The biblical hall of faith is filled with men of passion and zeal. Read the names – Abraham, Samson, Davidand all the others and you’ll recall the tales of inspiration. We retell them in Bible studies, sermons and object lessons to our children.
But nearly every one of these heroes has a dark side, a story you won’t find on the flannel board in Sunday school. Most of these role models had some deed that they desperately wanted to hide. Consider David’s seduction of Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband; Adam’s complicity in Eve’s fruit tree caper; Abraham’s failure to stand up for his sister; and Peter’s denial of Jesus to a young boy.
It hit me one day. My heroes aren’t really much different than I am. They’re human, sometimes painfully so.
Paul observed in 1 Cor 7, “The good that I want to do, I cannot do.” For most of us, this is a daily reality.
Our culture has taught us that the measure of a person is on the scale of motivations. If you try to do good most of the time, you’re acceptable. But we know in our heart of hearts, that there is an evil that lurks. No matter how hard we try, we will fail. The good that we think is in us really just masks an evil.
Uncaged, it can become a defining act.
We know the stories and can fill in the blanks with names from our past. She was a great boss, until she fudged the quarterly figures and got caught. He was an amazing father, until that one time he lashed out in anger. He was a great pastor, until he got caught with the wrong person in the wrong place.
These acts aren’t who we really are. God sees things entirely differently, and until we catch his vision, we’ll live in defeat. It doesn’t have to be that way.
If you’re reading this and you’ve gone astray, I want you to know that you’re not alone. I’ve been there. And so have others. And we’ve found our way back home to grace.
Your past doesn’t need to define you.
I love how Jesus took Simon, the fisherman, and declared him “a rock.” This was when he was still smelling of fish, his past hung around him like seaweed in the nets. And Jesus gave him a new name. “Peter, the Rock.”
When you give yourself over, you don’t have to get right first. You don’t have to get clean before you go the master. He says, “come to me. I’ll give you a new name. You are mine.”
That is what defines you and me.
Please, share with a friend if you feel moved.
Read all past issues at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davidrupert
Read all past issues at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davidrupert
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