The eCrozier

The Bible tells us we’re created in God’s image. But it also tells us that our sin has tarnished God’s image inside us. This messed up image explains both our longing for peace and our obsession with war; our ability to love and to hate; and our appetite for filet mignon as well as potato chips. We’re capable of watching a powerful drama on one TV channel and switch channels to delight in The Bachelor, a show with the moral judgment of a dog in heat. The human species has produced both the great Martin Luther King, Jr. and the pathetic, twisted Saddam Hussein. There are humans among us who understand the complexities of quantum mechanics, but some of these same humans aren’t able to have any meaningful interaction with their neighbors.

Because we’re these mixed bags of divine image and fallen sinner, we have trouble grasping and then trusting in a God who loves us. So how can we know that God loves us and calls us to live by the Great Commandment and to live out the Great Commission? That’s simple: we have to be told. But more importantly, we have to be shown by others.

Telling alone is not enough. A few years ago, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people were presented with correct information they rarely changed their minds. On the contrary, they often became even more strongly entrenched in the misinformation refusing to acknowledge the truth. Truth, the researchers found, did not cure misinformation. It could actually make misinformation stronger. “The general idea is that it’s absolutely threatening to admit you’re wrong,” said Brendan Nyhan, the lead researcher on the study. Not exactly news to sinners.

That’s why telling someone that God loves them is not enough. If they are entrenched in their misinformation, even when confronted with the truth of God’s love, they will not accept it as true. Some folks are so beat up by religion in general or by the way in which they were raised or by their life experience that the truth of God’s love for them is not something they can accept no matter how many times they are told the truth. That’s why they need people like you and me to show them God’s love.

Brian McLaren in his book: The Secret Message of Jesus, tells a story about a pastor friend of his who was having coffee in a donut shop late at night. While there he talked with a prostitute who was taking a break between tricks. During their conversation, he discovered that the next day was her birthday. So the next night he came back with a cake and with people from his church and they threw a birthday party in the donut shop for the woman. She was deeply moved by their actions. So were the other people in the donut shop. A bystander asked the pastor: “Who are you people?”  “We’re a church,” the pastor told him. “No you ain’t. There ain’t no church that would throw a birthday party for a hooker at four in the morning,” the bystander said. “If there were, I’d join it.”

We need a church full of disciples who will embody God’s love. Even though this is misattributed to St Francis, it nevertheless has resonance: Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.

+Scott