“I can’t add one more program to my life,” the young woman exclaimed. “... I just can’t do it. Sometimes I want to run away from it all!”

“I can’t add one more program to my life,” the young woman exclaimed. “I’m part of that ‘sandwich’ generation. My children range from the ages of 3 to 13. I use a day timer just to keep their activities organized. My mother is getting on in years and I always feel guilty because I just can’t seem to spend enough time with her. She never complains but I have all this guilt. I come to church and hear about being a good neighbor, the needs of homeless people, mothers in crisis pregnancies, the latest food drive, the early morning prayer group, woman’s Bible study, and becoming a redemptive presence in the midst of it all. I don’t even know what a redemptive presence is but it sounds like another program, another responsibility…..I just can’t do it. Sometimes I want to run away from it all!”

Many of my friends and the women I meet through speaking engagements across the country tell the same tale. They say they want to run away, but further discussion often reveals a longing to be a redemptive presence in their broken world – to be “God with skin on”. They just don’t know how to do it. I have concluded that many of them already are living redemptively in daily relationships and their lives are turning hearts toward their God.

I’ve thought long and hard about what this means for me in the midst of my own litany of responsibilities. And I’ve come to some conclusions that I hope will help clarify for other women how God can transform our circumstances into a platform for glorifying Him – a place where we can be a “redemptive presence.”

The One Whose life perfectly defines what it means to be a redemptive presence is Jesus. The perfect Son of God literally became “God with skin on” to redeem His people.

As He walked among us He gave us some clues as to how to balance our lives in a way that reflects the redemption He purchased by taking our sins to the cross, giving us His life and overcoming the power of death by His own resurrection.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16

How Jesus as God experienced all that we experience is a mystery, but as He lived among us as “God with skin on” He modeled how to balance life in a way that made each circumstance an opportunity to reflect redemption.

Consider the demands on His time. Shortly after beginning His public ministry, He put together a team of men that were immature and clueless as to the calling He gave. Over the next three years Jesus’ daily responsibilities included the care and feeding of these twelve “disciples Jesus lived in the midst of church conflict and false accusations.” Just feeding His disciples was an opportunity for the Pharisees to accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-27). Church leaders did not celebrate when He did good by healing (Mark 3:1-6). In fact, the Pharisees plotted to kill Jesus. Talk about unending stress!

Jesus’ hard work did not cause an ulcer or a mental breakdown because He was doing His Father’s work. When we are about our Father’s work, the exhaustion often feels good because we know we are doing the important.

Mark 1:32-34 describes Him this way after a busy day:

“That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered about the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons.

Another time Jesus missed supper and worked so late that His disciples though He was crazy (Mark 3:21). After a particularly hectic period, Jesus and His disciples were out in a boat. He was so exhausted that even a storm did not awaken Him (Matthew 4:37). When His friend, Lazarus was sick, Jesus didn’t respond the way people thought he should. Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus, but he did not allow their urgent need or request to determine His actions. He stayed two days longer in the place where he was . From His perspective, the urgent need was Kingdom Building – not saving from death his friend, Lazarus.

Yet in the busyness, He always had time for people, even those who didn’t look like they could help Him accomplish His goals. The Samaritan woman at the well, for instance.

He had great balance. When others tried to tell him how to spend his time, like when his brothers tried to get him to go to Judea, he responded, “My time has not yet come” (John 7:6).

The more He did, the more people wanted Him to do (Mark 3:7-10). So how did Jesus respond to these daily demands? Did He run away and hide? As we observe His response to building stress, we see a pattern that will serve us well in our own search for how to be a redemptive presence in our own daily lives.

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so I can preach there also. That is why I have come. So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. Mark 1:35-39

Mark 3:13-15 and Matthew paint an even more detailed picture of Jesus’ response to the press of the crowds.

What can we learn from these vignettes?

1. Spending time with His Father was a regular part of Jesus’ life. His “quiet time” did not take a back seat to meeting urgent needs.

2. Jesus’ “quiet time” had a purpose. He was not hiding from His disciples or the needs of the day. His time with His Father energized Him and focused Him on His calling.

3. Jesus did not allow the “tyranny of the urgent” to distract Him from His primary purpose – to do what God had called Him to do.

4. Jesus lived outside the box. He lived redemptively through relationships. He chose twelve unlikely men as His friends for the purpose of training and discipling them to become channels of His compassion. He saw potential, not failure.

5. He did not allow others, even those closest to Him, to define His purpose. Every act of Jesus was intentional. He did not see every need as His responsibility to meet.

6. Jesus circumstances were His platform for glorifying His Father (John 17:1-5).

May we begin to look like “God with skin on” as we learn how to live redemptively from the life of Jesus.