1 Peter 2:9-10
For the last four years my wife has been a mentor to many
young girls who the authorities have removed from their homes. A very high percentage of these girls
have been sexually abused by their families, and in most cases by their dads. Some of these young girls, ages 12-18,
have experienced abuse at foster homes and homes of relatives. They come to the
New Life treatment center frightened, angry, and without much hope. Many of them ask for a mentor, often
they have no understanding of what they have asked for, and a large percentage
of them have no understanding, have never read the Bible, and most have a
distrust of people, especially men.
Jan’s desire and reason for being a mentor is to first be a
friend to these very damaged girls, many of them are cutters, yes, they cut
themselves, they blame themselves and feel guilty and often they are their own
worst enemy. But the real goal is
to introduce them to a loving Father and His Son, who knows all about them, and
wants to give them a new life, filled with hope and trust and peace. Most of us can say we understand the
hurdle these girls must go over, but I’ve come to understand that I cannot
grasp the obstacles, the barriers that they must get over. My parents made some mistakes, but
never did I question that they loved me, never did they willfully do me
physical harm, and yet I wrestled with the question; “How could God love
someone like me?” If I who have
been shown love, struggle with the question, “How could God love someone like
me,” it would seem almost impossible for one who has only known abuse from a
dad, to believe that God Almighty could love them and still allow this to have
happened to them.
I found the answer many years ago at a Lay Renewal weekend
in San Antonio, when a young teenager ask if she could read a poem she had
written to God, her name was Carol, and this is the poem.
“Carol, “How much
do you love me, Lord?”
God, “I love you so much Carol that I did not let my
emotions and feelings for my Son get in the way of everything that had to
happen to him for your sake. I
didn’t give in to the terrible hurt and anguish I felt as they rejected and
beat my Son. I never lost sight of
what was best for you as I watched them mutilate and tear my Son’s body
apart. Your life is more important
to me than preserving any dignity or thought for myself.”
It is only when we grasp this truth that we begin to know
how much God loves us. And the
next hurdle is to, by faith, receive that love, and many of us have come to
agree with Carol’s talk with God; we have also had that talk. But the apostle Peter goes on to
explain what has happened to each of us after we entered into a relationship
with Jesus Christ. This is what we
are, now, not later, not by service, only because of what Christ has done. “But you are
a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own
possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had
not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter
2:9-10) This Scripture is a
barrier for many who have entered into Christ by faith, it was almost impossible
for me to believe God saw me in such a way, but He does, because it is Christ
living in me, He is my life, and we are more than conquerors through him who
loves us.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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