Honduras led the world in homicides per capita in the world. It is considered one of the most dangerous country in the world. And last weekend…I got an opportunity to do ministry inside a Honduran prison.
I would be lying if I said I had no fear walking into this prison. I stuck out like sore thumb being proabaly the only Asian within several thousands of miles (or should I say "Chino"). Every eye felt like it was on me as I strolled on by. On top of that The Honduran prison system is a little sketchy.
The prison system in Honduras is nothing like the prison system in the States. First of all there's no cells, there's no gaurds inside the prison, which seems kinds bizarre because for me criminals in prison and gaurds makes sense to me. Instead it's more like a community inside the prison. Ive could've got jumped, stabbed, and robbed and there would be no gaurds to stop it. Thank Jesus I made it out safe. But the fact that it's that easy was a little scary…at first.
As I was in the prison this question hit me like a ton of bricks…
"If Jesus was here in Honduras, here in Tegucigalpa, where would he be doing ministry?"
The answer was crystal clear…he would be with the broken. He would be with the people society has written off. He would be with the captives, with the oppressed, the poor, the hopeless, and the blind. He would be doing ministry in this Hondran prison.
Fear was casted out as I pondered on this truth. Instead a brokeness came into my heart looking into the eyes of those who have lost hope…one of my teamates prayer earlier that week became a reality to me…
"God break my heart for what breaks yours."
These people need the love of Jesus to consume them. The same love that stripped who I was and made me new. They needed to be made new in Jesus name. They needed to know that He still cares. That He has not given up on them but that He is pursuing them. They didn't need a distant God who condemns. They needed a loving God who chooses to be intimate with them.
In Galation Chapter 2:20 Paul writes,
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
I wrestled with this scripture, studied it, meditated on it, tried to disect it, and I'm concluding that…Christ lives in me. I'm realizing that Jesus can use me to be Jesus for those I encounter. I'm realizing that what these people need is the love of God in it's rawest form…and I have it. Of course it's God flowing through me into others…but he's using me to love.
Jesus isn't here yet…and though God can interevene with these people Himself, he chooses you and I. The spirit that raised Christ from the dead, the same spirit that defeated sin, the same spirit that changed the world, is inside you and me. So this week will you allow Him flow through you onto others? Will you choose to share the fierce love that comes from God? Will you choose be "Jesus with skin on" to this dying generation?
