Just Out For A Good Time
My super hot husband and I were in down town Fort worth last Saturday night acting young and fun like we use to be before we had kids. We ate at out favorite sushi place and then went to see a movie that was definitely NOT kid friendly, but quite hilarious. When it was over we were enjoying our stroll back to the car when I heard some commotion coming from across the street. It seemed vaguely familiar, like something I had filed away in my mind from my more evangelical days at CFNI.
I remember walking through Deep Ellum with a team of students, Bibles in hand and our pockets full of zeal. The diversity of people ranged from young college couples, frightening goth youth, to vagrants who smelled of stale alcohol and urine. We all came together to experience the down town streets, each with our own purposes in mind. Most were there to have a good time, others of us wanted to change the world for Jesus, while still others were only hoping to bum a smoke or some lose change.
I have come a long way since then. I had joined the crowd of fun seekers. A slight annoyance crept up inside of me to join my thoughtful judgments. I noticed all the people starring with contempt for this man with microphone in hand bellowing about God’s love and power. I could almost hear their thoughts. ” Can you believe this man actually thinks he is going to make a difference like this? He must be a religious freak of some sort. We should stay away from him.” I could hear them, cause my own thoughts were equally as ugly.
But then a new thought interrupted my own. It had not come from my heart, but from a gentle and powerful entity. I felt the Holy Spirit opening my eyes to see a man who is so passionately in love with God that he is willing to sacrifice all, even to stand up in the middle of Ft. Worth amidst mockers and scoffers if it means the slightest of chances to bring Jesus to the lost and hurting. I began to listen to this man’s words with new ears and was convicted by his message of God’s love for me. Oh, how far I have come that I would allow my heart to become so hardened to the gospel and God’s messengers. Who am I to judge what God may call another to do or his methods.
Judging is something I have prided myself on not falling into. But it goes two ways. We can either judge others who don’t hold to the same high standards that we pridefully hold. We can just as easily be someone who judges others for passionately seeking to please God because it makes us feel convicted, condemned or that they are too overly zealous. Either way, shame on us for our pride and arrogance. Let’s just let God be God in the lives of others. Only he is worthy of such judgments and yet I have found him to be more forgiving and loving then my imperfect friends. It is his kindness that leads us to repentance. It is only by his power that I am able to ever do the right thing, not because I am stronger than anyone else. I couldn’t make myself perfect enough to be accepted by him until I finally submitted to his loving grace. He wanted me just the way I was, drunk, promiscuous, needy, angry, and broken. I said yes and he did the rest. Anytime I think I am better than someone else, I might as well be spitting on his grace cause seriously, what did I really do to put myself back together again? Can any of us fix ourselves? Then why do make others feel like they have to. Let’s just lead them to the same cross that we first humbled ourselves before. Just a thought
