Passion For All: Even the Prostitute, Even the Transgender

I grew up thinking my way or the highway. If you weren't like me, then you weren't as good as me. Sad but true. I think everyone in a way, has that mentality at some point. It's pretty infantile, and pretty much human nature isn't it? It actually might be a little slanted toward the old school American mentality too. We are the best, better than the rest?

Hmmm.

As I grow in this crazy messed up world, especially this extremely divided country, I begin to see a stark contrast even more than ever, of Christ's example versus this society we live in.

I see fear gripping people and causing them to deepen the divide. I see slander of the inspired word of God, used in a literal way to bully and try to suppress those who are just not good enough to be included in the family of God. According to those who have no say in who is created in the first place.

If you are being told that Christ's love and sacrifice is exclusive, then you might want to dig a little deeper.

Today, is Good Friday. It's the day when, after centuries of sacrifice upon sacrifice by a rebellious people to appease a holy God, God gave Himself for ALL the world. He became the final sacrifice so that we might find communion with our Maker forever.

What Christ did for us, is completely unfair, unprosperous, and on an economic system that the touting American who feels entitled to some esteemed rank on the social ladder is actually further away from the truth than they believe.

The economy of Christ is not to choose certain values over loving people. Like the apostle Paul states,

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."

Choosing Values over Love is UnGodly [period]

And the more I see the news or hear those who cling to a politician or even a political movement because they protect our "Christian" values, the more I wonder how far off the ladder we have fallen?

Shouldn't we instead, choose the person who is willing to love their fellow man unconditionally? After all, it is beyond us to judge. The holy Son of God walked this Earth and spread the Good News for all, only "judging" those who put words in God's mouth and abused the decrees of the Lord. He had the right to judge, but he only used that right to judge the righteous, not the morally-depraved.

It is frightening to see that the fallen world seems to offer more unconditional love than the church of Christ. I wonder if we have completely sold out to a false premise of our beliefs?

This Good Friday, when you see Christ's limp body hanging on the cross in that movie clip, or you take the bread and wine meant to represent his brokenness and bloodshed, remember exactly who Christ meant to include in His sacrifice.

And it's not just my congregation, or the church down the street. But it's the prostitute on the corner, the transgender in the bathroom, the lowest of lows on the 6 o'clock news. God come down for every single one of us.

Those who already choose to Live in His Spirit must Love in His Spirit too. 

Breathe Again

It's hard to breathe when you refuse air.

And it's hard to breathe when you witness someone refusing to inhale.

Especially someone so very close to you. Someone who breathed their first breath in your presence.
Once you become a mother, your breath nearly always seems to depend on that of your child. If they aren't breathing--living to the full--then you are struggling for air.

These past weeks have taken my breath away. Not in a romantic, dreamy way. But in a crippling way as I see my children struggle to breathe in the only hope I find to be true. It has a lot to do with why I chose my word for the year, Redeem.
We need it around here.

So. Yesterday at church, the pastor preached on the new sermon series to kick off the new year. And it's centered on Acts 3:19:

"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord..."

In the Greek, the word, "refreshing" actually means "to breathe again". I love that. It's shown me something redemptive, and as I said, my word this year is REDEEM.

Living with an atheist has had me shirk away from the idea of sin. Sin is a big BAD no-no in a
Godless view. We're all good, humanity is good (after all, we are here by such an amazingly small chance), sin is ridiculous and the idea of it is detrimental to the future of humanity. If there was such thing as sin, then you are against humanity, against nature, against your very being.

But.

There may be something unknown in that word--by those so opposed to it. And it's the very essence of our relationship with our Creator. It's the very essence of our need for redemption. It's the fact that we, in all our humanness, breathed...in all our free will, were given breath...and WE have missed the mark in our effort to breathe apart from the Maker.

It's no wonder sin is powerful, because it stops our breathing in, and then we struggle for air in the darkness.

