By Rick Vacek
GCU News Bureau
You see it everywhere, every day. People are struggling. They have problems, challenges, heartbreaks of all kinds and don’t know where to turn.
Sean McGever, an area director for Young Life, had the answer Monday in his Chapel talk at Grand Canyon University. Jesus is always there for us, he said. No matter what.
The words are right there in Romans 8:34:
“Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
“There’s nothing that you’re going through, that you’ve gone through and that you’re going to go through that can separate you from the love of God, especially in moments when you have nothing to offer,” McGever said. “This is the work of God on our behalf. He searches us and seeks us out and is crying out for us.”
Nothing to offer? Ever felt that? McGever, an adjunct faculty member in the College of Theology at GCU, certainly did when his thesis for a doctorate from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland was rejected. Everything depended on that project, and he had failed.
He was numb. He couldn’t move. All day.
“I kind of shut down,” he said.
And while many of us think that we need to find our way on our own, McGever reminded his listeners that Jesus says, “I’ve already taken care of that. I love you. Just come into My arms and I’ll walk right alongside of you. Don’t think about merit at all.”
But we also are here to take action when we can. McGever also told the story of walking to class on the same route every day during his time as a student at Arizona State University. A man would be handing out bibles on behalf of Gideons International, and some students would take them and some wouldn’t – and some would take them and throw them away, making sure the man saw what they were doing.
McGever said he was appalled by their actions, but he was equally appalled by his own reaction – and, to a degree, inaction. He prayed for the man, but that was it. He never went up to the man and told him how he felt about it and how much he appreciated what the man was trying to do.
“My prayers were limited, and they were temporary,” McGever said.
Christ’s work, on the other hand, is never temporary, McGever noted. It is always there, permanently, in three ways: prophet, priest and king, as spelled out in the Old Testament.
The prophet is a seer and speaks for God on God’s behalf.
The priest offers sacrifices on behalf of themselves and their country and intercede on the people’s behalf.
The king rules and has authority.
And while a priest might get on his or her knees to pray to God, McGever pointed that with Jesus it’s different:
“Jesus doesn’t have to get on His knees because the Bible said and we’ve already read that He’s on a throne. He doesn’t kneel or bow because He’s God fully. He’s a priest who doesn’t make requests but authoritatively says what is true and right at all times in what we need.”
Hebrews 1:3 reads:
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
Got problems? The solution is right there. All we have to do is turn to Jesus.
● Chapel replay.
● Next Monday’s Chapel speaker: Jamie Rasmussen, Scottsdale Bible Church
Contact Rick Vacek at (602) 639-8203 or [email protected].
