Can you imagine being so broken that you can’t do anything but surrender? It’s happened throughout history… in wars between rivaling countries, in cities filled with famine, in friendships that go sour, in the Bible stories we grew up with (David, Elijah, and Jesus), inside you wages a war of spiritual conflict. The winner of this war is the winner of your soul. We all have a choice to make, to surrender to God’s will or to keep fighting against Him.
Nothing To Lose tells the story of two women in the Bible. Both had been banished from polite society. Both had been hurt by humans, tormented by demons and had a sickness inside that only God could heal. Both had no hope of ever living a normal life again. Both had nothing left to give, both had nothing left to lose.
One woman had been bleeding internally for twelve years. She had no money left; the doctors had stripped her of her funds and still couldnt find a cure. She had no friends or family she could turn to (in Bible times, when a person was incurable they were forced to live separate from everyone else in a camp outside the city.) When and if you dared enter the city, you had to walk down the street shouting “Unclean” so that everyone would keep their distance and therefore not be contaminated by you. This woman hadn’t been able to hug her kids, kiss her husband, and share a smile or a laugh in over 12 year. She had nothing…
The other woman was a prostitute. She had been with more men than she could count or ever wanted to remember. But who would want to remember her, most people wouldn’t ever look her way (unless it was someone interested in her occupation). She was tired of the torment, sick of the seduction; the realization of what her life had become was not what she imagined as a little girl. She just wanted someone to be real, to love her for who she was and not for what she could give them. She had heard of a man who everyone said was different. He was a miracle worker, a forgiver of sins, a preacher and teacher that made the religious people jealous. Was He really different? Could He forgive someone like her? Did He really work miracles?
We all know their stories, weve heard about it as Vacation Bible School, Sunday School and in church. We know about the way that Jesus came and healed them, forgave them and restored hope. But while these women were walking into the situations they faced, as they traveled to meet Jesus, they didnt have any idea how he would react. We get the benefit of knowing the end of the story while they lived each hour in agony, not knowing if Jesus would accept them.
We all have to walk this road. We all have to choose which road we’re going to take. They had to choose that they had nothing to lose by letting go of their past that they had nothing to lose by letting go of their pain…
All she had to do was get to Jesus, to touch Him, the first person she had touched in 12 years, and she believed she would be healed.
All she had left in the world was her alabaster box of precious perfume. It was to be her dowry, but she’d never need it for that. She felt in her heart that she should give it to the man that had given her hope. She had to choose that she had nothing to lose…
She had to choose that she had something to gain, if she would call on Jesus name, and even though she knew the cost she knew she could come to the cross.
They surrendered to Jesus, they were forgiven, healed and hope filled for the first time in a long time. We all have to make the same decision. We all have a choice to make. We all have a past, we all have pain, we all have something to gain if we call in Jesus name. What is your choice? Just remember, you have nothing to lose.
He is no fool to give what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. ~ Jim Elliot
Missionary Martyr