Saturday, September 20, 2008

Day 15 -- Admitting Our Need for Jesus

Today's theme in our 40 Days Journey is "Admitting Our Need for Each Other." I think Warren nails this well. In a culture of self-reliance and radical individualism, we tend towards self-isolation where loneliness becomes piqued, and at times personal darkness abounds.

The problem with isolation is that in the darkness of loneliness, dark things grow.

As one wise person said, "There's no greater disinfectant than sunshine."

We need each other. It's true. Community has the power to cast away darkness. But even more so, we need Jesus...the living community of God unleashed in the dark corners of our lives...his power of light cleansing our dark places.

This skit is powerful. Called the "Lifehouse Everything Skit," it made its debut at a youth conference and has spread like wildfire ever since.

Perhaps the teenage angst and passion and dark tendencies will be too far from you to relate. But I suspect that even as the forces shift and change, the struggles never do.

At the end of the day we still need "Him."

We need him because his community is light, and his light is disinfecting.

Praying light (Jesus) for your week...and the deep community of Jesus and each other.

Pastor Nathn

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I did find this to be a powerful video: in fact, it was at times hard to watch. The actors were very effective at portraying the "yanking" of sin and the magnetism of the outside world's vices. I don't think the youth of the actors in any way made the skit relevant only to the temptations that teenagers face. Let's face it, we all feel the powerful "yank" of sin, and yearn for the safety, salvation and redemption of Jesus.
Anita

lotusreaching said...

I absolutely agree Anita. I have to confess, every time I watch this I almost sob. It connects to me viscerally...not that my sin issues are the same...just that they are present.

And that Jesus, that he's in the midst of my life working in the midst of those things for my freedom.

The verse that comes to mind is from the Gospel of John (I think the 8th chapter): So if the Son has set you free, you are free indeed.

Amen to that.

PN