The Apostle Paul. What an amazing man of God. Everytime I read his letters in the Bible and see how God worked in his life, I'm simply in awe. Why? Because of stuff like this: "For although I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, in order to win more people....to the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some. Now I do all this because of the Gospel (of Jesus Christ), that I may become a partner in its benefits." (Paul, to the church in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 9:19, 22-23, HCSB)
A few years ago, our ministry began a small group team Bible study with members of the Georgia Swim Team. This group included myself, four young women from the team and a graduate student/former diver from UT. One evening, as we sat around the table, we began talking about the difference between swimmers and the rest of the athletic population that represented Georgia sports. I then asked what were the distinctive differences between them and the rest of us. One of the girls from the team then said, "Well, Jill, unless you're in, you're out!" In other words, "Unless you're down there, in the water 5 hours a day training and knowing what we go through, day in and day out, you can't possibly begin to understand us." My first reaction was stunned silence. I remained somewhat calm, but inside, my heart was pounding up into my throat and all I could do was think, "God, why did you get me involved with this?!"
Now, I was a college athlete. I played volleyball and then went on to coach it for 11 years at the high school and club levels. But, needless to say, I had absolutely NO background with swimming. Well, with the exception of swimming for leisure (which really counts for nothing in the swim world), I'd never cared much for the sport. In fact, when I was 8 years old, I almost drowned in a neighbor's pool and would not be alive today if it weren't for our church pastors' wife, Georgia Finney, jumping in--fully-clothed--and rescuing me from a near-death experience.
After the Georgia swimmer's comment that night, I rode home in my car--in pure silence--and decided that I didn't care anything about swimming. But, I also decided that I was going to care about the swimmers. And over a short period of time, God put a love in my heart for those women! I wanted them to know what I knew about this amazing God I serve. I desired for them to grow closer in their relationship with Him. I wanted to teach them His Word (the Bible). I considered it a privilege to get to see them once a week and study His love Letter to us.
I came to one single reality: I had to care about what they cared about---Swimming---in order to give them an opportunity to care what mattered most to me.
Paul describes this desire as "becoming all things to all people." Now Paul didn't have some "messianic complex," where he himselfwanted to save people. He wanted to earn-the-right-to-be heard in the peoples' lives around him for the sake of the Gospel! He wanted to share what was most important to him. But, in order to do that, he had to first serve them! Isn't that powerful. It's like saying to someone, "Ya know, I just want to serve you, no strings attached. I don't expect anything in return. In fact, as long as you keep accepting, I'll keep giving."
Well, I'm not sure (on this side of Eternity at least) how well I communicated this to the swimmers at Georgia over the years, but, what I do know is that I love them. I love them because God loves me. Only God can give us a true, geniune love for people (1 John 4:7-12, 19)
And ya know what? I actually enjoy watching swim meets now! I even have read some books about swimming: anything from teaching swimming/how-to books, to Natalie Coughlin's biography, etc. In the past couple of years, I've gotten to live in a time where major records have been broken in the sport through Michael Phelps and other Olympians. It's actually been a cool experience.
When you take the time to care about what others care about; serve them for the sake of perhaps one day sharing the Gospel with them; and go and learn about "where they live," you begin to experience what Christ did. Christ, who was fully God and fully human at the same time, came down from a throne in Heaven and humbled Himself. He became human. He experienced every temptation and hurt we'll ever face. Why? Because "God so loved us..." (John 3:16) "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens---Jesus the Son of God--let us hold fast to the confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time."(Hebrews 4:14-16, HCSB)