Sometimes I think we look at our Christian roles with rose-colored glasses. We hear stories, like the one we're reading in class, about people who have lived horrible lives and felt forsaken by God, and then one day a Christian comes riding in on a white horse and shows them God's love and . . . (drum roll, flashing lights) SHAZAM!! they fall on their faces before God and surrender their lives to him. The Christian has the great honor of baptizing the redeemed sinner and they go off into the sunset, arm in arm, praising God. I wish every story ended that way, but some don't.
Loving people is messy. It's hard work, and many times it hurts. Not everyone we try to share God's love with wants that love. Some people are perfectly content in their misery. No matter how hard we try, there will be many times when we do not have a soul to offer to God at the end of the day. So, why do we do it? Why do we subject ourselves to the hurt and the rejection and the sorrow that results from that life ending without having known God?
I know of only one reason: "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." Jesus wasn't always successful either when He showed God's love to others (remember the rich young ruler?) but he didn't stop. No, he kept doing what God had called Him to do--right up to the cross.
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