The Rev. Fred Phelps, the founder of Westboro Baptist Church
in Kansas, died last week. You may know
of him for his hate-filled protests at the funerals of U.S. soldiers, claiming their deaths were God’s revenge for America’s
tolerance of homosexuality. His animus disgraced the Gospel with his
unadulterated message “God hates gays.”
How unlike our Lord Jesus who came to seek and save the
lost (Luke 19:10). Are you not troubled when you hear so-called fundamentalist Christians speak hatefully against sinners, and even more venomously against those who struggle with sexual identity? Our culture has given rise to numbers of believers who are
engaged in this battle. Yes, God hates sin, but “God demonstrated His own love
toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). Jesus
not only loves the lost, He loves His lost sheep who have gone astray (Luke 15:4).
If you've been trying to lose weight, maybe you should eat more cereal. A Kellogg’s commercial
promises you can lose weight eating it. The campaign slogan, “What will
you gain when you lose?,” also implies that cereal lovers will gain self-esteem, self-confidence, and the respect of others: standards of measurement in this world.
Before being killed by Auca Indians, missionary Jim Elliott wrote (rather prophetically), “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” A whole generation was inspired by
this man who “lost” family, home,
and life for Christ.
Even though we too believe our “kingdom is not of this world,” it’s hard not to self-measure
by an earthly yardstick. Thus Jesus warns, "Whoever gains his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will gain it" (Matt. 10:39). And Paul said,
“I count all things
loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ … For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 3:8; 1:21). For us, the answer to Kellogg's question is Christ. But a more relevant question for us is, What are we willing to lose to gain Him?
Miriam Webster defines “longing” as “a strong persistent yearning or desire, especially one that cannot be fulfilled.” We are aware of our longing for God (Psalm 42:1-2; 63:1-2). But does the God of the Universe have longings? “Unfulfilled” longings?
The answer lies in looking at Jesus. God’s longing is seen through Jesus as He seeks to heal those who are hurt and sick and held captive to sin. Does Jesus not say “I have come to seek to save that which was lost?” (Luke 19:10) Is this not the longing of God's heart.
In Luke 15, Jesus tells three stories of longings—each one representing the “Father-heart” of God: the shepherd searching for the one lost sheep out of a hundred, of a woman who searches for a lost coin, and of a father who welcomes his wayward son home. Each parable pictures a longing—even an urgency—to find that which was loved and lost. In our sometimes self-centered (please-meet-my-needs) search for God, we forget it is God, initially and preveniently, who is longing for us.
