It’s currently 12:32 AM on Saturday, May the 4th as I write this. May the 4th be with whoever is reading this. (You’re welcome to all my fellow Star Wars Fans out there)
This weekend on my college campus, we held a conference called “Never Too Young” for students in grades 6th-8th. We had 900+ students on campus, plus their leaders and chaperones. I won’t lie; putting on a conference like this is no small task. It takes a lot of coordination and planning, a lot of volunteers, and a lot of hours of labor. This evening, the students had a worship session. They heard a message from the word, and then we had several activities for the kids to participate in. Things like a big glow-in-the-dark dance party, Gaga-Ball, 9 Square in the Air, Basketball, a few inflatable obstacle courses, and many other activities. I got the honor of helping with many things, but a few of those included helping with setting up the activities this afternoon, wearing a dinosaur costume throughout the duration of the event, helping chaperone the dance party, and then helping tear down the activities this evening.
As I sit here in my bed reflecting on everything, I must say I’m exhausted. Having class all morning and helping all afternoon and evening has me pretty wiped out. I really got to thinking, though, that all the work that we did was worth it, and you know why? There’s a possibility that ONE student had a real interaction with Jesus Christ tonight for the first time or the first time in a long time, and that alone makes it all worth it. In Luke Chapter 15, Jesus tells a parable of a lost sheep that relates to what I’m thinking about.
Starting in verse 4, Jesus says, “4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
So often, I see churches that are so focused on growing and so focused on their attendance numbers but aren’t as focused on the ONE. I believe many churches fail to see the power in the ONE. Not the one hundredth or one thousandth, the ONE. Is there anything wrong with wanting to share the good news with as many people as possible? Not at all, but there is so much power in the idea of the ONE, simply because each and every one of us is that ONE. Jesus left the 99 to come after you and me personally, and I believe that requires a response from us, so how do we respond to that?
There are many ways to answer that question, and it looks different for everyone but for me, it means humbling myself and doing WHATEVER it takes for the ONE, even if it means wearing a dinosaur costume or helping to load a portable Gaga ball pit into the back of a truck at midnight. If doing any of that stuff means that someone has an encounter with Jesus, it’s all worth it. So what is it for you? I challenge you to think about that as you go into this next week. Hope Y’all know that Jesus loves you and so do I!