Sorry for the sermon, but I am really processing this for myself. Because, in order to have any air around here, I think I have tried to compromise with truth for the sake of my marriage. And I've allowed lies to warp my heart.

Not that my husband has any say in this, but, because I am a peace maker by default, I try to find the middle ground...and I went a little past the middle.

The fact that sin is part of us, is actually a reason to rejoice in living...again. To remember that there is a second chance out there, and that we've been given it regardless of which sin, and because we have sinned. Sin has given us a journey to understand our significance through the eyes of a Savior. Not that I love sin for that, but I love the plan that God can use ANYTHING to show us HIS EVERYTHING. Nothing is wasted. Not even our brokenness.

It starts with me. I can only change myself, or at least, it's up to me to surrender to Christ and refresh in His presence. I can't push my children, or my husband to "repent"...to "believe"...to "breathe again". That's God's job. I can only blot out my own transgressions and breathe again, welcoming the presence of the Lord...

And hopefully that presence will grow strong in my house, and there will be a gasping for air again.

My Short Story, Scene 4

**I have been posting a scene each day. If you want to start from the beginning, please scroll down**

WHEN LOVE POURS DOWN, Scene 4

Before this storm, I flew away from home and lost myself. My painted wings were hidden in a chrysalis of uncertainty, so I decided to crawl along my first year of college and blend in with all those around me who hadn't ever grown wings at all. But the Painter of my wings pursued me, and He knew the best gallery upon which to display His design—the overflow of my heart. When love found me in friendship, my wings began to unfold. And my friends proclaimed the Designer and turned me to Him who gave me wings in the first place.

I fold the blanket across my boy's shoulders as he sleeps. “I am not strong enough.”

“You are right, Lisa.” My bestie, Melissa sips her tea and steadies her gaze on me. “You aren't strong enough, you aren't brave enough, you aren't worthy...”

“I get it.” I roll my eyes and step to the window of her guest room. Darkness floods the sky which had thrown about its elements all day.

“Do you get it?” She sets her tea down on the nightstand and joins me at the window. With a crank, the window rolls open and the scent of drying rain and awakened roots fill our nostrils. “Do you trust in Him alone, or are you taking matters into your own hands?”

Could she know? Really know what I am going through? But she speaks truth now. I packed my bags and left Steve in the name of self-protection...and mama-bear-love.

“Trust? It's not about trusting God.” I think. “But do I trust Steve with Jack's heart?”

“It's not up to Steve what happens to Jack's heart. God's bigger than Steve. And you.”

A gust blows through the screen and catches my hair beyond my shoulders. I am on the edge of the earth, the atmosphere is a thin veil covering my body, flowing behind me in long sheets. Nothing's touching me. I remember God's grasp, and He swells within me.

“You are Mine and I am yours.” Yes, Lord. “He is Mine, and I am his.”

Who?

Steve? Jack?

Perhaps both. But it's not up to me, is it? I cannot run far enough away from destruction and close enough to God to keep Jack's heart safe.

Just like Jonah from the story book. Well, Jonah from the only Real Book.

It's not up to me. I am not the designer of painted wings or human hearts.

His Spirit gathers all my fear and releases it in the wind.

In God alone.

In God alone will He shape Jack's heart to know Him.

In God alone will Steve find Him again.

Nothing I can do will bring about salvation. Nothing.

Except...

“Love is the only thing that will make you strong, Lisa. It bears all things. And really, it is all we are called to do.”

Love. Snapped in two like the willow. Crushed within me by Steve's faith betrayal. But before this storm, it is the very thing that released my painted wings to full span across my soul. It was first in the love of friendship showing me Jesus, and then another surge of love which prodded my heart to bloom and my wings to lift me higher. The love of my soulmate—Steve.

But I know better now. I no longer dream in childish scales, but in mature orchestra swells. My soulmate is Jesus. And Steve is my closest friend. The one I've drowned out with cacophonous conditional love. Nothing like that which my Father gives. Steve's not seen His kind of love from me.

