I had the honor of being asked to speak to a local high school football team on their game day a few weeks ago. The team gathered together for breakfast sponsored by their Touchdown Club supporters. It was a wonderful time together and the energy in the room was electric. The young men in the room were ready to play ball and each game was building upon the last.
After a delicious meal, the cafeteria needed to be cleaned up. Each of the players had assignments and jumped in to perform their duties. I watched the quarterback wipe down tables and play a servant-leadership role that inspired me. As one of the Touchdown Club members and I were walking out, we saw three freshmen players taking out the trash. The boys were trying to move two large trashcans down a wet, rainy road. Trying not to spill it they…well, spilt it. Two trashcans full of trash, eggs, biscuits, pancakes, sausage, bacon, milk (you get the point). They left a mess in the road.
The young men didn’t know where to start. I motioned to my friend to come over and we bent down to help. The poor kids didn’t know where to start. I looked at them and encouraged them saying, “Boys, grab all the plastic and any other trash and put it in the can. Leave the food for the birds.” They were relieved. With the rain picking up, it was all we could do. They were grateful and my friend and I laughed.
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” —Romans 5:6-8 NIV
Sin has left a mess in the road. Sometimes we look at our lives and the state of our souls and wonder how in the world we’ll ever get it all cleaned up. Spiritually speaking, we are 15 year old boys who have no clue where to start or what needs to be done in order to make things right again. We’re incapable of cleaning up the mess in the road. And then, here comes God, stepping into our world as Jesus Christ to clean up the mess; bending down in the middle of the road, getting His hands just as dirty if not dirtier than ours in order to make things right for us with Him.
That’s the beauty of the Scripture above, that while we were sinners—messy and ignorant, incapable of fixing this on our own—Christ died for us, erasing the distance between us and the God who wants us to be close. The challenge is two fold today. First, look up from your mess and see Jesus in the road with you, cleaning up the mess. And second, like your Savior, bend down in the road with another and clean up the mess.
—Pastor Whit