"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
-- Psalm 34:18
Once we had a town drunk and ne'er-do-well come to one of my churches. At first, everyone was stand-offish. They didn't really want to associate with him. He lived in an old run-down shack at the edge of town. He didn't have two cents to rub together because he spent it all on booze. He had been in trouble with the law. He had gone through four messy divorces and had lived a life of shame and disrepute.
Everyone thought maybe he was there for some kind of court mandated community service.
After all, a sinner as bad as that had no business in a saintly church.
When church was over, I asked Billy to go to lunch. Over burritos and salsa, he told me about his life. How he had made so many mistakes he never thought he could ever atone for them. How he looked at people who went to our church and wished that he could have a life like theirs. A life free of shame and guilt. A life that was respectable to others. With friends and family and people to laugh with and share worries and concerns with.
"I look at everyone," Billy said between chips, "and I want that kind of life more than anything. But I'm lost. I have no clue how to get to even start having that kind of life."
Shortly afterward, Billy made a profession of faith. He took his first communion and as I prayed with him as he knelt at our altar, he sobbed like a baby. He started to read the Bible everyday. And not just read, but really study it. He'd call me at all hours of the day and night to ask a question about a passage he didn't understand. He became active in our Sunday School and even re-established contact with his children and two ex-wives.
One day in a committee meeting the church leaders were gathered around a table trying to discern names for a church project. Billy's name was brought up. One of the saints of our church shocked me speechless. He said, "I just love what God has done in Billy's life and I wish I had been like him."
This was from a man who had always been a saint and now is directing a legion of angels in a Heavenly choir.
"Why in the world would you say that," I asked?
Because he had never really done anything bad in life, he said he never really knew what it meant to be forgiven in a big way. "I don't know," he said, "I just feel like God may love him more."
One man, a failure in life, looks at another and wishes he could be like him.
Another, a saint in every sense of the word, looks at another and wishes he could be like him.
In Luke 7, we hear the story of a sinner who's come to the table of Christ. Jesus says, "Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."
We think Jesus is saying the woman is more grateful because she had more sins. But we're wrong. It's not the size of God's grace that we should be looking at. It's the size of our faith. God doesn't judge the severity of sin. All sins are equal in God's eyes. But what God does judge is the severity of our faith. Do you believe God forgives sins? Then what does it matter what sins they are? What matters the most is that we have a God who forgives. All we have to do is give God all our broken pieces.
Let us pray.
Our forgiving God. We come today asking for forgiveness for all of our sins. Whether they be great or small, we know that you forgive graciously. And for that we give thanks to you and ask you to strengthen our faith. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
PASTOR TROY CONRAD IS MINISTER OF THE FARMINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH.
Religion on 09/02/2015