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He keeps loving the wrong people!
Posted by
NandCard
,
20 October 2012
·
1559 views
"You are moving there!? But that's a Muslim country!"
"Isn't that nation clearly one who Biblical prophecy teaches will oppose Christ at Armageddon?"
"I don't see why they are sending you there, of all places."
These are all statements I've heard over my years as an Alliance International Worker. And, sorry to say it, but I heard them all - and others like them - from good folks in Alliance churches. While I'd stack most of our churches up against just about any others I know in terms of Great Commission values, even we are vulnerable to the idea that some people are just too bad, or too far gone.
The basic problem with this thinking is God. While we may give into the temptation to crawl into his Judge's chair and sort out sheep from goats, He actually sits in that chair, looks at the craziness of this world and...well...loves everyone.
The moral? We shouldn't judge, but often do. He is the Judge, but he loves the bad ones anyway. That's a key different between us and God. No matter what we think, He keeps loving the wrong people!
Consider the story of Hosea and Gomer (Hosea, chapters 1-3). The Bible is pretty clear that God doesn't like prostitution, but He directs Hosea to marry and love this woman. If you miss the point, just read about the names God told Hosea to give their kids - names that declare judgment. But then the One worthy to judge turns around and loves them anyway.
Or how about the story of Jonah? This story is not so much about the big fish. Nor is just about obedience, really. In the end Jonah obeys, but begrudgingly. He's dismayed and even angry that God withholds judgment and shows mercy to Nineveh. We might think of some people and nations and Ninevites today, but God just keeps loving the wrong people.
A much more modern example would be one about outsiders who came from afar and took over a land, pushed native dwellers aside, enslaved other humans for profit, exploited and damaged the environment, tolerated hatred, shed much blood, saw their form of government grow corrupt and ineffective, and slid further and further into accepting immorality.
Oh, wait. That would be us.
See, I told you. God keeps loving the wrong people. When we are tempted to think this of other societies and peoples of the world, He calls us to remember that we are also the wrong people. That's what it means when Paul writes in Romans 5:8, "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
New Testament, Spirit-led, better-than-Jonah's-type obedience overcomes the temptation to label others as too far gone for basically one reason. It is the joy of having been loved anyway, despite being the wrong people.
Aren't you glad he keeps loving the wrong people? Then, in that joy.... go!
"Isn't that nation clearly one who Biblical prophecy teaches will oppose Christ at Armageddon?"
"I don't see why they are sending you there, of all places."
These are all statements I've heard over my years as an Alliance International Worker. And, sorry to say it, but I heard them all - and others like them - from good folks in Alliance churches. While I'd stack most of our churches up against just about any others I know in terms of Great Commission values, even we are vulnerable to the idea that some people are just too bad, or too far gone.
The basic problem with this thinking is God. While we may give into the temptation to crawl into his Judge's chair and sort out sheep from goats, He actually sits in that chair, looks at the craziness of this world and...well...loves everyone.
The moral? We shouldn't judge, but often do. He is the Judge, but he loves the bad ones anyway. That's a key different between us and God. No matter what we think, He keeps loving the wrong people!
Consider the story of Hosea and Gomer (Hosea, chapters 1-3). The Bible is pretty clear that God doesn't like prostitution, but He directs Hosea to marry and love this woman. If you miss the point, just read about the names God told Hosea to give their kids - names that declare judgment. But then the One worthy to judge turns around and loves them anyway.
Or how about the story of Jonah? This story is not so much about the big fish. Nor is just about obedience, really. In the end Jonah obeys, but begrudgingly. He's dismayed and even angry that God withholds judgment and shows mercy to Nineveh. We might think of some people and nations and Ninevites today, but God just keeps loving the wrong people.
A much more modern example would be one about outsiders who came from afar and took over a land, pushed native dwellers aside, enslaved other humans for profit, exploited and damaged the environment, tolerated hatred, shed much blood, saw their form of government grow corrupt and ineffective, and slid further and further into accepting immorality.
Oh, wait. That would be us.
See, I told you. God keeps loving the wrong people. When we are tempted to think this of other societies and peoples of the world, He calls us to remember that we are also the wrong people. That's what it means when Paul writes in Romans 5:8, "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
New Testament, Spirit-led, better-than-Jonah's-type obedience overcomes the temptation to label others as too far gone for basically one reason. It is the joy of having been loved anyway, despite being the wrong people.
Aren't you glad he keeps loving the wrong people? Then, in that joy.... go!
- Angela Sawtell, Don Sappington, Ruthie Hankins and 3 others like this
