This here was what I shared to some younger folks who had some brush-ins with the law. Our church team held a Christmas party for them and I was invited to share a few words.
At first I wasn’t sure what to share but then I was just led to give them a message of hope in God’s timing, just right for the theme of Christmas. This might also be what I share on the Sunday before Christmas… I might just embellish on it a little more.
Let’s remember the story of Moses.
Before Moses, the Israelites were slaves. They were under the power of Pharaoh, and of Egypt.
Moses was a runaway prince who was called by God in the wilderness, and when he did as He commanded, the Israelites were eventually set free.
After Moses, the Israelites were free men and women. They were now under the power of God, guided by a pillar of clouds by day, and a pillar of fire by night.
Does all this sound familiar?
Let’s remember the story of Christ.
Galatians 4:3-6 begins, ‘In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.’
Before Christ, we were vulnerable slaves, under the power of the flesh, or the god-less, base things of this reality; We were dominated by sin, enslaved to ‘elementary principles’; other translations say ‘elemental spirits’.
The Scripture continues: ‘But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son… so that we might receive adoption as sons.’
According to God’s wisdom, and when the time was ripe, it was then that God sent His Son. It was then that Christ decided to step away from the timeless heavenlies to the bordered, finite world; It was then that Christ was born.
And Christ was sent, friends, to save us who were slaves to the world by giving us adoption as sons.
After Christ’s finished work in this reality – His birth, His death, His resurrection and His ascension – we are now children reconciled to God, whom we now call our Father; We are now under the power of the Spirit, and freed in righteousness unto eternal life.
And just to get the point through to these folks, because I was warned beforehand that they were learning more towards Tagalog, I told them:
Nililigtas tayo ni Lord, binibigyan nya tayo ng biyaya, at tinutulungan tayo – sa tamang panahon.
In closing:
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:30-31
I told these kids, and actually everyone within the sound of my voice: I don’t know what you’re going through, I don’t know what you’ve gone through, I don’t even know what you will go through, but you should know that it’s okay for you to be faint. It’s okay for you to be weary, and it’s okay for you to fall exhausted.
But we should keep on going, not relying on our own strength, but rather operating out of hope.
We stand on hope that is based on the Truth that God saved the Israelites at the right time, and more importantly, that God sent Christ to save humanity, in the fullness of time.
We stand on hope that states that this same God, who is for us and not against us, who is with us and will never leave nor forsake us – This Father we have will help us, will bless us, will teach us, will raise us up… all in the right timing.
Just don’t forget what we talked about here today:
Niligtas tayo ni Lord, binibigyan nya tayo ng biyaya, tinutulungan tayo sa tamang panahon.
It was a good party, a good experience for me personally. I saw, first-hand, how even after we fed them and entertained them with games and gifts, they still insisted, in the limited time that they had, for us to separate into pairs, to listen to them one-on-one. These folks needed someone to listen to, and we were glad to oblige – we were hoping, however, that we would give each of them the greatest value in the mere minutes we had with them.
I had the opportunity to speak words of encouragement to a youth. He quickly told me about his situation – how he got where he was, and where he was headed. I told him I would pray for him and his family, and he was thankful… but we parted ways with both parties blessed. I mean, I know I said I encouraged him, but he was the one encouraging me – because, even in his situation, he was the one telling me, reminding me that God would never leave us nor forsake us, that God is for us and not against us. He was the one telling me that though he had reasons to be worried about what lay ahead for him, he was actually more excited to meet new people, and, in his words, share God’s goodness to them.
Of course, there was still some doubt in my mind, thinking that this kid had everything he had to say all scripted… But I’d like to believe that amidst the doubt, it takes the smallest amount of faith to say what he had to say – and I prayed towards that. I thanked Christ for being the Author of this young man’s faith, but I also prayed that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He would continue to nurture said faith. Indeed, we can plant and water, but it is God who gives the growth, and I prayed and am still praying for an exponential growth of this young man’s faith.
The team who regularly goes to visit these folks has been asking me for the longest time to go with them, and now that I did, I’m just glad that I finally obliged. I’m not sure how we would move forward from here, but now that I have some on-hand experience, now that I’ve been exposed to this ministry, there’s no doubt that I would be devoting more of myself to it – this is a ministry that prioritizes quality over quantity.
Just thought I’d share this.
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