Come as you are... leave changed...

I read the news each day and my heart is overwhelmed by each headline. There are days when I wonder how and if things will turn around. Not that it seems impossible, but it’s seems highly difficult. Because when you live in a society where the only way you can show love is to absolutely agree with someone, how will we ever get along?

 

I read statements like “Christians are too judgmental. Jesus would never judge, he would just love.” I can’t necessarily argue with those statements. Christians are judgmental, as are all living, breathing people. I think we could all agree that judgmental abilities lie within the hearts of every human being. It’s an unfortunate side affect of being wrapped in flesh, of being a sinner who needs grace. And it’s true, Jesus wasn’t our idea of “judgmental.” Jesus said he didn’t come to the world to condemn the world, he came to save it. There has never been a more loving man than Jesus, and there will never be. He absolutely loved everyone he encountered. He responded to them in love. He showered them with perfect love. But Jesus also addressed their issues. He brought their sins to the surface. He called out wrongs, and he didn’t endorse disobedience or encourage deception. And if we think that love cannot be shown through truth and correction, then we’ve completely misunderstood the life and ministry of Jesus and we’ve missed the point of what we’re called to do.

 

I wrote about the women last night. The adulterer and the Samaritan at the well. Both were sinners in need of saving grace. Jesus met them where they were, and he loved them, but he didn’t dismiss the sin in their lives. He addressed it. He brought it up. They had to admit it, and they couldn’t deny the mistakes they had made. You see, that’s the thing about Jesus, we can hide our sins from one another, but he sees. And he saw that these women were not only knee deep in sin, he saw that they were hurting. He saw the damage sin had done and was doing to their lives. He saw how mislead they had been, how lost they were. He didn’t say, “Samaritan woman, I love you. You keep on doing what you’re doing because I’m still going to love you the same.” He didn’t say, “Adulteress woman, I love you. What you did was okay, and if you want to keep on living that lifestyle, go ahead. I’ll still love you the same.” He called them away from their sin. He drew them out of it. And after people had an encounter with Jesus, they did not stay the same. No, they left changed.

 

We see it every time. The disciples, the tax collectors, the lepers and the blind. The dead, the bleeding, the possessed, the lame, and the criminal. Each time they encountered Jesus, they left changed. They went away as a new creation in Christ. The old was gone. They weren’t who they once were. They had been sick, but they were now healed. They couldn’t see, but now they had full sight. Their lives were drastically different because of their encounter with Jesus. He didn’t love them and leave them the same. Jesus changed them so that they could be examples of His grace and mercy. He changed them so that they would be walking, talking agents of His glory. The truth is, Jesus loved them the same regardless. His love for them wasn’t contingent upon their ailments, their sins, or their issues. But his love for them ran deeper than they knew. His love desired change, to pull them into a new way of life, into his way of life.  

 

Aaron and I love each other deeply. We don’t always agree on everything. We don’t see eye to eye on every issue. We don’t endorse one another’s sins. When we mess up, we have to confess it, and sometimes one of us has to bring it to the surface for the other to realize it. But we do that because we love one another. We do that because we want the best for each other, for our marriage, and we both know that a life lived in contrast to God’s word is not what God wants for us. And sure, it’s hard a pill to swallow. It’s not easy to confront our own sin, be we end up seeing truth and we are changed. We understand that true, authentic love also incorporates correction and correction means speaking up. Correction means pointing to the truth, God’s absolute truth, because that’s what changes lives. That’s what turns lives, and marriages, around.

 

Jesus came to show us love, but he came to change lives. He came to speak truth, to offer correction, and to point people to God. He bore the cross, and he asks us to deny ourselves, pick ours up and follow him.  So come to him. Broken, sin-filled, weary, sick, and suffering. Come to Him exactly as you are, but then leave changed.  

 

“Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17-18