I heard this at a retreat recently and thought it was worth sharing. The original story is from Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. I have paraphrased his words because I did not hear the original story.
When I was in college, my roommates and I would go to the same diner a couple of times each week. As you can imagine, we often saw the same people whenever we would go. In fact, we had the same waitress almost every time. As time went by, this young woman eventually started to open up to us about her life. Her story revealed that she was really just struggling to make ends meet. She was emotionally and sexually bruised due to her lifestyle, and it became immediately clear that she didn't know Christ. She was open to us sharing the gospel, and the Lord was gracious to save her and change her life many conversations later.
While we were all still in college, we decided to go to a Christian rally that was happening on campus. I invited our newly saved friend, who came and sat next to me.
The rally was about purity. As the speaker began to talk, he handed a rose to someone in the first row and instructed the crowd to pass the rose until everyone in the audience had received it. Minutes later, the rose arrived back in the speaker's hands with a broken stem and missing leaves and petals.
The speaker held up the rose for the audience to see. In trying to make a point about sexual purity, the man questioned, "Look at this rose. Now who do you think would want something like this?"
As I considered the young woman sitting next to me- her past, her brokenness, and the change Christ had made- anger welled up within me and it took everything in me to keep from shouting back at the man, "Jesus would!"
(Now these are the less wise and eloquent words of Mary Rachel Fenrick.) This story struck a chord with me because I once was the young woman. Maybe I didn't have the exact same struggles, but I was battered and broken, too. No one would have wanted me. No one, that is, except Christ. I'm thankful that God doesn't want perfect people. He doesn't choose people who are exceptionally wise, beautiful, or strong. He, in fact, chooses sinful, bruised people and sets them free.
Jesus would.
