I’ve had a “Love Wins” bumper sticker on my car long before the popular hashtag.
I’ve seen what hate can do and I’ve seen what love can do, and I put that sticker on my car because I truly believe love is what wins.
But I must clarify: I believe God’s love wins.
Humanity is broken. We see it everywhere. God offers to renew us, but at a cost: we must abandon our perception and trust his. Would I trust a doctor or my neighbor in diagnosing a mysterious lump on our back? Would I trust a carpenter or a mechanic to fix my car? With the human soul, there’s only one Person equipped to fix it, for he’s the one who made it.
If God says the human soul is meant to operate on love (Matt. 22:37-40), wouldn’t it be wise to find out how to go about it?
Yet I think most of us assume we already know how love works.
That’s the problem. Assumptions made by humans tend to be either misguided or completely off track. Humans can’t love without the Source of love, and that’s why human love will never win when God’s love doesn’t first permeate within. A lake cannot fill, nor can a river flow without a source of water. So are we designed to let God’s love flow through us and spread to others.
The world has lost its Source and continues to dive deeper into a muddy pool of confused definitions. We’ve forgotten God and have thus forgotten his love. The farther the sun slips past the horizon, the more darkness grows. The more we grow to love darkness, the more we hate light when it rises. We then put blinders on because the shadows feel more like home.
Yet God cares more about our souls than we do. He wants to rip the blinders off our faces so we can look him in the eyes and see his love for us. He wants to heal our brokenness but he can’t until we acknowledge it ourselves. That goes for everybody.
That’s why targeting this same-sex marriage thing misses the point. Humanity has been lost for a long time, and it only gets worse until we admit our inability to craft a life for ourselves.
We are all broken in the sight of God. It’s time we let God do his work in us so we can see the Divine image in each other. Let’s refuse to let titles, sexual orientations, religious persuasions and convictions get in the way focusing on the person in each face we see.
The hate and condemnation among us must stop, for God is the only true judge, and in his eyes we all stand accused of operating our souls against their design. As a group of criminals, then, we must look at one another with a broken form of unity. We’ve all spurned the image of God, but fortunately for us, he loves us! The point of it all is that God loved us regardless of our brokenness.
I don’t know how history will pan out, but I know who writes the final page. And that, my fellow Christians, is what truly matters. No matter what our governments legalize, no matter what society thinks, we cling to the promise of that last page. God will right all wrongs, but in the meantime, we must let his love win by letting it flow through us.
Disagreements are certain, and rifts will form, but God is the only one who can smoothen the rough patches of our souls. Why not seek him out? When God is allowed into our disagreements and rifts, he gently reminds us about the point of it all, which is to love him first. For only then can we truly love others–disagreements and all.
“Walk in love, as Christ loved us…” (Eph. 5:2)
Alex Aili 
Hmm, I am curious about this. You say that everything is dependent on god’s love and giving ourselves to it will allow us to see his love. You say that goes for everybody.
But that’s just not true. I did that. I did it all. I stripped myself of everything that mattered to me, I gave up all of myself, I threw myself completely upon god and trusted that whatever happened, he would be there. And you know what? He wasn’t. Trusting in someone who wasn’t there almost killed me. I sought him in scripture, in churches, in pastors, in prayer, in fasting, in signs, in deep, long hours of communication, and I followed where he led. Until I realized that he was not leading me at all. He wasn’t there… I was following ghosts and shadows and illusions. I learned what should have been obvious: stripping away every ounce of self and relying on someone else entirely in hopes that they will guide you is a sure way to destroy yourself. Even if that person is “god”.
So I’m curious: why do you think this will work for everyone? Why are you advocating this sort of path? Or am I misunderstanding you? Because my experience says it’s not going to work for everyone. Sure, some folks might be lucky and get through it okay, but some won’t be. I wasn’t. I just don’t understand how you can advocate something like this without any proof that it will work, when the possible repercussions are so dangerous.
I’m not here trying to look for a fight, by the way. I’m honestly wondering what your opinion on this is? And please don’t tell me “you just didn’t try hard enough” or “you just didn’t trust enough” because you have no clue how hard I tried and how far I trusted. Sorry, just gotta put that out there because pretty much every Christian wants to assume that I just didn’t try, including the family that has disowned me.
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I’m a Christian because there is no way I could believe on my own. God drew me in by love–by his forgiveness towards me, for loving me and caring about me and my brokenness, and for helping me to give up trying to make life work on my own. Being a Christian isn’t about conforming to some standard. It’s about acknowledging that we are broken and completely powerless and trusting that the life and death of Jesus guaranteed us to find that life–in part now, and in full in Heaven. Also, belief in God is not about finding the right “proof.” Christianity is not about proof or evidence or signs or miracles. It’s about faith in the unseen. Christianity is like breathing: I know it sustains me, but I can’t dictate my lungs to stop or go–they just keep going without my consent. I’m sorry you had the experiences you had, and I want you to know that your trouble with “how do I know God is real even when I seek him and he’s not there when I need him” is a very real one. In fact I’ve heard other stories very similar. For myself, I can’t comprehend life without God, and that’s why I advocate Christianity. When I said “that goes for everybody,” I was referring to God’s love, which I believe is the source of ALL love. In other words, if we want love, then why not seek out the truest form? Once again, I’m grieved that you had such a rough time with Christianity, but I must ask, why did you feel the need for God to “show up”?
