Hosanna Restoration Church

I watched with pride late last night as my wife graduated from a partners in policy course. She took this training so that she could be an advocate for people with disabilities. The key thinking being that they are people first and they have a disability. I knew how hard she had worked at this class. She spent many hours sitting in meetings with her back hurting as well as hours at home doing the homework. It required her to spend time away from her family, which she does not like to do. She had to trust me to watch over our children, and no one can do it like she can. Still, she loved it because she was going to be able to help people with what she learned. It was a proud moment for her and all of her classmates, and for the friends and family who gathered to celebrate with them.

On the long drive home, I began to think about another advocate and some similarities came to my mind. As Christians, we know that we have an Advocate with Father. His name is Jesus. The world is full of people who have a very large disability. People without Jesus are unable to enjoy true peace this life or eternity with God. People in sin are people who have a disability. They need to have someone to act as their advocate. They need people to pray for them. We can encourage them and lift them up. Even people who know Jesus need to be reminded that He is standing up for them.

Have you ever looked at someone who has a disability as less of person that you are. You can be honest. The truth is we often do not know just how to react, at least until we come to the understanding that they are people who have feelings and need all the same things that everyone else does; love, kindness, understanding, and encouragement to name just a few. I have seen how people look at my son sometimes. I used to get angry, now I just feel badly for them, because I realize that they have a far greater disability than he does.

Unfortunately, I see the same thing happen in the church. I see Christians looking down on people in sin rather than advocating for them. We need to try and look at people the way our Advocate looks at them. First, He has a very special place for those people with physical and mental disabilities. He also has great compassion for those people disabled by sin.

The reason I was so proud of my wife, was because I knew all that she had gone through in order to graduate. Just think of how God feels about Jesus. He knows what all Jesus went through in order to be our advocate. God loves people. He loves all people so much that He sent His son into this world so everyone who would believe in Him could have eternal life. God wants everyone to exercise that right to eternal life through Christ. There are a lot of people who do not know this and it is up to us help them. That makes us advocates too.