I've been under fire lately for what is normally a celebrated and blissful occasion, but only three people in my life have stood hand in hand with me and shown unconditional expressions of the love, mercy, and grace of God. What I'm about to share publicly for the first time will generate mixed responses. Of this, I am sure, but I've grown weary from being gripped by judgmental claws of professing Christians, or men and women of faith in God. They have boldly declared that the love of Jesus is vast, but what they're really saying is it extends only as far as their own arm can reach. Or, more accurately, as deeply as their finite minds can understand. When I look at it that way, my anger dissipates as I come to terms with the reality that what we don't understand, we fear. And fear is not only a terrible leader when it's rooted in ignorance of a person or subject matter, but it's also potentially the most destructive weapon in the hand of the enemy. Couple it with hatred, the venomous step-sister of fear, and ruin awaits. The antidote? Love, but not the religious love many are accustomed to demonstrating, and I know because I've been that demonstrator and I've been the one judgmentally gripping another. I've seen what that looks like recently too as I've witnessed self-proclaimed Jesus followers turn against me. I wonder how many times I've done that in my past to another individual simply because I didn't understand something and feared what I didn't know. It grieves me now to think about my own hypocrisy played out on someone else's life scene, but I know with certainty that I have been that Pharisee. May God help us all, but as we patiently wait, I want to lay down a challenge to look into your own spiritual mirror. What do you see? Are you loving others religiously or outrageously?
Mine is a story of outrageous love, sweet redemption, unfathomable grace, and rich mercy. I fell in love. He fell in love. Within a matter of a few short months, we were married, but what followed was not the honeymoon movies are made of. On the contrary. My husband is now in jail for violating his parole conditions pertaining to romantic relationships, not the least of which included a stipulation against dating a woman with children. Why? Because the stain of his past includes a conviction for a sex offense. Some years ago, Alex was sentenced to prison following this conviction. He served seven years, but that isn't my story to tell, it's his. Mine is the story I'm choosing to share today. While I would never condone his choices of that time, I also believe in the concepts of second chances, mercy, grace, forgiveness, redemption, and the unconditional love of God. I knew about Alex's past when I met him in 2019. Though I was never romantically involved with him until 2020, once we reconnected, the rest is history. We were married just a few weeks ago. Since that time, the chaos that has erupted and essential loss of everything I know has been profound. The pain has been crushing, but revealing. I have certainly had time to question it all. A close and well-respected friend posted something on Facebook tonight that left me seeking God for truth. Had I walked in deception? Was I wrong in my commitment to this man I now call husband? From the words she wrote, I could see how I had taken steps without the benefit of wise counsel and I had to consider every angle, including the possibility that I was in spiritual error about everything. Humility can do that, pride cannot, and here's what I discovered - for better or worse, I love him. In sickness and health, I'll stand by him. In riches and also rags, I'll walk alongside him. I had to repent for failing to do some things right, and it's an utterly imperfect situation, but we are both loved by a perfect God who can right every wrong, illuminate every deception, and bring light out of the darkest nights.
Because I have an almost three year old daughter, I've had many people question how I could love "a sex offender" if I truly love my daughter, but here is what I know - that is no longer his identity as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and my love for him does not negate my love for her. I love more with a capacity to adore them both. The grave error most people make is in thinking that we can only love a certain type of person - the saint, but not the sinner. The innocent, but not the convicted. God's love is withheld from no one, however, so who would I be to refuse love to anyone? We aren't called to love only those who don't inconvenience our lives. Jesus certainly went out of his way to love those society scorned. The woman caught in adultery whom the legal authorities were ready to kill because it was a crime punishable by death (John 8:1-11) at that time - Jesus saved her. David committed both adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11), but was ultimately called a "man after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14), and Romans 5:8 says "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," so who, in your life script of redemption worthy sinners, is included in the "we"? 1 Corinthians 6:11 in the Amplified Bible says about those who repent of their sins: "You were washed by the atoning sacrifice of Christ, you were sanctified, set apart for God, and made holy, you were justified, declared free of guilt, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit of our God, the source of the believer's new life and changed behavior." Friend, God's arm is not too short to forgive the worst of us, to love us all, and He calls us to the same action. I've been the victim turned survivor of a number of things in my life and have forgiven people who never apologized. How? Because the love of God in me is greater than the hatred in the world around me. To love everyone having a human experience, and to love them fully, unconditionally, radically, and completely outrageously is to love as God loves. And His is an outrageous love.
