Written by a Cafe 1040 Student
We took a trip to a very holy and religious city where we went to the banks of an important holy river, to a place where thousands of religious pilgrims come to wash in the water and bring some of the holy water back with them to offer to their gods. This place had a huge statue of a local god looming nearby and everywhere was saturated with temples and priests and incense and pilgrims. Hundreds of people were coming to show their devotion to their favorite god or gods, in hopes that their wishes would be granted. I met three men who had walked 250 kilometers barefoot to get there to demonstrate their devotion to their god. Another man I passed on the street walked two paces and then prostrate himself face-first on the filthy road, doing so repeatedly on his way to a temple, in hopes that his devotion would earn a granted request. They all at different points would go down to the river, strip down to undergarments, hold onto chains attached to steps by the riverbank, and dunk themselves in the water to "wash away the negatives and put on the positives" so they said.
As I stepped down the steps barefoot to the water, it was painful for me to see so many people, so obviously in desperate need for more than they can find in this life, seeking fulfillment in only false hope. What they need is not the water of this river that will only leave them cold and wet as they go home. What they truly need is Jesus, the only living water that can satisfy forever. "What hope do these people have of ever knowing the living water of Jesus as I do?" I thought. As I stepped to the right, my foot nudged one of the chains that the people use to hold onto while they dip in the water. I sat down, the chain between my feet going down into the water, and it hit me. This chain and this river used to be me. Just as these people cling to this chain of slavery to the false hope of proving themselves and earning their way to favor with their gods, so was I, before I knew Jesus, enslaved to the false hope of earning love and fulfillment from the approval of people, to the false satisfaction of achieving success and living up to others' expectations of me. I am no better than these people. I don't deserve the grace of Jesus, as no one does. I cannot answer the question of "why me and not them; why them and not me," except with "thank you Jesus for looking upon me and drawing myself to you."
My heart was simultaneously broken for these people in their hopelessness and in awe and praise of my God who is above all and yet sees me, knows me, loves me, and redeems me. I found only one position to take when faced with such sovereignty and such love, and that is one of surrender and praise to the only one with both the power and authority to give true life, fulfillment, peace, and restoration, both in this life and in the one to come. I am surrendered to him, not so that I can prove my devotion to him in order for him to grant a wish, as these people are trying to do, but because he is the only one who is truly worthy of praise.
I wept there, by a chain on the bank of a river, broken for the people, thankful for the good news of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, remembering how he also brought me from death to life, from this chain and river of slavery to true freedom in himself.
As I wept, someone grabbed the chain, stepped down into the river, and dunked himself. Then another. Seeking, searching, hoping. I wept for the people, I wept for who I had been, and I praised the Lord for who he is. I felt an overwhelming sense of freedom and of peace in the midst of the darkness; if it was not I who had the power to step out of the river, let go of the chain, and find the living water of Jesus in my own life, it is not I who have the power to get anyone else to do the same. It was only Jesus who could save me from bondage and bring me to himself, and it is only he that can do the same for these people. The burden of their salvation or lack thereof is not mine to bear; it's on him. Yes, as his ambassador on this earth I will seek and yearn to make his name known to people who do not know him. But it is he who does the work through me, and I can never do anything of eternal value on my own. If he chooses to work through me to accomplish his plan of salvation in anyone's life, then I will praise Jesus for bringing me in to be a part of his plan. The burden is not mine, the work is not mine, and the glory is not mine. It's all his, and all I can do is surrender to him who holds all things together.
"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than he earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" I can rest in the fact that my Dad's purposes cannot be thwarted or overcome even in the darkest parts of this broken world, and forevermore he will still be a perfect loving father, and the sovereign King of kings.
