redeeming love.

a porn star spoke at church yesterday.
not a reformed, born-again, now Jesus loving ex-porn star.
but a man who is currently in the industry.
he was interviewed and asked to share on a few things in his life.
he talked about his love of animals (he's a peta advocate) and how he enjoys christian music.
he talked about what he believes to be true about God, his prayer life, and how he's not so sure that Jesus is the right way, but that He was a cool guy.

and the whole point of this church opening their doors to him and inviting him to speak wasn't shock value. although a whole lot of people were pretty shocked.
one of the news stations said something like "eastlake church hosting the greatest sinner of all time."
pastor craig gross' response : "who are they talking about? ron jeremy? or me?...or you?"
because here's the point - God doesn't identify us with what we do.
some of us do great things...and some of us do really awful things.
regardless of our actions, we're all His children.

how often do we define a person by what they've done?
consider a stripper, an ivy league professor, a barista and a pastor.
what do you imagine each of these people to look like?
what do you assume of their character?
are you willing to really know them outside of their title?

cause yesterday, we got to see the other side of Ron.
a guy who is kind, caring, pretty hilarious and overall, a quality human being. a guy who doesn't have all the answers, but who has lots of questions and is open to what God wants to do in his life.
is that anything that i would have expected of a porn star?
or do i just say he's one of "those people" and stick him in a box and assume there's no hope for "people like that."

honestly, i believe that people are the way they are for a reason.
no matter their character, profession, personality traits...good or bad...
everyone has some amount of brokenness in their life. usually due to circumstances beyond their control.
and God sees that.
but He sees us through the lense of Jesus.
a Savior who takes our brokenness and weakness and redeems it.
He sees us. He knows us. He loves us.

i think most times i try to have others view me as a person who has it all together.
i know i've talked about this before. but i'm a slow learner, ok?
maybe i think if people (and even God) can identify me with my accomplishments and a nice personality then....what? i'll receive acknowledgement that i'm a good person? a good christian? i'll feel better about myself because i can't be put in a box with "those people"?
funny how when you say things out loud they sound pretty stupid.

i'm thankful for the Lord's patience as He continually teaches me.
i'm comforted by the fact that i am known in the truest sense of the word.
i'm overwhelmed by His love within my broken life.