“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God…”
1 John 3:1 (ESV)
There is a reason we should close our eyes to worship – to focus on Jesus! Yet, my eyes strayed one Sunday and rested on a bare-backed young lady standing ahead in the pews. Some would consider her scantily dressed, but then I saw the exposed tattoo. My worship was now clearly interrupted as thoughts flowed. “Couldn’t she find more conservative clothing, and where were the ushers to give her a shawl?”
What a switch from the kind of love expressed in my worship to judging my tattooed sister. Well, the Holy Spirit threw it right back at me. “Oh, so you judge on My behalf? Isn’t that why some people may not enter my house? What was in your closet when you came to me? That girl is desperate to know Me, and I assured her to come, all who are thirsty (Isaiah 55:1).”
After this Holy Ghost admonition, I am now shifting from worship to repentance to prayer that my sister would have an encounter with Christ that same day. My sister headed to the altar at the end of service for prayers, leaving me wondering about how we treat people who look different – cultural, academic, economic, or religious – than us.
Jesus showed us how not to judge when He addressed the woman with the issue of blood. She was desperate, but to others, it might have looked like indiscipline (Mark 5:25-34). The Canaanite woman, too, boldly approached Jesus to deliver her demon-possessed daughter (Matthew 15:22-29), ignoring every dissuading comment. She ticked the desperation box, too.
Sometimes, our siblings’ desperation in the world may seem like indiscipline to us. Yet John 3:1 (ESV) encourages, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God …”.
We are called to replicate God’s love and dignity, given to us when we were adopted. Evangelism is continuous adoption, and we are not gatekeepers of the orphanage but those who habitate with siblings saved by grace. Jesus has already redeemed them! Give thanks!
Read: John 11:52, 1 Corinthians 1:10
Bible Reading Guide: Psalm 123; Hebrews 10:19-39; Ezekiel 20:45-49; Ezekiel 21; Ezekiel 22:1-22
