Tuesday With Teri

          I talk to TVs.  There, I said it.  I am not ashamed to admit to the world that I am that person in the room who feels compelled to talk back to the television characters. It is just too difficult to sit there and not state the obvious.   Perhaps the most difficult time I have is when I am watching a scary scene unfold.

          Why is it that when the victim enters the darkened room they never notice the “bad guy” lurking behind them?  Why does it take so long for the heroine to realize she needs to scream for help…doesn’t she notice there is danger right around the corner? Of course not, that is why I need to tell them, so I shout… “Look behind you dummy!!!!!”, “Turn around!”, or “Don’t open that door!!!”, and my favorite, “There’s a shark fin!  Swim for your life!”

          So often the predicament these characters get into are the result of them not being aware of their dire circumstances.  It may look obvious to others, but they refuse to see the eminent harm no matter how loudly I shout at them.  They need to be rescued, helped, or saved and yet they have no idea of such a need until it is too late.

          I think it is just as easy for us to become unaware of our spiritual need to be rescued, helped or saved.

          I had a dear friend who had a challenging life.  She had fallen into a dark and dangerous lifestyle before she discovered Jesus.  She learned of a God who loved her no matter what and desired to give her forgiveness for her sins.  She knew she did not deserve His love or forgiveness, but she asked God to forgive her through His son Jesus Christ.  She never stopped being aware of how much grace she was given, or how much she continued to need it.  She exuded a constant love for our Lord.   

          Her sins were no greater than my own.  The world might judge our lives differently, but to a Holy God, “sin” is anything that separates us from Him….and in that, all sins are equal and all need equal forgiveness and grace.  Sadly I forget at times just how forgiven I am and the great amount of grace bestowed on me each day.  I needed saving from my sins.  I needed to be rescued and I need His help in all things.

          In Luke 8:37-38 we read the account of a woman who truly understood her need.  No one had to shout to her and alert her to her need to be saved or rescued.  NO one else needed to convince, or convict her of her need…she already understood.

“And behold there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He(Jesus) was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet, and anointing them with perfume.”

          Stop and try to picture this carefully….in the image you have of this event, how long is this woman’s hair?  I have had long hair before, but even when I picture this woman with luxuriously long tresses, the reality is that in order for her to wipe the feet of Jesus with the “hair of her head” she would have to have her face disturbingly close to the feet as well.  Our Christ did not wear closed toed shoes, nor was He a regular partaker in pedicures.  No doubt the last place you would want to put your face was near anyone’s feet at that time.   

          I encourage you to close your eyes and picture this moment once more.  This time notice a broken hearted woman, lowering herself as low as she possibly can while drawing as close as she could to the one she knew could save her….the weight of her sins pressing down on her and a torrent of unstoppable tears of grief pouring forth. …surely our Christ could feel her breath on his feet as she feverishly wiped them with her hair.

         The room was full of people who unbeknownst to them carried a sin burden no less than her own.  Yet because she recognized her need for salvation, she would be the only one that day to hear, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

         Today you may be challenged to remember the debt of sin for which you have been forgiven and to live your life as a recipient of amazing grace and therefore a giver of grace to others.

          Perhaps you have never acknowledged sin in your life, sin that separates you from God.  God’s word tells us that we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 1:23, “God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8 ……and best of all… “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans10:13!!!!!