From The Desk of David

The scene was far too familiar. The dark clouds in the sky didn’t quite fit the normal ambience of the familiar coffee shop. Warm coffee hung in the air, inviting all to stay just a little longer. The familiar blend of coffee bean grinders, keyboards clicking, and unheard conversations surrounded me. In front of me, a dear friend. Our conversation would begin as friendly, but soon which turn to tense and uncomfortable. The friend would go on to share that they had messed up – again. Falling into the same pattern of sin and giving into human brokenness, my heart would begin to break.

I would soon begin to attempt to offer something to make him feel better. Sure, I didn’t skirt around the fact that what he did was wrong. But I didn’t want him to live in that guilt. Inevitably, I am sure I made myself look like a fool. Looking back on it, nothing I could instead have taken away the guilt, and that made me feel like I had failed at being a friend.

Flash forward to a few days later, I would find myself sitting in the parking lot of a Chick-fil-A, talking to one of my dearest and best friends. I’d end up sharing about the situation that occurred a few days prior, perhaps an attempt to alleviate my guilt about being a bad friend, but what I would find, wouldn’t be an alleviation of guilt, but freedom from it. He’d say it as if it wasn’t the earth-shattering truth that it was, he’d move on quickly, apparently unaware that he had just rocked my world. 

“People who constantly confess to you their sins and never act, use you to clear their conscience, not mend their souls.”

Cam Pape

He’d go on to do what a good friend and mentor does – get in my face. But it wasn’t out of malice, it was out of wanting what’s best for me. You see, I think this issue is far more common in the church then we care to admit. Those who raise the church and are passionate about reaching the lost, we inevitably accept the responsibility of saving individuals as ourselves and fail to what realize that we do not have the power to do it. Cam would go on to say another profound thing that I think the church desperately needs.

“We were told to carry one another’s burdens. Burdens are hardships and griefs of life. We aren’t called to carry the sins of others. Only Jesus carried the burden of sin.”

Cam Pape

It would take a few days for me to completely process everything that come out of that conversation, sitting in the Chick-fil-A parking lot. But eventually I had a realization. Isn’t this the same lie that Eve believed in the garden? That she had the potential to be like God. And maybe that was a lie that I fell into was sitting in a coffee shop, that I, a broken individual, have the potential to rescue someone from their sin. Rescuing someone from their sin is never our responsibility. And praise be to God for that. Because I don’t know about you, but I would make a horrible Savior. Our own fickleness and egos would make us horrible saviors.

Growing up in the church and in the young leadership circles, I remember hearing constantly that it was my responsibility to go and share the gospel. But what if I misunderstood? You see, it is not the responsibility of the follower of Christ to bring the gospel and brings healing, it is just the Christian’s responsibility to be the vessel in which the Holy Spirit can move and work. There is nothing in any of us that has the power to save someone from their sins, because if there were, we would have a need for a Savior in the first place. So maybe next time you find yourself sitting in a coffee shop, listening to a friend talk about their brokenness, maybe instead of offering advice for words of wisdom, it is playing them to the true King, the king they can actually be a balm to their soul and heal. In the Gospels, Jesus once said that His yoke is easy and his burden is light, enough because he’s strong enough to carry all of our sins and brokenness. And that dear friends, is good news.