Pure Jesus预览

Jesus - Your Friend and Family

Fairly Unfair

If you’ve been around church for a long time, the promises of grace and love can start to feel stale after a while. They did for me until I came face to face with sin in my life. It felt like a jolt of electricity to my heart waking me up to how dull my senses had become as I had opened doors to unhealthy behaviors. Once the rude awakening took place, I let myself feel the anger, pain, shame, guilt, fear and self-loathing that followed. I isolated for a little while with the intent of taking inventory of my life, but I didn’t pull away from God in spite of my shame. Instead, I pressed harder into reading the Bible and praying causing me to experience some of the deepest and most soul nurturing moments. Stories in the Bible became alive in a different way, especially King David’s. For the first time I read about grace and forgiveness of sin, and cried over God’s love for me. 

Feeling remorse over your wrongdoings is one thing. Most of us have felt that at some point in our lives. Feeling remorse because we recognize sin as a trespass against God that gets in the way of our relationship with Him is another thing entirely. That kind of conviction is what brings about positive change in future behavior. That is a sign that Jesus is Lord of our lives, not just Savior. 

Jesus is fairly unfair. He sees sin and calls it out for what it is, but he is also quick to follow up with an opportunity for redemption if a person is legitimately sorry. Does everyone deserve that kind of fair/unfair treatment, no matter the transgression?

A good friend tells you the truth. Jesus does that. A true friend would do the work of reconciliation if an injury takes place between the two of you. Jesus does that too, and He does it no matter who it is or what they’ve done. He does it for you, and He does it for the people you love. But guess what? He even does that for the people you don’t like... because He does it for everyone. Jesus is fairly unfair. He’s a friend of sinners.

Reflection:

Being friended by Jesus is a humbling experience. Although in our humanity it’s easy to forget how undeserved grace is, it’s important to refocus and remember His acceptance. Has he done that for you? What did it feel like? Is there someone in your life who needs to be friended by you the way Jesus friended you?