A Gospel Touch

I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. John 3:11-21

Howard Thurman, co-founder of the first interracial church and pastor to the Civil Rights Movement, once confessed to his students there were parts of him that the Gospel had not yet touched. I think about that a great deal—that as Christians, we hide the ‘sickest’ parts of ourselves from the Gospel’s healing light. In this day’s devotion, we read of the comparison between light and dark and between those longing for a Gospel touch and those fleeing to the corner’s darkness.

About once a week, my parents baby-sit our 5 month old son, Garner—it is their opportunity to love, dote, and spoil. On occasion, Kim and I return to Garner’s inconsolable cry—a burrowed bottom lip, red eyes, and a snotty nose. As Kim and I step close, he reaches out for us and, within a couple minutes, quiets himself. He longs to be touched by those whom most often care for him. He comes to what is, for him, the consistent light and he longs to have every portion of himself touched and embraced by us.

If the Gospel were to simply nudge the hidden portions of our life, a great spiritual renewal would take place. From a touch, Christ healed the leper, raised the dead, brought hearing and speech to the deaf and dumb, and, when a woman touched the edge of Christ’s cloak, her twelve years of bleeding dried. When we invite the touch of Christ, our cries and fears and secrets are healed.

Lord, help us to long and cry for your embrace; to want nothing more than for every part of us exposed to your grace and mercy.

~ by blogger on 02/16/2009.