and were going “to go with Jesus
all the way.”
i was eight when i accepted Jesus Christ
at a billy graham film, and i confess
that is exactly how it happened with me.
david, however,
had gone forward many times,
and never was able to cry
or have a high-peak emotional
experience. as a result, all these years
he had decided
he could not be a Christian.
one day
he talked to a man who also was not an
emotional personality. he was reserved and rather
withdrawn.
this man shared with david that Jesus Christ
entered his life in an undramatic way.
no tears.
no brand-new, cleaned-out
feeling.
in his heart, he quietly and simply
chose to follow Jesus Christ. he confessed his sin,
and began sharing his entire self with God.
that day, david’s life changed.
he had, for so long, wanted
to know God.
suddenly he realized that Jesus relates to our
personalities individually. today,
david is a strong, stable Christian.
one of the most beautiful stories in the Bible
is about Jesus and the prostitute.
Jesus certainly did not approve of prostitution, but
He saw that woman as a person
separate from her behavior.
He loved her.
He tenderly reached out to smooth her life.
the pharisees’ law for prostitution
was to stone to death; no consideration of
where the woman came from, or what she
was in her heart…
just cruel, immediate death.
Jesus’ law of love was
compassion.
“he who is without sin, throw the first stone.”
with shame,
i confess to throwing stones.
i confess to the temptation of looking on a
person’s behavior, and letting that dictate
my feelings for that child of God… of deciding
for others what i think is right or wrong for their
lives when i have NEVER “walked in their
moccasins,” felt their pain and hopelessness, come
from their childhood. i acknowledge with
gratitude that more and more Jesus’ command,
“judge not, that ye be not judged,” is being
absorbed and understood in my life.
“perceptual distortion” is a psychological term
that means we all understand situations
differently, according to our backgrounds and
frames of reference. in hawaii, in my strict
Christian home, surrounded by ocean, for years
a major church function was having picnics on the
beach, spending hours swimming and riding the
waves. can you imagine my shock when i moved to
the midwest where there is no ocean, where some
evangelicals feel mixed swimming is an abuse of
the law of God? the difference was in where we
were raised.
Jesus, after all You have said, over and over,
about the pharisees and the law… after all
Your pleadings to be bound by love rather
than law… please help me and others, as
Christians, to see people separate from their
behavior that we don’t understand or
condone. be strong in us so we can always love
people for being people… and leave
the judging to You.
i ache.
the hurting i see in others…
wishing it were not
there, yet… knowing
purposes exist
behind
every
cold
windy
valley.
i like that!
the simple
unwavering
assurance
that every task…
every dream…
