The Sinner's Prayer

What if true faith was more than just praying a prayer and hoping beyond hope that your life will magically change for the better?

What if true faith requires action?

What if I walked up to you and said, "Do you know Jesus?" Let's pretend that you don't. Let's pretend I walk up to you, a complete stranger, and ask that question. I don't say "hi" or introduce myself. Yeah, I figured, that would be freaky.

What if I saw you in line at the grocery store and I saw your eyes when everything was rung up and I knew that there wasn't going to be enough to pay for it all. That I knew you were mentally calculating what you would have to put back. And I swiped my card and simply said, "Happy Thanksgiving!" and then followed the grocery guy out to my car.

That, my dear, is knowing Jesus. "Do unto others what you would have them do unto you." I would want you to have that pecan pie for your Thanksgiving dinner. And the Cool Whip. And I certainly don't want your babies to see you struggle to pay for the biggest turkey they had ever seen!  

I wouldn't hand you a tract. I would just offer you a little bit of love. But I wouldn't take the credit for it. Because it wasn't mine to give anyways, it all comes from Thee One who provides for us all.

A Pastor friend of mine asked me that very question yesterday. He asked me if I thought that we were turning people away with our belief system. I told him how many times I had prayed and asked Jesus into my heart when I was younger and how I felt so defeated and guilty when I would mess up because I couldn't quite understand why I wasn't perfect and why I kept sinning.

You can't come to know Thee One who dies to forgive you until you know His ways. And the only way to see that is to meet His people.

Working in the nursery Sunday mornings so young mommies can attend service and maybe just think and feel like an adult for an hour? That's Jesus.

Holding the door open for an older woman on a windy day? Jesus.

Loving someone even when they are very open about the fact that they don't and probably won't ever believe in God? You guessed it. Jesus.

Because the only way I came to saving faith was when His love was demonstrated to me. Women who knew my shame and loved me anyways. They showed me Jesus. My Grandma Troupe not turning away from me when I got pregnant at 18, instead being happy for the new life that was coming. Jesus. My mama never lecturing me about all of the bad but instead praying every.single.day that I would remember that I was a child of Thee King. Lots and lots of Jesus.

Once you get to know Him. See and feel His love...that's when you will fall on your knees in worship and complete surrender and your heart will burst and you will tell yourself, "This. This is love."

And you will want to be Jesus to your world.