Breathless
by Shawn King / IGNITE: College & Young Adult Pastor
Have you ever gotten to witness the power of the Gospel? I get to teach 22 fun 11th graders at a local Christian high school. They are full of questions and we have gotten to discuss a lot of topics of faith.
Recently, we have been finishing up a unit on the fall of man, how we understand sin. So, instead of me just talking, I found an awesome video by Francis Chan. He talks about our purpose and asks and answers a lot of really great questions. The best part, though, was the part of the video where Francis is describing what Jesus did for us on the cross.
Francis is walking with his son up a hill throughout the whole video. When they get to the top of the hill there is a clearing with a cross that had to be at least 50’ in height. Francis walks his son up to the cross, bends down and looks him in the eye, explaining his plan, then has him stand, arms stretched out, and slowly turns his back and walks away.
As all of this is happening Francis explains that Jesus loves us so much, that He decided to come us who are stuck, and not only love us, but have His own son punished on our behalf. It was the kind of moment that leaves you breathless.
Well, our class was running late that day, and 11th graders in Bible class are usually pretty squirmy. At this point, however, even when they bell rang signaling the end of class, they stayed. They sat silent, struck in a moment by the reality of the Gospel. When the video ended they got up without a word and walked out.
None of this was my intention, but what a beautiful moment when the Gospel invades your day to day. When is the last time you let the Gospel strike you, take your breath away and leave you silent? I encourage you to take time to allow Jesus to humble you today.
Have you ever gotten to witness the power of the Gospel? I get to teach 22 fun 11th graders at a local Christian high school. They are full of questions and we have gotten to discuss a lot of topics of faith.
Recently, we have been finishing up a unit on the fall of man, how we understand sin. So, instead of me just talking, I found an awesome video by Francis Chan. He talks about our purpose and asks and answers a lot of really great questions. The best part, though, was the part of the video where Francis is describing what Jesus did for us on the cross.
Francis is walking with his son up a hill throughout the whole video. When they get to the top of the hill there is a clearing with a cross that had to be at least 50’ in height. Francis walks his son up to the cross, bends down and looks him in the eye, explaining his plan, then has him stand, arms stretched out, and slowly turns his back and walks away.
As all of this is happening Francis explains that Jesus loves us so much, that He decided to come us who are stuck, and not only love us, but have His own son punished on our behalf. It was the kind of moment that leaves you breathless.
Well, our class was running late that day, and 11th graders in Bible class are usually pretty squirmy. At this point, however, even when they bell rang signaling the end of class, they stayed. They sat silent, struck in a moment by the reality of the Gospel. When the video ended they got up without a word and walked out.
None of this was my intention, but what a beautiful moment when the Gospel invades your day to day. When is the last time you let the Gospel strike you, take your breath away and leave you silent? I encourage you to take time to allow Jesus to humble you today.