In Any Condition

T

he drive to and from work has become pretty routine.  I pass the same businesses, the same houses, the same road signs, and sometimes, the same cars on the highway.  The drive has become such a way of life that occasionally I arrive at work or back home and wonder how I got there so quickly.  However, this day’s drive was quite different.  As I made my way back from teaching a French class, I noticed a new billboard on the side of the road sporting an advertisement I hadn’t seen before.  The sign simply indicated that a local company was interested in buying houses in any condition.

I almost stopped my car in the middle of the highway.  It’s not every day that someone, least of all a company, offers to make a purchase sight unseen.  Yet, that is exactly what the advertisement was suggesting.  This company would buy a house no matter what its condition.  They would refurbish it, redecorate it, and completely restore it.  Afterwards, what was once an uninhabitable structure became a home for a newly wed couple or a growing family.

All that afternoon, I found myself thinking about that billboard.  The advertising firm that created the billboard did a wonderful job and achieved their objective.  Long after I saw the ad and read its message, I was still turning it over in my mind.  Only later in the afternoon did I make the connection between the promise made by the advertised company and the promise made by Jesus as he began his ministry.

The opening verses of chapter 4 of the book of Luke record the arrival of Jesus in his hometown.  His custom was to visit the local synagogue where he would preach and teach.  On this particular occasion, Jesus entered the synagogue he knew as a child.  He was given the opportunity to lead the lesson and he took full advantage of the situation to advertise, if you will, his mission and his reason for ministering to those around him.

After receiving the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, Jesus located a certain passage and read it.  Luke 4:18-19 records the scripture Jesus read that day. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."    

Jesus says here that he has come to restore and heal people no matter what their condition.  Look at the description of those to whom Jesus has come to minister.  He describes them as poor, imprisoned, blind, and oppressed. Not what you’d expect, huh?  We don’t see Jesus ministering to the wealthy, to the satisfied, or to those in perfect health.  Instead, he spends his time among the outcasts of society, those who are rejected and considered of little or no value.

Jesus, however, is not concerned with the outward condition of a person but he is interested in the persons themselves.  He wants to enter inside the heart, to refurbish it, restore it, redecorate it, and make it as good as new.  His job is to undo all the damage that has been done so that a right relationship with God can be re-established.  This is what he means by “the year of the Lord’s favor” Jesus is saying that all of us, regardless of our condition, can become acceptable to God.  All we need do is accept him as our personal savior and lord.

What a promise this is to us today.  No matter what our backgrounds, no matter what our circumstances, no matter what we feel or believe about ourselves, God stands ready to take us, just as we are, in any condition, and to restore us to a perfect relationship with him.  He does this, not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of who he is and his great love for us.  He alone sees beyond what we are to what we can become and he extends his favor to us.  All we need do is accept it by believing on Jesus Christ as our personal savior. 

So remember.  Whatever the condition of your life today, God stands ready to accept you just as you are and he offers to remake you into the person he created you to be.  Won’t you let him have control of your life today?  He is waiting to make you his own, no matter what your condition!