Letter #43 (Whosoever Will)

Dear Small Church Pastor,

     I was reminded of something recently that I want to share with you.  Allow me to give a brief backstory for the comments I want to make. 

     A group of us were working to help someone who is living a terrible existence to get housing after a fire took everything from the individual.  As we worked, the life and current situation of that person was discussed.  As we talked about everything that had occurred over a lifetime that had begun so promisingly and turned into a pitiful situation of degradation, addiction and poverty, the Holy Spirit reminded me that Jesus came to give freedom to that person.  He reminded me that, as long as there is breath, there is hope.  He reminded me that Jesus came for “whosoever will believe in Him.”

     You may have someone in your community about whom you have asked yourself if he/she is redeemable.  You may have witnessed multiple times to the person.  You may have helped financially.  You may have given your time and effort to do whatever you could to try to lead that person to have faith in Jesus.  You may have endured some hardship in order to try to meet a need the person had.

     Then, after your efforts, the life doesn’t seem to make any changes.  The same destructive behavior appears.  The old ways draw him/her back into the darkness after a brief season of light tried to shine through into a heart.  And you ask yourself if a person can reach a place where there is no redemption possible.  Allow me to remind you again—as long as there is breath, there is hope.  Jesus came for “whosoever will.”

     Always remember that the “unredeemable one” you may know could have been you.  You could be the addict, the homeless wanderer, the desperate thief and liar.  But you aren’t, and your status with God is determined because you became a “whosoever will” one day.

     Someone did not give up on you.  Someone kept praying, kept witnessing, kept teaching, kept on giving and talking to and helping—YOU.  Were you past the point of redemption in someone else’s eyes but not in God’s eyes?  Were you the black sheep of the family?  Were you the one no one could trust?  Were you like that person whose house burned to the ground and was left homeless with few, if any, people who would do what they could to help because of how you had treated yourself and others?

     Keep on trying to help.  Keep on praying and witnessing and reaching out.  Keep on trying to let some spiritual light shine into that life.  As long as there is breath, there is hope.  Jesus came for all the “whosoever will’s” of this world, even those who are called “unredeemable” by a community.

Sincerely,

A Small Church Pastor