In 2009 I had
the privilege of attending my first Bike Week in Sturgis. The following March I joined several friends
in Daytona to visit, pray, and explore the options of a Daytona Bike Giveaway
similar to Sturgis’ ministry. Needless
to say I was in for culture shock! This
Southern Baptist Preacher had never been anywhere like this in his adult
life! I had been to New Orleans many
years before and seen that culture but never so broadly spread and with this
many people. My first reaction was a
sense of being overwhelmed at a wide-open lifestyle of party heaven. Everywhere I turned I saw people with one
thing on their mind, party until you drop.
This reminded me
of a time years ago as I attended a movie in Tampa along with some good friends
and my wife. As we waited for the movie
time to arrive we stepped next door to a coffee shop. After getting my coffee I stood outside and
began to notice the groups of people.
There were some similar to my crew and then there were some dressed
completely opposite. They were of the
“Goth” lifestyle complete with black and white make-up, chains, and funny
colored hair. They were rather rowdy and
loud using language and having discussions completely foreign to me. At first I was angered at what I saw. I thought to myself they were complete
derelicts, an abhorrence to society.
Then God spoke to me very clearly that night. While His voice was not audible, it was very
clear. He reminded me of several
facts: I created them in my image, I
love them, and I died for them just like I died for you. Those words cut to the very core of my
arrogant and self-centered heart. While
these students were different than me, they were just like me. While they looked differently, they acted in
many ways just as I have many times before.
Their actions while foreign to me were not any different to God than my
actions often times.
He went on to
remind me of a passage of scripture in Matthew 9 where He had just completed
the Sermon on the Mount and gone about healing many people. As a result, many people clung to Him out of
desperation. They followed Him wherever
He went seeking to gain from Him what they so desperately needed and wanted,
love and affection. They had looked for
this in the religion of the day but could not find it. The religious leaders of the day were
ineffective in serving the people because they did not see, nor care to see,
the need of the people. Therefore
Matthew writes this incredible statement about the disposition and compassion
of Jesus when He looked on the mass of people.
Matthew said, “When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So
confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd.” (The Message) Jesus said very clearly to me that night in
Tampa, as well as reminded me in Sturgis and Daytona, that the mass of people
are no different than what Jesus saw that day as He moved among the people. I now must ask myself, “Does my heart break
for these people as Jesus does?” Am I
completely moved with compassion to share with them the Good News of Jesus
Christ?
Carl F. H. Henry
is quoted as saying, "The gospel
is only good news if it gets there in time." We have the commission to carry the
Good News to all mankind regardless of how different they may or may not be
from each of us. In the following verse
of Matthew 9 Jesus reminds each of us that “The harvest is abundant; but the
workers are few.” We see the harvest
before us each day. What type of heart
will we have when we see the people before us?
Will we be broken hearted at their lostness? Will we be compelled to share the God-saving
Good News of Jesus Christ with them? May
we offer the same reply as Isaiah when God called him to go forth as the voice
of the Lord. May our reply be, “Here am
I. Send Me.”
Seeking an
Opportunity to Share,
Pastor Ric
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