Norris Family News

We are not worthy

Today I went with an outreach team to a colony in the remote outskirts of Juarez; a place called Granjas del Desierto or “Farmers of the Desert.” The team was taking family portraits much like we did in February so I went along as the logistics coordinator and general facilitator. Early in the morning, God gave me a message for the team which I shared on the bus before discussing the logistics of the day. It was a further development of an idea that has been very influential in our lives and is basically as follows:

There are essentially two worldviews; the biblical worldview that describes God as Creator, Father, and Savior, and the atheist or “weak God” worldview which holds that there is no God and even if there is, he doesn’t care, is capricious, or is just some impersonal force. In the second worldview people (especially poor people in the third world) are merely products of biology. People breed and poor people are just a burden on society that must be managed with social and political programs. But in the biblical worldview every person, rich or poor, is a special creation of God that is precious in His sight. Psalm 139:13-16 describes how God knew us before we were born and that we were carefully crafted by Him. The implications of that truth are vast. Another way to see it is that God, long ago decided that He wanted a friend with Him in eternity that had a specific personality and so He created an individual. All of us are unique and have distinct personalities. Each person, rich or poor, “abled” or disabled, has qualities of personality that God desires, so He caused a unique person to be born with those qualities. I always think of our dear sister Anna, who is about 50 years old, but permanently at a six-year-old level. We have known her for decades and know her as a unique and precious personality who, after the resurrection, will be liberated from her physical limitations and will be uniquely “Anna, friend of God.”

God created each of these precious persons with freedom. In this freedom, true love can occur; but also true rebellion. This is the risk God is willing to take in order to have true friends. Unfortunately, everyone except for Jesus Himself is a true rebel. It is human nature. But even in light of this rebellion, God’s love is unwavering. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In spite of the fact that each unique individual, precious in His sight, has rebelled, God has taken the initiative and given the ultimate demonstration of His love and His desire for relationship with each individual. 1 John 4:9-10 says it again, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us [first, without our meeting any prior condition] and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” This is the Gospel; the good news.

So there we were on the bus, headed out to the Farmers of the Desert to share with them this incredibly good news of new life in Jesus. Were we going on a whim or because it seemed to us like a good idea? No! God, in His love for these people who are each individually precious in His sight, put together a team of people months before and sent them specifically to share this good news. God was entrusting this task to us. What a high honor! What a great responsibility! We are not worthy of so great a task, and yet He chooses to use weaklings like us to share His love. Because if we will go in obedience and get out of the way, then He will speak through us to those individuals He has been preparing to hear the message. As a result five people, that I am aware of, came to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior today!

The psalmist says he would rather be a lowly doorkeeper in the house of God for a single day than live the life of a sinner for a thousand days. I am beginning to understand this. If I knew that I was truly useful to my God, even in a humble task and even for a day, it is enough. And yet God is calling His children to be much more than that. We are called to be co-laborers with Him. All of this is perfectly expressed in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

Praise God!

--Thaine