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I know well that Christianity is about “acknowledging that we are broken” and trusting in god. I was a Christian for most of my life. I also know it’s not meant to be about proof but rather about faith. But you’re also supposed to be able to follow god or be led by him in some way. If you acknowledge that you are broken and worthless and disgusting and you give yourself to him fully for him to do something with you and he does nothing… then what? All you have left if your useless, broken, disgusting self and nothing. No thanks, if god is not going to be there, I am not going to keep letting myself be torn apart waiting for him. I barely survived it the first time. If he is out there and wants me, maybe he should bother to show that he gives a crap about me.
As for why I needed god to show up… well, apropos to your blog title, I discovered I was gay and, later, transgender. Everyone assumed I was going to hell and I was making Jesus cry, and I was not sure about this either, so I sought guidance from god about what I should do. In my quest for answers, I endured all sorts of horrible abuse. I continued to trust in god to lead me to the truth. I often thought I was being led so I would continue to follow him, winding my way through more abuse, reaching the brink of dying, hurting people around me, and letting myself become a shell of a person. I finally realized, in retrospect, he had never been there at all, and the “leading” that seemed to be happening was nothing. I stopped trying to follow him, I stopped telling myself that I was broken and disgusting, and I finally started living again. He never showed up. He still hasn’t.
I don’t mean to come off as angry at you, because I’m not. I am angry… mostly at nothing. It’s frustrating putting so much time and effort into something and realizing it was actually nothing at all. Besides, there is a real sense of betrayal when I was SO convinced that he was real and I had enough faith in him to move mountains. He was my friend and companion, and I trusted him 100% until I was finally physically incapable of trust anymore. So yeah, it feels like a betrayal, even if I don’t think the person that betrayed me is actually real, if that makes sense.
At any rate, this is not to say that you shouldn’t have your faith if it keeps you going. I’m just saying, when you say god will renew us if we give up on our perceptions and trust in him, that’s just not true. It’s dangerously false. I did that. I closed my eyes and let myself fall into him. And he wasn’t there. I’m lucky to be alive. And if he is out there somewhere and is still expecting me to come back and trust him again, I’d have to say “no thanks.” I don’t trust people who treat me like the dirt on the bottom of their shoe. I certainly wouldn’t trust such a god again.
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Galactic Explorer
I apologize for jumping into this conversation, but I think there are a few things that I offer to help you with what you’re struggling with. I could say, and want to say, quite a few different things but the most important thing I want to say right now is I’m sorry.
Reading your comments about his article show me that you’ve experienced terrible personal pain and struggle, coupled with external castigation from people who were looking down on you and being verbally abusive. The most important thing I can say is in regards to that, I’m sorry. I think one of the most damaging things that Christians do is castigate people forcing them to believe that the representatives of Christ actually represent Christ when they hate, or degrade, or castigate someone.
The most important thing that I can do, and the thing that I want to do, is actually have a conversation with you. So I’d like to offer you the ability to call me or email me so we can have this discussion one on one, from one person to another person. You have obviously real pain and real hurt and from where I’m sitting right now I have no idea what that is fully like for you, so I would love to talk to you.
It may be awfully forward, but this is kind of the way I am, and it’s heartbreaking for me to read what you’re saying. Please feel free to call me or email me anytime today or tomorrow and so we can talk.
I look forward to hearing from you.
In Christ,
Eric
224-730-1414
indefense315@gmail.com
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Thank you for reading and being so honest and, yes, forward with me. Sorry for my late reply, but I was out in the wilderness with my wife and no internet contact for a few days (and it was awesome!) I would love to have a conversation with you, but I’ve hesitated for the moment to email and share my email address because I want to set a few boundaries on this discussion if we are going to do it… more specifically, I want us to both know what we’re getting into.
That might seem a little silly, but let me tell you, I have dealt with way too much nasty shit from Christians to open myself up too quickly. Some of my experiences left me with a nasty case of PTSD, which has gotten much, much better, but I still try not to poke the beat unnecessarily, you know? So what I just want to know is what do you want to get out of this conversation? If your intention is to see if you can re-convert me, please don’t. Let’s stop it right here. If your intention is to try to argue theology with me, I’d rather not. I see you’ve labeled yourself as an apologist and a fundamentalist on your twitter. That’s cool, but I just want to make sure that’s not why we’re talking. And to be up-front, I’m a transgender man, married to a woman, who is not a Christian. If your intention is to try to change any of those things about me, we might as well just stop here.
On the other hand, if we’re both willing to listen to each other’s personal experiences and beliefs, share a little of what we’ve seen and done, etc, I’m happy to have that conversation. I have no intention or desire to de-convert you; I’m anything but an evangelical atheist. I do like to share experiences across the divide, however, since so little sharing seems to ever get done. So, if you answer in the affirmative that you’re happy with this sort of discussion and aren’t here to convert, just let me know and I’ll send that email. Thanks, man.
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galacticexplorer, I sincerely am sorry for how Christians have treated you. No one has the right to trample on another for the sake of morality. For many people, the problem with Christianity is Christians. And because that I am deeply troubled, for I hate seeing what I love being mishandled.
From what you’ve explained, I can see how it’s hard to trust in God when he failed to lead you. If you’re up to it, would you mind explaining how God failed to lead you? Through what medium did you expect him to speak to you? I’m not trying to reconvert you or anything, I just want to get a better picture of your story and perhaps find some common ground.
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