plea: /plē/ noun 1. a request made in an urgent and emotional manner
Borrowed Tears
I’m not out here in the social media and blog world to get likes or add subscribers. I certainly may lose some after I share this. I am here to tell the truth and to do it, not out of self-ambition, self-righteousness or with any thoughts about self-preservation, but out of divine love. This is a month that many celebrate. But for many months, my heart has been burdened, and my eyes have been filled with tears over so many that I have gone to elementary, middle, high school and college with, those I’ve played in the band with, those I’ve sung in choir with, those I’ve ministered alongside, worked alongside, those with whom I’ve shared meals, those I’ve only seen on TV, and those I call family.
But this is not my burden. These are not my tears. This burden and these tears are borrowed. They belong to my Father. My Father weeps over His precious ones, once beautifully reflecting His glorious image, marred by sin, so much so that we believe we are not who we are and that our desires dictate our identity. That we would listen to the deceiver was always a possibility. That’s the risk in allowing free will, free choice. For without real choice, there can be no real love. But the ultimate choice was made well before our natural father and mother decided not to trust the Word of the Most High and plunged humanity into sin.
A Choice Made Before Time
Before the foundation of the world, the Lamb chose to be slain. It was always His plan to die for us. It was always in His heart to be willing to bear the penalty for the sins that we’ve committed and to heal us from the sins committed against us with His own blood, with His bleeding sweat, with the lacerations on His body, with the crown of thorns, with the nails, with the wound in His side, with His own death, even the death of the cross. It was always His plan to see us, each one of us, in our brokenness and sin-sick state and to raise us from death as He rose from death. It was always His plan to restore us back to who He made us to be, a perfect reflection of His glory, His light, His righteousness, and His life.
The Father of Lies
But there is another father. He is the father of lies. And this deceiver is masterful. In response to the Master’s plan, his plan is to distort everything that the God he once worshipped has made and to corrupt it. His hatred for God and for everything that God has made drives him to hate us. So as many as he can, he will blind with his deceptions. He will try to convince us that God is not good. He will encourage us to follow the lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes, and the pride of life. He will do whatever it takes to put an end to the life God has given us because he absolutely hates life. And when life comes forth, he will unleash all his powers of malice, manipulation, and murder to snuff it out. He will use circumstances, popular culture, or simply take advantage of our own fallen state to convince us we are not fearfully and wonderfully made.
He will whisper male is female and female is male. He will deceive the dear ones of the Father, the ones in whom God gave the capacity for life, into embracing desires that cannot produce it. I’m convinced this is why his fellow fallen angels persuade many of us to cut ourselves. I’ve heard it said that the pain in cutting often makes those numb to life feel alive again, but this is another deception. Life is in the blood, and the shedding of blood brings death. But again, the deceiver loves death and hates life in every form: natural life, The Resurrection and the Life, Eternal Life. This is his choice.
The Choice We All Must Make
Each of us has a choice, one that our childhood traumas, adolescent agonies and adult misconceptions cannot prevent us from making. The choice seems simple enough. Will I believe the one who hates me or the One who loves me and made me? Will my desires rule over me or will I rule over my desires? Will I let my past experiences with the church or lack thereof keep me from knowing who Jesus Christ is for myself? Will I allow the God who designed me to be in relationships define what those relationships should look like? Will I trust the inclinations of my heart, or put my trust in the One who can give me a new heart? The choice is straightforward, but not easy because all the powers of darkness are fighting to keep us from choosing life. And like the choice the first humans made, our choice has eternal implications. What does it take to choose rightly, to summon the strength to overcome ourselves? It’s impossible without God, but with God, all things are possible. Without resurrection power, we are dead in the water. But once the same power that raised Christ from the dead is present in us, there’s nothing He can’t accomplish. He can even change our desires and replace them with His own.
A Heavenly Invitation
And if we take the first step towards Him, He has promised HE WILL NOT TURN US AWAY. He says,
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” - Isaiah 1:18
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30
“Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.” – Isaiah 55:6
“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” – John 6:37
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity…” – Jeremiah 29:11-14
Take The First Humble Steps
But the steps towards Christ are not steps of pride, but of humility.
They are the steps of a surrendered heart.
My prayer is that the tears my Father sheds will turn into cries of joy when He hears the repentant call of one of His children. And if He should use me in some way to show my brothers and sisters the Way to freedom and to the Truth and the Life, it would be my greatest honor. Subscribers and likes are temporal and fleeting. The Kingdom of heaven is eternal. And the Kingdom it’s a hand. I must choose to work while it is day.
What’s your choice?
Recommended Resources:
Pure Passion Media’s Documentaries
Coming Out Ministries Documentary