I am for you.
I’ve always been a rule follower. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve willingly and intentionally broken established rules. For a long time, I saw the world as pretty black and white. I liked to know that there were rights and wrongs. In my mind, rules meant safety. If I played within the rules of life, things would be ok. When I became a Christian, I had an even greater appreciation for “rules”. I liked that if scripture said something, I knew it was truth. I could use scripture as my new rule book and safety net.
As I grew older, experienced more of the ups and downs of life, and came face to face with people who were different from me, I started to dig in to the Bible a little deeper. I started to read between the lines of scripture a little more. I longed to know Jesus and what it meant to love like him. Rules couldn’t take me deeper than a surface reading or surface relationships. Yet I hungered for knowing people to their depths. I learned that if we want to get to the deep, we first have to wade through the shallow. God grabbed me by my heart and pulled me directly into His word. I started to search deeper behind scriptures that I had previously used to define “what not to do” and discovered freedom in learning instead more about what Jesus did.
My friends, Jesus is the one who unites. His existence can be summed up by saying He came to reunite humans with God in love and to teach us how to unite with one another in that same love. To the contrary, Satan – the great adversary – exists to divide. The devil longs to separate us from God and from one another. Knowing this, I asked myself – am I using the Bible as a tool to unite with others, or am I using it as a tool for division? Am I working to bring others together in love or am I looking for rules on when it is okay to draw lines that keep others out? When I asked myself these questions, I came to a deeply challenging place where I was forced to confront my own prejudices and my own misunderstandings of scripture. I have spent over a year in this place of questioning and digging in and I’m still feeling the tensions of my shifting theology. However, through my questions and my doubts, God has been faithful. He has reminded me that He is indeed a God of love but He has boldly shown me that His love goes beyond any societal, or moral guidelines that we humans attempt to establish.
If you aren’t familiar with Bob Goff, I’d love for you to pick up one of his books. One thing that he mentions of his experience of Christians was that they “seemed to have more opinions about what they were against than who they were for.” This line jumped off of the page and squeezed my heart. Jesus existed for others. His life was literally a gift given up for all of us. If I want to be more like Jesus, I have to be willing to spend my life fighting FOR people rather than against them. Jesus not only spent time with but indeed sought out those who lived outside of the societal and religious boxes of his day. It is our sin nature that tells us to avoid situations and people who make us uncomfortable. Jesus godly nature was to do just the opposite. He walked directly toward the outsider. He spent his life loving those deemed unworthy, sick, lost, and morally questionable. Jesus saw need where we tend to draw lines.
Even Judas, who Jesus knew would betray him was still welcome at the table for the last supper. If that isn’t a clear depiction of Christ’s love, I don’t know what is. Friends, I hope that we can love like this. I hope that we can unite in making our tables bigger, allowing our hearts to stretch. Jesus is now and will forever be the head but if we Christians are to be the body and to walk in that power, then we must experience unity in diversity. We have to be willing to stand together even in the midst of the “I don’t know” and “I disagree” and “I’ve come to a different understanding.” If we make love our priority, differences are no longer frightening. If Jesus is alive in us, then we will no longer be held back by determining what we are against and instead will be propelled toward WHO we are for. And one thing the Bible is crystal clear about is our call to love God and love others.
**I want to take a moment to apologize to those who I have previously stood against. If I ever made you feel like the Kingdom of God was not for you, please accept my sincerest apologies. If you have ever been made to feel that all you are is your sin, please know that is not the truth of God. If you have been sent away, shunned by church or by family, please know that God’s love is not limited by human action. You are here for a reason, made in the image of God. Do not doubt that simply because others fail to see His reflection in you. Your life matters. Who you are, matters. Bottom line, even when Christians have failed you, Christ loves you. And so do I. My arms are open wide. Please reach out if you need a friend. **