I'd like you to meet my (Josh's) friend Matt. I love this dude. Over the last several months, Matt has gotten to be a good friend of mine. He is one of those guys that always has a smile on his face. He always has an encouraging word to give you. He will literally give you the shirt off his back if you were in need of it. And he always finishes every conversation with "Roll Tide". Seriously, he does. I'm an Auburn graduate, but even this has grown on me, and I expect it and look forward to it now. Most importantly though, Matt loves Jesus. He loves him deeply, and you can see that just by being around him.
But he hasn't always been like this. Matt grew up in California, where he spent much of his youth gangbanging. Matt has been shot. He's tatted up. He has spent time in prison on more than one occasion. As a matter of fact, when he came to Alabama originally, he was technically a fugitive from the law after skipping out on probation. (He has since returned, finished his time, and made that right.) While in Cali, Matt's friends were skinheads, Neo-Nazis, surfer punks, and thugs. So naturally, this is who he became.
Matt left California 8 years ago to come live in Alabama with family. He had warrants out for his arrest in California for not properly reporting to his probation officer. However, his charges wouldn't extradite over two states away. So as long as he stayed far away from California, there was really nothing they would do. He thought he was running from the law. But God had other plans. While in Alabama, God put certain people in Matt's life, and without trying to explain every detail (because I would leave some out, I'm sure), God, in His mercy and grace, radically saved him. Matt was called out of darkness and into light and his heart was transformed. His world was turned upside down.
Fast forward a couple of years. Our church (Gardendale First Baptist) recently took a team to Haiti to do some construction and medical work in Petite Rivierre where we have been working for a few years. Matt was part of this team. I didn't get the chance to go on this trip, but I have been told that God did incredible things.
Some of the guys were sharing with some of us about the trip. One of the things the team did was to distribute shoes to some of the local children. Matt began to share and tell us some of the things that went on. Then he started to break down. It soon turned into an uncontrollable sob. After a few seconds, he composed himself. Then he said, "You know, I used to hate black people. As a matter of fact, I hated anyone who wasn't like me. I thought if you weren't like me, you didn't deserve to live. But in the last week, God has me washing the feet of a beautiful little black Haitian girl who had never had her own pair of shoes. And it brought me joy. It was awesome."
See, that's how Jesus works. He takes the ugly in our lives, he takes the filth, he takes the perversion, he takes the dirty, and he cleanses. He washes away. He forgives. He redeems. But He goes even further. With this redemption comes something amazing: heart transformation. He changes our hearts so that our sin repulses us. He moves us so that what is beautiful to Him, becomes beautiful to us. He breaks our hearts for what breaks His. So all of a sudden we find ourselves taking joy in serving those who, a few short years ago, we didn't think deserved to live.
That's the part the Pharisees could never grasp. They were so concerned with looking "holy" on the outside, that they never even bothered addressing the heart issue. Jesus said they were "white washed tombs". But that's not real salvation. Real salvation takes the drug addict and frees him from addiction. It takes the adulterer and makes him faithful to his bride. It takes the skinhead and allows him to joyfully wash the feet of a young Haiti girl.
Jesus saves. Jesus transforms hearts. That's how he works.
