I woke at 4:20 am today, just before my husband’s alarm went off. I snuggled a little closer to him and an overwhelming feeling of gratefulness came over me. My man of 30 years woke up, like he has almost every day of his life, and went to work to take care of his family . He would easily be a cave man if we weren’t around. My burly, strong, tough, love of my life doesn’t need frills. And as he put on his pressed dressed shirt and slipped into his engineering role for the day, I admired just who he is. He is certainly the man God gave me! And he is certainly the man God made him to be. He is a professional at work, but when he comes home and throws on those jeans and gets dirty fixing cars or building projects, he is every bit the rugged Marine who doesn’t know what “too tough” means. He is exactly who he needs to be wherever he needs to be it.
I put out his lunch and he kissed me as he left. I rustled around in my bed a few minutes before making my coffee, my kick-start for the day and the calm before the storm of life wakes up around me. I looked out at the beautiful still-night sky and know that in a short time, the rest of the house will wake up too. I couldn’t help but ponder my man’s amazing ability to adapt to his environment in order to care for us. It such a reminder to me that I need to do that for my sphere of interactions as well. And although I don’t run off to work each day, opportunities abound for me to touch and relate to everyone I’m in contact with. But it has to be as genuine and heartfelt as my husband’s desire to be wherever he needs to and do whatever he needs to because of his love of family. I need to love everyone around me enough to meet them right where they are at, to be who they need in their lives, so that I can love them to Jesus himself. It’s a responsibility I need to take as seriously as my husband does. We can’t expect people who need Jesus to come looking for us to tell them! We need to meet them where they are at, become like them in ways that touch their hearts, so they want the Jesus we have.
New testament Paul knew this. He lived in a Greek and Roman world. He faced Jew and Gentile everyday! He knew exactly this concept and the impact it would have. In 1 Corinthians 9:21-23 he explains it like this: “To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (NIV)
If we aren’t who people need us to be, without compromising the Truth that we have committed to be, we may have no influence on this world at all! Do you have someone in your life who needs you to be compassionate? Do you have someone who needs you to be strong? Do you have someone who needs you to speak truth into their chaos? Maybe you have someone who just needs you to hold their hand while they walk through a tough circumstance….Be it! Change your outfit if you have to, slip into the dress shirt of the world, per se, that needs you! …..so that by all means possible, you might save some!
Kristan Russell 