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." - 1 John 4:7-8
"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus." - 1 John 4:16-17
Additional Information
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/test-the-spirits-to-see-whether-they-are-of-god
Mine is a story of outrageous love, sweet redemption, unfathomable grace, and rich mercy. I fell in love. He fell in love. Within a matter of a few short months, we were married, but what followed was not the honeymoon movies are made of. On the contrary. My husband is now in jail for violating his parole conditions pertaining to romantic relationships, not the least of which included a stipulation against dating a woman with children. Why? Because the stain of his past includes a conviction for a sex offense. Some years ago, Alex was sentenced to prison following this conviction. He served seven years, but that isn't my story to tell, it's his. Mine is the story I'm choosing to share today. While I would never condone his choices of that time, I also believe in the concepts of second chances, mercy, grace, forgiveness, redemption, and the unconditional love of God. I knew about Alex's past when I met him in 2019. Though I was never romantically involved with him until 2020, once we reconnected, the rest is history. We were married just a few weeks ago. Since that time, the chaos that has erupted and essential loss of everything I know has been profound. The pain has been crushing, but revealing. I have certainly had time to question it all. A close and well-respected friend posted something on Facebook tonight that left me seeking God for truth. Had I walked in deception? Was I wrong in my commitment to this man I now call husband? From the words she wrote, I could see how I had taken steps without the benefit of wise counsel and I had to consider every angle, including the possibility that I was in spiritual error about everything. Humility can do that, pride cannot, and here's what I discovered - for better or worse, I love him. In sickness and health, I'll stand by him. In riches and also rags, I'll walk alongside him. I had to repent for failing to do some things right, and it's an utterly imperfect situation, but we are both loved by a perfect God who can right every wrong, illuminate every deception, and bring light out of the darkest nights.
Because I have an almost three year old daughter, I've had many people question how I could love "a sex offender" if I truly love my daughter, but here is what I know - that is no longer his identity as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and my love for him does not negate my love for her. I love more with a capacity to adore them both. The grave error most people make is in thinking that we can only love a certain type of person - the saint, but not the sinner. The innocent, but not the convicted. God's love is withheld from no one, however, so who would I be to refuse love to anyone? We aren't called to love only those who don't inconvenience our lives. Jesus certainly went out of his way to love those society scorned. The woman caught in adultery whom the legal authorities were ready to kill because it was a crime punishable by death (John 8:1-11) at that time - Jesus saved her. David committed both adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11), but was ultimately called a "man after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14), and Romans 5:8 says "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," so who, in your life script of redemption worthy sinners, is included in the "we"? 1 Corinthians 6:11 in the Amplified Bible says about those who repent of their sins: "You were washed by the atoning sacrifice of Christ, you were sanctified, set apart for God, and made holy, you were justified, declared free of guilt, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit of our God, the source of the believer's new life and changed behavior." Friend, God's arm is not too short to forgive the worst of us, to love us all, and He calls us to the same action. I've been the victim turned survivor of a number of things in my life and have forgiven people who never apologized. How? Because the love of God in me is greater than the hatred in the world around me. To love everyone having a human experience, and to love them fully, unconditionally, radically, and completely outrageously is to love as God loves. And His is an outrageous love.
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." - 1 John 4:7-8
"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus." - 1 John 4:16-17
Additional Information
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/test-the-spirits-to-see-whether-they-are-of-god
Video Credit
No comments:
Post a Comment