There are going to be some folks who are in shock when they get to Heaven. There will be people there they never would’ve imagined. People who don’t look like them, maybe people who didn’t even act the way they thought they should act. But that’s the miracle of Jesus. He loves regardless. And so many times we dismiss the sinner because we’ve classified the sin as unredeemable. We dismiss the sinner when they tell us they don’t go to church because of the hypocrisy. Taking comfort in OUR sins because they aren’t as “big” as theirs, we tell them that they’re not at church to worship people but rather to worship God. Yes, that is true. But weren’t we called to be the truth and the light? And didn’t Jesus deliver it in unconventional means? We can’t deliver the news of a dynamic God by telling that kind of thing to the people that we meet at the well, in the tree, in the valley, at the bar, in the whore house. If God can save my meager soul in the plainest of circumstances, how AWESOME is my God that he can save people in the ugliest of places? He can love those we don’t want to love. How do we think we bring people into church? By criticizing the fact they don’t attend a physical church building? The church has become a place I don’t recognize because so many preach down on the sinner and not so much on the love that is available, with a price already paid. God is the ultimate judge. Jesus Christ only had one commandment and that was to LOVE. If you have a speck of hate in your heart today for someone you think is living contrary to the Bible, get ready, because if you make it to Heaven, you’re going to be surrounded by these people. God saves the sinners. God loves the heart of those who love Him and who “get it.” Living life on the throne of superiority and hypocrisy is the worst thing that we can do as Christians. We say phrases like, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” Why can’t we just put a period on “love the sinner?” Saying things like that make as much sense as “love the girl, hate the makeup.” I’m not saying go out there and start a heathen posse but why is it so hard to just LOVE?
We say things like “I’m not judging, I’m inspecting the fruits of the spirit.” God didn’t appoint you the USDA inspector of spiritual status. We ALL live parts of our lives contrary to what God wants. God wants us to turn it all over to him but are we too busy “inspecting fruits” to see the heart of someone that God loves? (Much less our own shortcomings.) They might be thieves, cheaters, liars, dirty, drug addicted, or whatever other category some people use to gauge the amount of love to bestow. Thank God almighty that he didn’t use a meter to dish out the love He gave to us when he put Jesus on that cross.
Sometimes we think we know what a situation is based on human standards of interpretation. We see the drug addict and believe they can’t overcome it until they want to defeat it. God says “watch this.” We see someone hanging out with the sinner and categorize that person as a bad person. We may not have a clue how God is using that person to reach the lost. Furthermore, we don’t know anyone’s heart or what is going on in their walk with God. What would people today say if they saw Jesus walking with the prostitute? Many would be quick to say he wasn’t the Messiah because the mirror of God couldn’t possibly associate with that kind of person. But that is PRECISELY where Jesus would be. Many of people who classify as Christian would dismiss the savior and throw stones. Why? Because it doesn’t look like what we think God is supposed to look like or what God is supposed to be doing.
Shortly after my Daddy died, I had a dream about him. I was in a big green field with a lake. Daddy had a cooler full of beer on the tailgate of a truck. I told Daddy that I didn’t think there was beer in heaven. He laughed and he said, “God is bigger than people give him credit. And he has a much better sense of humor.” For a moment in time, I believe the veil between this world and the next was lifted long enough not just to see my daddy one more time but to see the bigger picture, the bigger God. My Daddy wasn’t a church goer. He drank alcohol like a fish some days. But his heart….his heart was secure in his salvation. He was one of the kindest, quietest men anyone would know. Most church folks would have dismissed his faith and said he wasn’t being a faithful servant because he wasn’t in the walls of the church. No, Daddy didn’t sing the hymns with the “good and faithful servants.” But Daddy was living as an imperfect human with a good heart that knew God could save even him. Regardless of his status that the world would assign him. He was practicing his faith without toting a sign to announce his Christianity. Daddy talked with God in the woods while he tracked turkeys or out by the grill smoking ribs. Was his faith any less valuable to the Master? I think not. Daddy touched a lot of people with his love which is honestly the only commandment Jesus gave.
Am I perfect? Nope. Never claimed to be. I cuss like a sailor most days and I drink a good bourbon when the mood strikes. But my heart? My heart loves Jesus. And if He commands me to love everyone regardless of their sin, then that’s what I will do. I will bear witness through my imperfections that may not always reflect Christ. I will bear witness by my heart. My imperfect, loving heart. If I wait to be perfect, to be made whole, I will not do what God has chosen me to do. My Daddy is secure in heaven today. I’m sure of it. He may not have lived the life of a deacon, but he was worthy nonetheless. Surely if God can see his worth, I can see the worth of any other human regardless of what the world says.
Stop putting labels on people and situations that you know nothing about. Until God appoints you as judge and jury, stop it. God is bigger than we give Him credit for and He has mysterious ways to deliver the sinner. I don’t want to be anyone’s barricade to knowing the God I know. Until God allows a three way calling prayer line, you’ll never know the relationship that someone has with Him. It’s not our business to know. It’s a testimony to just how BIG our God is when His love extends beyond the human barriers, the human judgements. We can spend our whole Christian lives trying to be the kind of Christian our parents, our friends, our pastors want us to be. But until we embrace the kind of Christian God wants us to be, we miss the mark.
If we’re expecting a Heaven where people all look like us, all love like us, all act like us, we are going to be shocked. Frankly, I look forward to the Heaven that I imagine God has designed, full of His love and grace. Some of you might be shocked and ask, “why him?” Or “how did she get here?” And God’s reply will be “why not?”
Messpot Diaries 