I recently met a woman. She looked awful. No, really, she looked terrible. Haggard, weathered, worn. Just plain tired. I inquired of this woman what could be the reason behind her tiresome appearance. She informed me of this: "I am exhausted."
No offense, but yes; that is obvious. But of what? Why?
"I don't know."
Really?
"Yes, really," she replied her eyes not even able to shift from the floor to meet my gaze.
You mean to tell me you have no clue what it is that makes you so super-duper sloth-like?
"You got it," a smirk came across her down-turned lips, or at least I think so--my view of her mouth has been impinged by her humped back. "I'm not real sure--well, that's not true. I'm pretty certain my exhaustion does not come from physical labor. And I am quite sure mental stress has nothing to do with my tired state. Emotionally, I am up and down a little. I tend to cry more than usual, but--you know, now that I think about it's--it's spiritual."
What?
"Spiritual!" Her reply came quicker, surer and with a little more passion than she had employed the moment earlier. Her point of reference, which she seemed to be fixed upon, still remained on the floor; yet instead of gazing at the tops of her flip-flopped feet, her eyes had moved forward slightly. She now stared at the tops of my dirty athletic shoes--a good three feet to the better.
I continued my questioning. How could I not? The woman was in distress; I truly desired to be of service. And, selfishly, I wanted to know more.
Prompted not by me, the woman spoke freely. "Spiritual. Yes, that is what makes me so tired, so weary, so, so...sad."
Are you a believer in Jesus Christ? For if so, He has freely given us the gift of eternal life through faith in Him...
"I am, dear sister in the Lord. And this I already know. Yet, yet...I hear from so many other followers of Christ that I must do more to retain my salvation. And because I am not sure if they are wrong or not, I have been re-baptized (once sprinkled for my Methodist friends, and another time submerged for my Baptist friends). I partake in communion often (using grape juice for my Evangelical friends and wine for my Lutheran friends). I sing songs to the Lord (contemporary praises for my young friends and hymns for my aged friends). I pray often (outloud and in tongues for my charismatic friends and silent and reserved for my Catholic friends). You see, the list goes on and on."
Oh. Wow. I do see...
"You do? You see what?" The woman raised her eyebrows, and like a puppeteer, her glazed eyes shifted futher north. She now stared at the heighth of my knees.
I see why you're so tired. Do you not know that none of that matters for your salvation?
"Well..."
Do you not remember that "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16)? As I spoke God's Word, His wonderful Truth, the woman seemed to lighten. Her back rose slightly, bowed with an unseen weight, and her eyes moved up--ever closer to my own.
I continued. "For we are saved by grace through faith and not by works so that no man may boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).
"Oh...oh..." It seemed the modern day equal to the miraculous healing times when Jesus walked the earth in human form. Right before my very eyes, this poor, sad, down-trodden, burdened woman seemed to grasp the desperatley needed balm in the Word of the Lord.
Her eyes were so very close to meeting mine. Who are you? I wondered. Scripture poured from my spirit: "The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out" (John 6:37), "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day" (John 6:39), "He who believes in Me has everlasting life" (John 3:47), "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23), and "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). You see, poor woman, Christ has already done all the work for salvation. You can rest in Him...
With each Word, with every syllable of God's undeniable Truth, the woman morphed physically; mimicking her internal spiritual change. Gradually, slowly her posture straightened and her eyes moved up, up, up... and I saw her face.
The woman...was me.
