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{"id":7088,"date":"2016-03-25T22:29:13","date_gmt":"2016-03-26T02:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/eidos\/?p=7088"},"modified":"2016-03-25T22:39:06","modified_gmt":"2016-03-26T02:39:06","slug":"whatever-you-are-doing-love-is-available","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/eidos\/2016\/03\/whatever-you-are-doing-love-is-available\/","title":{"rendered":"Whatever You Are Doing: Love Is Available"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"Rosso_Fiorentino_-_Risen_Christ_-_WGA20133_opt$ We say we are not judgmental, but we are.<\/p>\n

Have the wrong views on a political candidate and somebody on social media will not only judge you, they will threaten you. Try being a conservative in philosophy or a liberal in Bible College. We are\u00a0very<\/em> judgmental and the worst thing is our judgments are based on little more than our personal preference.<\/p>\n

I love the Green Bay Packers, but I don\u2019t actually judge Bears\u2019 fans as wicked . . . mostly . . . except in the season . . . I am kidding.<\/p>\n

Sports is good that way. We can have a preference, feel it strongly, but not lose friendship over it. Because we\u00a0know that when it comes to good and evil<\/em>, judgments counts. We don\u2019t wish to be friends with the local Klansman for good reason, but beyond the Klansman our arbitrary judgments are unsound. We still judge adultery harshly, except when we do not. We don\u2019t care about sex before marriage, unless we do.<\/p>\n

Forget examples: don\u2019t we all feel judged? My secular friends try to shake the judgment by pretending there is no good and evil, but they can be just as harsh as anyone else. We cannot escape judgment.<\/p>\n

We know something is\u00a0wrong<\/em>. Things are not as they should be.<\/p>\n

I have met two kinds of people: the strongly narcissistic who don\u2019t think anything they do is that bad and the folks who deep in their hearts hate themselves. Most people I know fit the second camp: they judge themselves harshly. I know I judge myself, God help my past life, very harshly.<\/p>\n

Does\u00a0anybody\u00a0<\/em>wish to run for President just now? If at the day of judgment all deeds will be revealed before a Good God, our candidates have all their deeds revealed before American media for our entertainment. God help us all.<\/p>\n

This is very depressing until I recall the good news: whatever I am doing, divine love is available. This is\u00a0not<\/em> because God is \u201cOK\u2019 with my bad deeds. He has a righteous standard. Just now we tend to get the sex rules wrong and the social justice bits right, at least officially in the United States. Forget for a minute our particular disagreement with the Divine Standard for behavior.<\/p>\n

He will love us just as we are.<\/p>\n

He will not justify our bad deeds, but He will love us\u00a0despite them.\u00a0<\/em>In fact, the Easter message is that while we were yet messing up, Christ provided a way for us to find God\u2019s love. He died for the sins of the world . . . because a world that found a perfect man could not stand Him. We felt judged by His existence, but all He wanted to us to do was change. He would love us in the process.<\/p>\n

I am so often stuck in sin. I cannot \u201cpray it away.\u201d I hate what I do: how often I can be crabby to my kids for no good reason. God loves me. He wants to help me change, but\u00a0while I am changing He loves me.\u00a0<\/em>Many want to tell us we are fine, but we know better. Many want to promise that if we do what they say (and give them our money or our obedience) we will change easily, but we know better. We know that our brokenness goes on and on.<\/p>\n

It will be better in Heaven, which is hopeful, but not enough.<\/p>\n

We want to be loved now and the good news is that while we are broken Christ loves us.<\/p>\n

Just as I am. The balance is\u00a0awesome.\u00a0<\/em>I am not \u201cgood\u201d and I cannot justify my sin. I should stop, but God loves me. He does not love my sin. He will purge it now or in the age to come.\u00a0God says<\/a>: \u201cwhenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything.\u201d God\u00a0knows<\/em> and He waits for us to repent (again) and move forward. We sin, but we do not live in sin.<\/p>\n

Love is available always, now, for everyone . . . even the people society hates . . . even for me.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"