feel I can do it on my own. I don’t need anyone’s help, I don’t need support, I am gifted. I don’t realize that my gift is filthy rags, it’s slime covered filth and it keeps me trapped in a prison of selfishness and bitterness. I become engulfed in my own entitlement, and while the sinners are aware of the need for a savior, I can’t smell the stench that rises from my own life, so more than anyone, I need Jesus. I need Him to take my pride, cleanse me from my selfishness and my unrighteousness. I need Him to take my sense of sufficiency and remember that I am His and everything I do that is great is from Him. More than the gothic teenager, more than the drug using skateboarder, more than the gang member, more than the pervert, I need Jesus to show me my sin, because no one will boycott mine.