The Bible shows that there is always a chance for redemption. There is always a chance for salvation. There is nothing beyond hope.
Is it true?
That is the whole point of the Beatitudes, after all. As if to say, "The Kingdom of Heaven is extended even to those that seem most scorned, cursed, or forgotten by God." The poor, the poor in spirit, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (but just can't seem to make it there), the persecuted: no one would say that these are the ones experiencing divine favor. But the Kingdom is open even to these. And they don't deserve it for being miserable, either, but God's love rests even on these, the unredeemables.
Israel was brought back from exile! The Temple rebuilt! They even had John the Baptist, after such a long time with no prophetic voice! And then God walked among them in flesh, showing that even the "fallen" human being can be redeemed and holy! God works miracles from the unredeemable.
I have been waiting for months to see something renewed that has been ruined and dismantled. I have even been counseled to give up completely, by just about everyone. I want to see the beauty of redemption. Like Israel! Like Naomi and Ruth! Like Hosea taking Gomer back.
Can this be redeemed? Is it true?
4 years ago
2 comments:
I love you Lucas. You're always in my prayers.
-k
I do believe that everything—absolutely everything—is redeemable. (I’ve thought about this a lot, so please forgive me if I get a little preachy here.) God can redeem anything and everything, but He rarely does things in quite the way we expect.
For instance, the Israelites expected him to redeem them by kicking the Romans out and giving them an earthly king. But God knew that what they really needed was a spiritual redemption more than an earthly redemption, so he sent Jesus.
God promised us that all things work for good (Rom. 8:23). Not that all things are good, but that even things which Satan intends for evil, He can make beautiful. Joseph tells his brothers: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen. 50:20). Satan tempted man to sin, but God brought in Christ, who is far greater than sin.
A very wise, very dear friend once told me that you can't make a mistake so big that God can't fix it or use it. This was after I’d just made what I still consider the biggest mistake of my life. I wanted to tell her, “But – but – you don’t know what I just did!” This mistake affected not only me, but also someone I cared for deeply. And I was pretty sure I’d never forgive myself. But God redeemed that. (I wish I could be more explicit, but I’m afraid I can’t without betraying the other person’s confidence.) I wanted God to redeem my mistake by taking away its consequences and restoring the relationship I’d broken, but He didn’t. As I realize now, it wouldn’t have been good for that relationship to be restored in the way I wanted it to, anyway. But He redeemed it by using that mistake to strengthen my desire to live Him and to love my neighbor more, so that hopefully next time I won’t make the same mistakes again.
Redemption is not necessarily the same thing as restoration. God doesn’t use His Magical Backspace Key to undo our pasts, but He takes our pasts and makes something good come of them. It’s an already-but-not-yet phenomenon, also: in some ways, we’re already redeemed because He’s using our lives as they are RIGHT NOW to bring about good in the world. But sometimes the bad consequences of our (or other people’s) actions simply can’t be taken away, and we’ll have to wait for heaven to see what God does to remove those stains from our souls.
So yeah, pardon me for preaching. I don't know exactly what the situation is here, or how relevant my mini blog-sermon is, but take it for what it's worth.
On a mostly-unrelated note, here’s the deal with my last post: I’m going to spend a year in Uganda! I’m going to be teaching missionary kids! And doing some youth ministry! I’m really excited! (Aaaaand my family isn’t thrilled.)
Much love.
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