Love Wins: Supreme Court Christians Can Take A Lesson From the Woman At The Well

Today is a hard day. I am truly struggling with how to feel and what to write.

I see so much HATE in my social media news feeds. I see so many Christians who just seem angry. I see so many hurt people, who have felt judged and misunderstood, spitting hatred.  I can’t understand why this Supreme Court decision has caused such ANGER. To those who, I assume, believe and feel as I do about this issue, why are you mad? I understand sad. I understand frustrated as we pray through how to best explain all this to our kids. I understand anxious about what our government may do next. I even understand confusion, hating the sin and loving the sinner and all. But the fury and hatred behind the words you are typing has me utterly baffled.

Hate will never lead lost souls to our Savior. It will only drive them away.

In my ministery and through my parents’ ministries I have met some people living in and through some pretty despicable sins. People who were holding tight to their sinful acts as a child does a security blanket.  We are talking baby killers, drug dealers, child abusers, prostitutes… the list goes on. And the one common denominator I can find through them all- They are broken, lost people. Even the proudest and loudest sinner has lived through some terrible stuff leading to their sin or because of their sin.

I know my God hates sin. He hates when I yell at my kids. He hates when I disrespect my husband. He hates when I don’t go back into the grocery store and return the gum that fell in between the cracks in the basket before I could pay for it. He hates when I lie and say I am busy to avoid doing something I just don’t want to do. He hates when I covet my friend’s new car, or their vacation or their gym membership. He hates when I am lazy. He hates when I am proud. He hates when I am selfish.

But He doesn’t hate me.

Scripture says He longs for me, He desires me, He calls me,  He wants me.

He LOVES me, y’all.

He knew my sin would separate us and He loved me so much He provided a way for me to still be able to get to Him BECAUSE HE LOVED ME. Despite my sin. Despite my wandering heart. Despite my wickedness. And despite the fact that He knew I would reject Him time and time again. Friends, I feel the weight of my sin often. I have to ask for more grace on a daily bases than seems right. And yet, no one screams at me on my FB wall. No one unfriends me, or calls me names. No one sends me ugly emails reminding me how little I deserve the Lord’s loving kindness. The Lord hates my sin, but He loves me, and He GENTLY calls me back when I wander off into sin.

I can tell you from my own personal experience, I have never felt convicted and repented when I felt I was being judged or condemned. Some of you have prayed for my repentance when I was in sin. Some of you have sent me scripture or gentle words of admonishment that have led me to seek restoration and healing from my God.

Why aren’t we doing that now?

And here’s another thing, I am going to go out on a limb here and say: No one who has ever met me and knows my background even a little, thinks I am okay with same sex marriage or homosexuality. It’s not any more of a shocker than that I am Prolife ( Hello: pastor’s daughter, Right To Life lobbyist’s sister, Mom of 6 kids…). It’s pretty obvious where I stand on these issues, so my shouting it from the FB rooftops seems a little redundant. I have made known to the world in my daily life that I believe the Word of God is inspired by God, unerring and applicable to every situation . I pray that no one needs me to say, “Hey Guys BTW I am against abortion, murder of any kind really, adultery, fornication, molestation, stealing, getting drunk,-  basically, all the 7 deadly sins? I am against ‘em. Just so you know.”

I also earnestly hope my life says, “I seek to minister, serve and fight for the poor, the needy, the widows, the orphans, the hurting, the lost. I try to love people no matter who they are or where they are on their journey and I desire with every fiber in my body to lead them to the cross and the amazing life altering work that Christ can do in their lives.”

Now, none of this is to say I won’t adamantly be fighting against the government getting any more involved in mine or my family’s lives. Wicked men enacting or enforcing wicked laws that hurt my family, my children, my friends, the helpless, the fabric of my society need to hear our valiant protests. Those protests can, have, and will continue to fill my FB wall! When we were FIGHTING to get bills passed that would make killing a baby without his mama seeing an ultrasound and hearing of his heartbeat or, later, not allowing him to be murdered if he was over 20 weeks gestation, you better believe I was screaming my thoughts on the matter. As a Christian it is PAST time to get involved in politics. Our collective voice needs to be heard. We have been silent and apathetic too long. This is actually one way we can love our neighbors, by ensuring good laws and policies are passed.

But that is a post for another day.

Today, I hope we can show Love. They will know we are believers BY our love for one another (John 13:35). Scripture tells us, it is the GOODNESS of the Lord that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). As you interact with sinners, whatever the sin, remember those two admonishments, please.  You won’t make the sin okay by choosing kindness over condemnation. And you won’t lead the sinner back from sin by screaming judgement. Jesus helped the adulterous woman up from the ground after stopping the people who wanted to stone her for her sins. He didn’t tell her that her sin was okay or even that it wasn’t that bad. She already knew all about her sin. He showed her love. And that changed her life.

Friends, let’s follow Christ’s example today, okay?