Went to prayer meeting this morning. Apart from being in the loo to pee incessantly due to drinking plenty of water from my happy yellow tumbler (I'm so thirsty today!), I got this - Without love I am nothing. Without love I am a resounding gong drowning out the truth of what love really is. I may even be effectively robbing love from those I perceive as undeserving of it.
Pastor Lance posed a question after his sharing on Matthew 15 where Jesus challenged the Pharisees, disciples and the woman begging in their faith. The message we can take from the passage is to not judge others by what they say and do but guard our hearts so we are not corrupted in our motives. Only God has the right to judge anyone. The Pharisees spoke and acted out of the intention of having others think highly of them and regard them as ones who truly love and worship God. But Jesus saw through their hypocrisy. Still, after addressing them, he stunned his disciples by calling the woman a dog. This could have been seen by them as a stark contradiction or even an abomination yet they knew (as we know) that Jesus' heart is not vile. He in fact spoke out of love, placing the woman in a position where He could later praise her level of faith. Jesus could see her heart and anticipate her response.
The question (alright maybe this makes two questions) was do we see a violent man approaching and a) want to escape in fear, or b) have compassion for him and want him to experience a touch of God's presence (for perfect love drives out all fear within us)? Likewise, do we see a man whom we discover has just raped a child and a) want to rush forward with the kitchen knife and castrate him out of sheer rage, or b) grieve out of love over his current depravity and the child's pain, and pray for God to heal both broken people?
The second one got me under the skin. I am partial towards the child. And I expect God to be. I expect Him to protect and restore the child and bring judgement upon the perverted man so justice may be served. Yet my misunderstanding is that God's love for the man to change somehow negates or reduces His desire and ability to redeem the child. Truth is, it doesn't in the slightest. Wouldn't it better to have two whole people than one healed child and one utterly condemned man thrown into the pits of hell when perhaps he got that way because he was broken as a child himself? How he got there is not important though. I ought not to justify God's desire to restore the man by whether the man's experiences make him deserving of love.
My sin is just as detestable as that man's. Any sin is sin. There are no degrees to sin. Oh stealing a packet of gum from the local store will get you a slap on the wrist from God whereas a lustful or murderous thought will separate you from Him for ten weeks. There is no such thing. Yet I place sin in a hierarchy and decide how people should be perceived. This needs to change.
Pastor Lance posed a question after his sharing on Matthew 15 where Jesus challenged the Pharisees, disciples and the woman begging in their faith. The message we can take from the passage is to not judge others by what they say and do but guard our hearts so we are not corrupted in our motives. Only God has the right to judge anyone. The Pharisees spoke and acted out of the intention of having others think highly of them and regard them as ones who truly love and worship God. But Jesus saw through their hypocrisy. Still, after addressing them, he stunned his disciples by calling the woman a dog. This could have been seen by them as a stark contradiction or even an abomination yet they knew (as we know) that Jesus' heart is not vile. He in fact spoke out of love, placing the woman in a position where He could later praise her level of faith. Jesus could see her heart and anticipate her response.
The question (alright maybe this makes two questions) was do we see a violent man approaching and a) want to escape in fear, or b) have compassion for him and want him to experience a touch of God's presence (for perfect love drives out all fear within us)? Likewise, do we see a man whom we discover has just raped a child and a) want to rush forward with the kitchen knife and castrate him out of sheer rage, or b) grieve out of love over his current depravity and the child's pain, and pray for God to heal both broken people?
The second one got me under the skin. I am partial towards the child. And I expect God to be. I expect Him to protect and restore the child and bring judgement upon the perverted man so justice may be served. Yet my misunderstanding is that God's love for the man to change somehow negates or reduces His desire and ability to redeem the child. Truth is, it doesn't in the slightest. Wouldn't it better to have two whole people than one healed child and one utterly condemned man thrown into the pits of hell when perhaps he got that way because he was broken as a child himself? How he got there is not important though. I ought not to justify God's desire to restore the man by whether the man's experiences make him deserving of love.
My sin is just as detestable as that man's. Any sin is sin. There are no degrees to sin. Oh stealing a packet of gum from the local store will get you a slap on the wrist from God whereas a lustful or murderous thought will separate you from Him for ten weeks. There is no such thing. Yet I place sin in a hierarchy and decide how people should be perceived. This needs to change.
No comments:
Post a Comment