How To Help The Abused (& Abusive)Exemplo

If you can save just one

As I was preparing to teach a series of messages on abuse, members of our church gave me some honest feedback on a survey about these topics. Many of the responses, comments, and stories gripped my heart, urging me to approach every sermon with humility, truth, and grace. The wounds and trauma and triggers were real, emotional hurts that held on long after the abuse ended.

But one comment caught me more than the others. A woman wrote, “If you can save just one person from the situation they are in, you have done a wonderful thing.” Just one person is wonderful. 

I wish that our efforts would end every act of abuse once and for all, but this world is too broken for that. Yet Jesus’ stories about one lost coin and one lost sheep and one lost son remind us of the celebration in heaven when a single soul is found. When you came to faith in Jesus, the angels didn’t mope around in heaven, lamenting the billions of others who hadn’t come to faith yet. Instead, they put on their party hats and danced around the throne that you, that “just one,” had been saved.

As you seek justice and attempt to help and heal both the abused and the abusers you know, remember this wise woman’s words. Just one person matters to God. Just one. “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed” (Isaiah 1:17).

If you found this plan helpful, find more resources like it here! 

Christian Family Solutions (christianfamilysolutions.org) is a professional, Christian counseling organization that exists to help and heal people in need. CFS has many licensed counselors on staff who are trained to help individuals who have been abused. Call 800.438.1772 for more information.