EMERGING FROM THE BOX

Unlike most of the people of whom I call friends, including my own husband, I am not a huge “music person”. God has placed in each one of us, a passion you might say, that “speaks to us”. He often uses this “passion” to mold us into the people we are. For the people I am around the most, that passion is music. For me, I am extremely moved by nature and animals; God speaks to me through the beauty of nature and the complexity of animals. That is just how I am wired! So, when Jacqui put out the invite to go to a Journey/Def Leppard concert, I thought it would be cool, but I only wanted to go if a group was going. In college I liked Journey a lot and Def Leppard had a few good tunes I liked, so I thought it would be fun to go. Now Steve loves these two groups and so he was very excited to go whether there was a group going or not.

So, on Friday Steve and I went with Mark and Susie and Jacqui and Rich to the Journey/Def Leppard concert in Concord. Def Leppard was good, but Journey was AWESOME!!! At the end of the Journey concert I turned to Susie and simply said “that was quite wonderful!”. I literally had forgotten how much I loved Journey. However, several times during the concert I would look around us and what I saw was a world I had forgotten about. I saw under aged kids drinking, people smoking weed, young girls dancing and rubbing their bodies on the guys they came with, couples making out and foul language. At one point I asked myself “should I be here?. Am I honoring God in this moment?”. I did not have an immediate answer, but I did feel peace. In spite of that question, I was truly able to enjoy the concert, enjoy my time with my friends and appreciate the amazing musical talent of these men whom God had gifted.

Today, I have been thinking a lot about that concert and about the point of the night when I said to myself “should I be here? Am I honoring God?”. The Lord answered me. This is what He said to me:

John 17:12-19

12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17Sanctify[a] them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Mark 2:17

17On 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."

Matthew 5:13-16

Salt and Light

13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

The answer to my question was “you are IN the world, but not OF the world”. As I was looking at all these people, these lost sheep, I realized that I have lived so long in my “Christian bubble” that I had pulled myself completely out of the world. All my good friends that I spend time with in Vacaville are Christians, every single one. Jesus did not do that. He was not always with his disciples or in the synagogues, he was hanging out with the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the sick and the unloved. He modeled that for me and what have I been doing all this time? I have been living in a box. It is nobody’s fault but my own. My eyes were opened to the fact that God will use us as a light to this lost world no matter where we are. We are not to join the world, but we are not to remove ourselves either. Last night I emerged a little bit farther out of my box and saw a world I have sheltered myself from for the last 9 years. How will they be reached with the love of Christ? I did not expect to learn a spiritual lesson by going to a rock concert, but thank you Lord for using that “secular” event to bring Jesus to the forefront of my thoughts. Lord, teach me how to reach the lost without joining them. Give me the faith and confidence to shine for you even in the darkest places. Help me to emerge farther from my box and TRULY SEE your lost sheep.