I had a good childhood (I would even call it great, but "great" wasn't in the title). I grew up in a small town where it was considered safe to "run the streets" with my friends. I had two loving parents who are still together after 44 years of marriage - wow, y'all, that is huge. I had loving grandparents who I spent lots of quality time with. My sister and I were and are, very close. I was sort of popular I guess. With the advent of Facebook, I now have old school friends tell me they thought I was "sweet" and "caring" in school. I do not deserve those compliments, though I am glad that is the impression I gave off. I think I was mostly considered a "good girl" - though again, I know the truth and that is a title that is grossly undeserved. We went to church, ate dinner together every night, my sister and I stayed away from drugs. You know, the usual "good" stuff.
Then came the bad. I will spare you the details and drama - I have blogged about much of it before and the rest I would just as soon leave in its proper place. It was a lesson, it is not my life. The short version is, "there was this boy"...... all "bad" stories start this way don't they? Anyway, teenage pregnancy, shotgun wedding, quick divorce. I am not proud of it, but it is the truth and we are getting to the best part.
The GRACE. Oh, the grace. From the moment I met my husband Stan, in 1994, God has been weaving a grace story. A story that is miraculous from its conception. Again, I have blogged a lot about that, so if you want to know more about our personal story, you can read here.
I want this post to be about HIM. The amazing, awe inspiring God who loves us even though He has absolutely no reason to do so. A God who gives us good things - no matter how they are packaged - when we trust Him completely. A God who is the author of a story that transcends time and space and who just wants us to not fear, and let it unfold. This is the God who I want to write about today. The God that I want you to know for yourself. If you have ever read anything I have written you know that over the past few years I have come to believe that the American "church" has totally underestimated God's heart. As Jen Hatmaker says in her book Interrupted - we have "colossally missed the point." For far too long we have been told by some denominations that "all" we have to do is walk an aisle, pray a prayer, and voila we have "accepted" Jesus into our heart. Life is good, heaven is the destination. Other denominations have fallen off the horse on the other side and said that the "chosen" are automatically on a one way ride to the pearly gates - do whatever you want, eat drink and be merry, heaven awaits if you are "chosen."
Well..... as usual, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. The truth lies in between the pages of only one Book. The truth is that though I do believe that Scripture is clear about the elect, I also believe that we have a responsibility to live the way Jesus lived and we have the freedom to decide whether we do that or not. Perfectly? Of course not. But, if we are going to become more like Jesus we have to love what He loved. You know what Jesus loved? The answer is simple and very clear if you read the Bible. Jesus loved people. All people. He loved people who loved Him and He loved the ones who didn't. In fact, as far as I can tell the only people He didn't love (well, that's harsh, I am sure he loved them), but the only ones He didn't seem to like very much were the "church" folk. The ones who took the moral high ground when it came to actually and physically loving other people. The ones who prayed things like "Thank God I am not like that sinner over there." Yeah....we have all met those people, crap, we have all been those people.
One of my favorite bloggers shared a FB status the other day where she said the "f" word and all of the church people came out of the woodwork to pour forth their opinions about her salvation. (You know what they say about opinions don't you??) Now, personally, I am not really a fan of the "f" word, or of foul language in general. I don't say it a lot - but, let's be honest, there are just those occasions that nothing else fits. Her response went something like this. For those of you "alarmed" that a christian said the "f" word, here is what is truly alarming....the foster system is overflowing, men and women are addicted to porn, divorce rates are climbing, there are millions of orphans - and to top it all off, one of the actual most alarming things is the "church's" most "alarming" ability for selective indignation .
Friends, our God sent His son to DIE on a cross in order that we may come to Him in perfect relationship. He sent His son to DIE that we might live forever. And live forever does not start in heaven - it starts when His Kingdom comes ON EARTH. It starts when we push back the powers of darkness in the name of Jesus Christ. It starts when we fight back. When we care about the things that Jesus cared about. When we are His hands and feet - loving on people that are unlovable. People that are dirty, foul, and mean. Children that don't behave just right because they have had to fend for themselves their entire lives. Babies that are not physically "perfect." This is our only right response to the sacrifice He made. Not repeating a rote prayer. Not walking an aisle and making a show of some religious fervor that peters out the second God requires something of us. These things do not save. They do not impress God. God made real sacrifices for our salvation - how dare we - how DARE we reduce them to religious behavior. He made it clear what pure religion is, "Pure religion in the sight of God is this - to love orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." To love orphans and widows. To love the most vulnerable among us. What if this is truly it??? What if this is truly "all" it takes?? What if we have colossally missed the freaking point????
When we stand before God one day to give an account I believe with all of my heart that the excuses we hand Him about why we did not give a cup of cold water in His name are NOT going to fly. Friends, life on mission is down and dirty work. It is hard. It is draining. In it there is really no room for selfishness and excuses. You must die to those things every single day. But, the blessings are endless. I will never ever for the life of me understand why every single person who calls themselves a follower of Christ does not want the blessing of at least one adopted child. Just think, if we all adopted one - there would not be any left. And I know that there are those with extenuating circumstances - I know some of you. I see you, I pray for you, I know your heart's desire - I am not talking to you - your time IS coming, friend. I will never understand how people who claim to be followers of Christ say things like "I am not donating to an adoption fund, if you can't afford it, you shouldn't do it." (Yes, that's a real thing) I will never for the life of me understand someone who claims Christ and then who degrades a homeless person, tells them to just "get a job." (Yes, that too is a real thing)
Do people take advantage of you when you are vulnerable like this? Do birth moms scam adoptive families? Do homeless people buy alcohol with the money you gave them? Do orphanage directors traffick the children in their charge? Yes, yes, and yes. We live in a fallen world - the enemy of our souls is the "prince of this realm." But, he does not win the war. God wins. Grace wins. We will lose battles, we will suffer injuries and insults. We will have set backs. But, we.will.not.lose. And we must not stop fighting.
So friends - please consider your relationship with Christ. My heart is for you to KNOW Him. Truly and intimately. He loves you. He died so you might be FREE. But, there is a right response. Not to earn salvation - never. That was a free gift. But if you truly have been called by His name, you must live like it. There is a day that we will give an account. Not for how much money we earned, not for how big our house was, not even for how much money we "unsacrifically" donated to a charity. But, for how we lived every single day. It matters how we live.
Matthew 25
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[f] you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
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