The Stranger Sitting Next to You

Where Can a Desperate Man Go to Find Hope?

A visitor came to our church last Sunday.

Joe had been raised in a Christian home, but drifted away from the church in his teen years. He had seen a lot of Christians talking the talk, but very few walking the walk, so he finally concluded that "religion" was a bunch of baloney, and he decided to make his own way in the world.

As Joe grew older he discovered that his life, without God, was falling apart. His third marriage was in shambles. He was struggling with alcoholism. Lately he had been so depressed that he was contemplating suicide.

Joe was at the end of his rope. He was searching for answers. He realized something in his life had to change.

Someone in our congregation invited him to church last week, so he came here to visit. During the service, Joe was thinking, "God, I need to know if you are real. I need to know if you can help me. I just can't take it anymore."

When the pastor finished his sermon, he began to give an invitation. Joe sat in his pew, listening intently, desperate for something to give him hope. He wondered if God really cared about him. Was He truly listening? Would He really take back this lost sheep?

In an auditorium filled with people who profess to know the Almighty God, one might expect that there would be a reverent, prayerful silence while the preacher invited a lost sinner to step into eternal life by giving his heart to Jesus.

Aside from worshiping God, what activity could possibly have a higher priority in a Bible-believing church than introducing someone to their Creator?

But our visitor could not hear most of the invitation. People around him were gathering up papers, zipping up their Bibles, and generally rustling about in the pews, eager to be the first ones out the door so they could beat the rush to the parking lot.

A few people even got up and left before the invitation was finished.

Joe was so distracted by all of this commotion that he stopped listening. As he looked around at his restless neighbors, the small demon assigned to discourage him leaned in close and whispered, "If the members here don't think this message is important enough to listen to, why should you?"

"Why should I listen to this?" Joe suddenly asked himself. "Just like I thought -- it's all a bunch of baloney."

So he left.

He even got to be the first one out of the parking lot.