Love that Never Fails

Jesus was strolling out to the boat to join His disciples. Walking on the water seemed to be the logical way to get there but Peter got all excited and ask if he could do so as well and the story goes that he made it for a moment, then realized what he was doing and began to sink. The question is, did Jesus stop loving or accepting Peter when his faith wavered and he began to sink? Or was Jesus embarrassed or even angry about the poor witness the incident created for those watching from the shore?

It is easy to know that Jesus did not change His opinion nor His love when Peter sank. It is much harder to believe that He is that understanding when we sink. We are programed or maybe even brainwashed to believe His love for us is dependent on how we behave. How successful we are in rising above the human parts of our lives. He loves winners.

So, we carry around our past failures and hide our guilt so others will not suspect how much fear we have inside, while trying to appear full of faith on the outside, and never discover how much He loves us, walking or sinking.

I was teaching a class of young people at a large Christian summer camp. There was one class member whose eyes were so full of fear and pain that I was haunted by them. I could see those eyes almost every night while trying to sleep. I had a hard time taking my eyes off of her during the classes. Fortunately, she hung around after the last day of class and we talked, or rather she talked, and thank goodness, I listened. It turned out she was not one of the young people she was actually one of the adults the church sent to guide (control) the kids.

Somehow, she felt safe enough to tell me about her past and the guilt she felt over some of the things she had done. Then she shared how fearful she was that God was going to punish her for everything in her past. Everything that happened left her wondering if this was God starting the punishment stage. She had trouble getting the girls to go to sleep the night before and was convinced even that was God refusing to bless her.

I explained that she was feeling guilty over things God had long ago forgotten. Explanations did not seem to help. Then I said, “Do you believe that I think less of you because of what you have told me?” She thought for a moment and her face filled with wonder as she said, “No, I don’t think you do.” I said you mean that I have heard all of the things you have done and I do not judge you but rather I accept and love you?” She was crying and mumbled out, “Yes, I don’t know why but you seem to still like me.” Then I said, “Wouldn’t it be great if God was as nice of a guy as I am?” It hit her like a bolt of lightning and it seemed to make sense to her. She looked me up at the end of the service that night and I did not recognize her. Her eyes had cleared up.

That story has at least two meanings. First it means that God loves us all of the time. When we are walking on water and when we are failing and being embarrassing to Him and His cause. His love does not ebb and flow with our behavior.

The second meaning is, often, if not most of the time, we find forgiveness from God after we are forgiven by a significant other. It seems like “if that person can forgive me then I can dare believe that God can do so as well.” We then have the opportunity to be instruments in God’s plan to make people know and feel HIs love.

That makes church into a totally different thing. Instead of a being the last place and the last people we want to really see and know who we are inside, instead of being a place where we feel each other’s spiritual pulse and categorize folks by our findings, and instead of where we love to quote, “by their fruits will you know them” and designate ourselves as chief fruit inspectors. It should be a place where people feel accepted and loved enough to then dare think God also loves and accepts them.

And it changes how we are to live in the world. We are the instruments of God’s love. When we love someone unconditionally without judgement, even if they are different from us, even though they don’t behave like we think they should, then we have paved the way for them to discover the love of God. I really believe that people find the forgiveness of God after they have been forgiven by a significant other. There is no greater calling than being a significant other to folks locked in guilt and fear.

THE THIRD OPTION

I have spent a great deal of my life trying to find what I call the third option. I was raised in a world of only two. The options were either we were kicking against some sin or we were condoning it. Jesus seemed to have a third option. He found a way to be against the sin but still love the sinner. One of the main reasons they rejected Him and ultimately demanded He be crucified was because of the folks He hung around with and loved; alcoholics, tax collectors, a woman married four times and living with someone who was not her husband, a woman caught in the act of adultery, and of course the lepers, the cripples and the sick who, according to the theology of that day, were sick because of God punishing them for some sin. His love for them did not diminish His stand against wrong or His stand for right. How did He do that? The gospel accounts are primarily just pictures of how He met and dealt with everyone He met and can be a great example for us to follow as well. He seemed to follow a pattern in each encounter. That pattern consisted of three basic rules.

First: He never judged from a distance. He went where the people were and met them in face to face encounters. If He were alive today we would probably find Him in some pub talking warmly with the folks others look down on, or walking among the homeless and the outcast having live conversations with no platitudes or piety. He would not hang around our churches much. He did not attend much when He was here either. He was in trouble most Sabbaths because He was out among the folks healing the sick and comforting the needy.

Second: He understood. He recognized that we are all the product of where we came from and what we have been through. He seemed to understand not only where folks were but how they got there. He understood the fires that burned unseen inside of them. A dear friend of mine loves to say, “hurt people, hurt people” and he is right. Crushed people react in anger. Denied people grasp in greed. Folks who feel down find it hard to allow anyone else to be up. He looked beyond the hurts and the bluster to find simple human beings that needed a touch and touched them.

Third: Everyone had value. No one was insignificant. Is there a sweeter story anywhere than the shy little lady with a blood issue timidly reaching out to touch the hem of His robe and He stopped everything to be sure she knew how much she mattered?

I believe He deals with us in the same way. He does not judge from a distance or put us in groups named for some sin we have committed, He understands who we are and why we are who we are and each of us are valued to Him. Grace means He found something worth loving about each of us.