Jesus and Love.  1 Timothy 1.15-17

Hello. 

My favorite memories from childhood vacations were spent on Clear Lake in Northern California.  I learned to water ski when I was eight years old in Lakeport, and the next day, skied across the lake without falling.  Every summer for many, many years, we spent a week or two at Iverson’s dumpy lakeside resort where I skied, swam, fished, played ‘king of the dock’ (which I never, ever won), and walked to A & W for dinner.  Because of that, I am fairly savvy around boat-docks--tying and untying the ropes, and pushing out when it is time to take off.  This morning, I find myself straddling the dock and the boat in my mind and spirit.  I just don’t feel like it is time to let go of the first chapter of Timothy quite yet—I am drawn yet again to Paul’s words:

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners,

Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.  vv. 15-17

This last week, I have spent time with a new friend and introduced her to Jesus.  I’m not sure how old she is, but I think she is around my age, and I know that from the time she was very young, anyone who represented Jesus to her, did not do a good job.  Actually, that would be a gross understatement.  So when I told her that Jesus loves her, she cannot quite comprehend it,

though she desperately wants to believe it is true. 

She needs it to be true. 

Don’t we all need that to be true? 

Oh, yes. 

But you see we are all victims somewhat to those who have interpreted God to us—from the time we were small children.  I have written before about the life cycle of our souls; first, it is the mother (the usual primary caregiver) who shapes and nurtures the soul, and then there are other influences that open or close the God-sized space God is meant to inhabit. Did you have loving parents?  And did your parent or parents love God and raise you to know him?  If so, then you were at an advantage right from the start.  On the other hand, if neither were true—or worse, if they or others of influence in your life represented him duplicitously, you probably have wanted nothing to do with God, or are having to overcome jaundiced, flawed thinking of a God who is absolutely mad about you—a God who cares enough about you to know exactly how many hairs (or not) are on your head right this minute, and precisely how many days you will inhabit planet earth. 

Paul never forgot who he had been … before Jesus.  After Jesus stepped into his path, Paul lived every day with gratitude for how Jesus had blown the doors of his hard heart wide open with love.  That’s why he wrote Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 

How can my friend be convinced that Jesus loves her?  She will have to get to something about who Jesus was.  Jesus loved Paul—Paul who had hunted down Christ followers and killed them.  And hey, Jesus went out of his way to break the social code of his day to express love to an unloved woman, which John captured in chapter four.  (To read the story:http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%204.1-42&version=NIV&interface=print)

How I love this about Jesus!  See, Jesus was meek, but he was anything but timid.  In broad daylight, he spoke to this woman that everyone knew was a very loose woman—and a despised Samaritan, at that.  The Jews hated the Samaritans!  It would be like a Jewish rabbi approaching a Muslim woman in broad daylight in Gaza City today—he would be chastised and corrected later.  But Jesus was on a mission.  Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and the woman at the well was a sinner.  Jesus came because he loved.  He extended that love to the woman that day, and her life was never the same.

Jesus comes yet today to sinners … because he loves … if we can be convinced of it, if we can believe it, our lives are never the same. So new friend, if you are reading this, Jesus loves you—give him a chance.  Forget what others from long ago said or did … look for him now.  Let him love you.   

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Christine