What a strange concept?
I have a friend that taught me something years ago that just struck my heart and stuck to my understanding. We were ministering together at a conference and I was listening to him ministering. He had come from dark places in his life where he struggled with personal issues that left him grabbing for straws for many years. He was like a person drowning at one time trying to find someone to help. He was ministering while he struggled and was totally broken and no one knew what he was going through. As he was sharing his testimony I could relate to some of it as I was struggling with some personal issues myself at the time.
I have been in places where I felt like I was drowning and was trying to grab at anything just to stay afloat. Have you ever been in that place? The stark reality is that the church is not currently a safe place to be. After years of ministry I realize that there is no minute men or woman in the church. What am I saying? You see my friend made a statement telling people how he finally got his victory. There was someone he trusted enough to go and confide in. This took him a long time to get there. The statement he made was simply this:
" I would rather be embarrassed for a minute than to stay in bondage for a lifetime"
We all need someone to trust in and to confide in. We all need that minute man or woman where we can be embarrassed for a minute with but stay away from being in bondage for a life time. When they brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus, it must have felt that her whole world came crashing down being put out in the open like that in front of this holy man of God. I can assure you, it was not her choice if she had to make it. To be honest, it would not be our choice either if we had to make it. Somehow the enemy has pulled a fleece over our eyes and made us believe that the embarrassment of getting caught is worse than the bondage we live in. When Jesus looked at her He was her minute man. He tells her to stop sinning but He was a safe place without condemnation. She was embarrassed for a minute, but was delivered from a bondage that could last a lifetime.
The Church is in desperate need of minute man people. Are you a place where they feel safe? Everyone is struggling for deliverance in many areas and they are looking for people that can embrace their mistakes and love them.
We have to understand that Jesus never wants to embarrass us because that will bring shame that opens doors to rejection. Not people rejecting you but you rejecting the very ones that can help you. He came to deliver us from shame and to restore your dignity and your hope. Jesus' motivation is always love and He reveals the stuff you struggle with to set you free. He is the real minute man. HE says that we need to bring it into the light. Light exposes stuff but in the light is your deliverance.
Peter denied Jesus three times. Do you think he struggled with his choice by doing that? Do you think he went and bragged about it to the other disciples? No. He went back fishing because he didn't want to face the other disciples. The problem with that was he would have stayed like that for the rest of his life. So Jesus shows up after his resurrection to be the minute man. Peter had to deal with it to be able to receive his assignment for the next season in his life. Jesus' love for Peter could not allow him to stay in that place.
Let me ask you a question? Are you coming from a place of love? Are you qualified to be a minute man or woman? Can people find a safe place with you? Do you have a heart for restoration?