BE THE MESSAGE ~ Alexis A. Goring ~ Devotional

BE The Message

A devotional by Alexis A. Goring

“Some people are hurting so bad you have to do more than preach a message to them. You have to BE a message to them.” – Joyce Meyer

People. Hurting people. They are everywhere.

The homeless in the parks and on street corners begging for money just to make it through the day … The child on the school playground who was picked last for the team … The teen who is bullied by their peers to the point where they consider suicide … The young adult who is failing out of school … The middle-aged adult whose career dreams have not come true … The people around the world who are being persecuted for their faith … The athlete who has a perfect body but a troubled heart … The parent who struggles to provide for their child … The atheist who is facing death.

Pain in this human experience on Earth is inevitable. But what do people do when they are hurting and have no hope? Followers of Jesus Christ know that you always have hope when Jesus is your Savior. But people who do not know Jesus yet live without hope and when life hits them hard, they cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. This results in despair and sometimes, suicide. But I’m here today to tell you that there is hope! His Name is Jesus.

Jesus Christ loves you with his very life! In fact, He thinks you’re worth dying for! So He did. The Bible says in John 3:16 (NIV): “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

But Jesus didn’t stay dead in the grave. After three days, He rose to life! He spent time visiting His disciples and followers here on Earth to let them know He is alive and then He went home to Heaven, where to this day, He is our High Priest and Mediator before God. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection that completed the plan of salvation for human souls, when God sees a sinner (we humans are ALL sinners), He sees His Son who died for that person so God doesn’t give us the death sentence (Romans 6:23); He gives us grace and mercy. We have a second chance at making it to Heaven thanks to Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. Heaven is a truly perfect place that is free of death, pain, sin and sorrow. And that message is hope for a hurting world!

Sometimes, though, hearing a message of hope is not enough. Joyce Meyer said, “Some people are hurting so bad you have to do more than preach a message to them. You have to BE a message to them.”

So how do we BE the message of hope for a hurting world?

I cannot speak for every Christ-follower, but for me, I believe that we can be the message by living according to God’s Will. The Bible is clear on what God requires of us. According to Micah 6:8 (NIV): “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

When we act justly, we uplift the poor, we relieve the oppressed and we help to heal the hurting people. When we love mercy, we forgive those who have offended us and share God’s grace with those who need it most. When we walk humbly with our God, we put others before ourselves and treat everyone how we want to be treated. Essentially, we show the world that Jesus is our Savior and we teach them that He is the only way to Heaven.

According to John 14:6-7 (NIV), Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

After Jesus rose from the grave and visited his followers, even they had trouble understanding that He was the way to Heaven. According to my True Identity Bible in a boxed quote that is based on John 14:6-7 and titled, “He Is: The Way and The Truth and The Life,” Jesus Christ’s disciples had their doubts about how to follow Jesus now that He was going to Heaven. But Jesus, as the Master Teacher, was patient. He didn’t preach a sermon; He showed them the way. Let’s read what this excerpt on page 1539 of my True Identity Bible says:

“Thomas and the others wanted to follow Jesus but didn’t know the way he was going. Jesus plainly stated that he is the way and the truth and the life. Rather than sermonizing about a complicated set of directions to reach the heavenly Father, Jesus made the way simple: Really know me. When you are lost, would you rather look at a map or follow a person who knows the way? The same is true for coming to Jesus. What an unsaved person needs isn’t a complicated explanation but someone to show her the way to himself (see also Acts 4:12).”

I like this key point: What an unsaved person needs isn’t a complicated explanation but someone to show her the way to himself. People who are hurting and don’t know Jesus yet need us to, as Joyce Meyer says, “BE the message!” There’s a SONG: People Need the Lord by Steve Green that really drives my point home. The song is called “People Need the Lord.”

Allow me to share my paraphrase of this music message with you.

The music artist (Steve Green) says that he sees people every day with worry in their eyes. He knows that they’re experiencing pain that they keep private. He says that they are fearful every day. He hears their silent cries that they cover up with laughter. He knows that sometimes, only Jesus hears their cries and knows the depths of their desperation. But then he gives the listener to his song a call to action! He says that Christ-followers are called to share Christ’s Light and God’s Word with all of the hurting people in this world. We are to seek the lost and help them find Jesus. We are to show people that Jesus Christ is the way to Heaven and He not only saves souls, He also restores broken hearts!

People are literally dying without hope! They are craving something that only God can give. But what they may not know is that Jesus is the hope they seek! God loves them and He is the only one who can truly satisfy their hunger! And it’s up to us who follow Jesus and believe in God to show the hurting people that there is hope, that God loves them and that Jesus wants to be their Savior and their Best Friend.

We need to do more than preach this message of hope and salvation to the hurting world; we need to BE the message!

The world is waiting for a message that heals their hurting heart. Will you who know Jesus Christ go share this hope, this healing and these words of life with those who need it?

~*~

Author Bio: Alexis A. Goring is a passionate writer with a degree in Print Journalism and an MFA in Creative Writing. She loves the art of storytelling and hopes that her stories will connect readers with the enduring, forever love of Jesus Christ.