Conviction weighs heavy on my wings like syrupy dew in the orange shade of dawn.

“What do I do, Mel?” The wind dies down and an owl calls from the wilderness outside. “How can I live with a man who'll never let me forget this heartbreak? Who'll test my faith day in and out, and never let me rest?”

She slides her arm around my shoulders and I weep.

“You need to let it go, Lisa. Remember that it's not yours to fight. It's between Steve and God. You are only called to—”

“Love.” I release the word with a breath so deep within me that I am left with a hollow in my core. And a craving to fill it...with love...for Steve.

Lord, where did that come from?

“He is so lost, Lisa. You are his wife for a reason. And Jack is his son for a reason. We may not know it yet, but let God's love get you through this. And share it with Steve. It's hard, I know.” She squeezes my shoulder. “They'll know us by our love, right?” Melissa reaches over to crank the window close and a flutter rushes towards the sill. In a delicate prance across the wood, a butterfly settles it's slender body in the stillness of night.

Its painted wings in perfect design.

His Word came alive to me long ago, that day when my wings were released by love. I knew that I was not good enough, except through Him who designed me in His perfect way. And while the love of my friends brought me to my knees for the first time, the love of my Steve illuminated the design upon my wings to glow with faith, hope, and Him who is Love.

Perhaps my wings were not created for me to flourish in my flight toward Heaven, but designed for me to carry God's love—through the desert, through the storm, and to the broken aftermath?

I peek over my shoulder at my little boy dreaming in fairytales. I am only his mother, not his God. But I'll do my best to show Him God through love. That is easy. A mother's love is hard to suppress. But what of unconditional love for the man who's cast off every condition of my God for nothingness?

 How can I return to the broken aftermath with wings drenched from the storm?

Enough is enough!

"For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” John 12:40

on freedigitalphotos.net by Dan

Yikes! How could God do this? Blind someone from His truth? Doesn't it say in the Bible that He doesn't want anyone to perish? And yet, this verse, and others similar to it, make me wonder in my faith.

It's been on my mind a lot lately. The more I hear perverted truth on secular t.v., so-called "Christian" evangelists, and in the mouths of many others, the more I chew on this concept. Why would God allow such a thing? And then I reflect.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who "hates" your religion?
Have you ever witnessed complete blinding in someone who is led astray?

It's not pretty. I wonder how God takes such desecration of His Truth and Glory?

A while back, I had someone share their "heart" in this way. Mocking, ugly, scoffing, degrading my entire belief system. There comes a point where you realize that even the Truth you send out there (Scripture, Godly principles...whether it be on social media, on religious cards, in conversation) is not just being overlooked, but it is being attacked in the heart of the receiver.

Can God handle this type of disrespect?
Absolutely!
But for a God who doesn't want anyone to perish, is it beneficial to allow His Truth to be a stumbling block for the lost who might use it to grow deeper in their hate?
No.
Perhaps, just perhaps (and I am certainly no theologian), God's blinding is not a ruthless deed as a "dictator" of the universe, BUT a last resort to give the lost a life application of what it means to  really be void of Truth and Good. Perhaps, God chooses to blind those and harden their hearts, so that maybe they will become so desperate for His Peace in their desolation, that they might crawl through the darkness and cry out to their Maker at last?

You know, free-will...in it's most absolute application.

Yes, God knows who will sit with Him one day, so He really can do whatever He wants here on Earth with that knowledge. But in all His Sovereignty, He is also compassionate, loving, and jealous for us! And if it means tough love by hiding His truth and walking away to get a person to truly seek Him at last...then so be it.

And if He knows that person will never turn to Him, then why can't the God of the Universe say,
"No more!"? When it His very Heart that is being torn apart and spit upon by the words of the foolish?

At this point, I wonder, if in all His righteous anger He says, Enough is enough.