Who are the People God Throws Away?

Are there really people thatGod has created to throw away?  Is it His will that some of us are destined for hell?  Who would they be?  Why would God bother to create people for destruction? Let’s look at how “Christians” look at people who are ‘different’ from their idea of Christian life.

Recently I became aware that some good church folks think it is okay to look down on and even dismiss some people.  In fact, if one of these undesirables comes into their sanctuaries, they would be put on the back row in the balcony so as not to offend.

What does a candidate for salvation look like?  Are they well-groomed, middle class with a good income and not too many problems?  Are these the only ones God loves?

So who are we throwing away?

A young man gives his heart to the Lord and then tells his pastor that he is gay and loves his partner.  The Pastor tells him to go get his life straightened out and then come back.  He goes to another church and the Pastor preaches that all homosexuals are destined for hell and are an abomination.  He falls into despair and quits going to church.

A young woman is pregnant and the father of her child is her dad.  She turns to the church for help.  The board is shocked and suggest an abortion.  She has come to them for help and to find a way to keep the child in safety from her family.  They report her father and he spends jail time and is forever a registered sexual offender.

A young boy of seventeen comes to church alone and when the Sunday School teacher talks to him, she finds out that he is being molested by a family member.  She calls social services and he ends up in foster care and his family member is in jail.  Redemption?

A father of four confesses His love for Jesus but can’t get free from his addiction to alcohol.  He begs the pastor for help, but he either doesn’t know how to help him or doesn’t want to help him.  He comes to church faithfully; every week he goes down to the altar begging for help.  Within the year, he dies.  He is forty-five years old.

A mom has a new baby with an abusive husband.  Because of her victimization, she has lost her other four children by a previous husband.  Now this husband plays mind games with her and tortures her with losing she fears losing this baby.  She seeks for help but the pastor can’t get her free.  She lives in fear.

A couple has lost everything.  They are living in their car, washing up at McDonald’s and working for hourly pay doing the most menial things.  They have nothing, clothes are threadbare and their teeth are decaying.  Are they invited to the front row?  No, they sit down and the people around them get up and move away.

A trembling Muslim woman in a hijab comes in and slinks off in a dark corner hoping not to be noticed.  Her husband has beaten her again and has left alone for a few days.  Having escaped from her prison, she is hungry for a religion of love and wants to hear about Jesus.  She overhears someone call her a terrorist and leaves in fear.

A  Charismatic  couple visit a mainline church. They are made to feel welcome.  One of the greeter ask them where they go to chruch and when they realize the denomination, they all turn a walk away and don’t speak to them again.  Their doctrine is more important than the people.

A rather plain woman with Down’s Syndrome is brought to the church.  She loves everyone and wants to touch them and kiss them but the church people are repulsed by her.

A beautiful young woman comes in to the church.  Her father died when she was sixteen and she is hungry for the counsel of a godly man.  It starts out well, but before long, the Pastor takes her to bed.  She is confused and her understanding of God as Father is corrupted.

A soldier coming back from the Middle East has Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and struggles with suicidal tendencies.  They counsel him and counsel him, but they have no power to set him free and one day, he is found in his car with the motor running.  At the funeral, the pastor wonders if he could have done anything differently.

All of this grieves the Father-Heart of God.  He loves each one of us.  It doesn’t matter to him if we are a murderer, alcoholic, homosexual, lesbian, pregnant with out marriage, suicidal, handicapped, vulnerable or a molester.  He wants us to come to Him.  He loves us.

As those who have given our hearts to God, we need to remember that when we judge another, we may be guilty of something worse.  It boomerangs on us.

Today, I invite you to quit judging people with soft hearts who want to know God.  They may look hard and scary, but they are looking for answers and they want to see the love of God in you.

We are all broken.  We just don’t always tell everyone what is wrong with us.

Read the testimonies at http://SwimTalks.wordpress.com.  Remember where you came from.  If you were a good person with no noticeable faults, remember ‘God resists the proud.”

God loves us.  Every one.  He created hell for the devil and the other fallen angels, not for us.  So the next time you think that someone isn’t good enough to join your fellowship, check your own heart.

I invite you to receive God’s forgiveness and ask Him to put His love in your heart for even the least of us.  They are in gangs, murdering and lost because those of us in the church are not sharing the love of God with them.  Purpose today to spend time with the God of Love and get filled up with Him.  Quit playing church and BE the Church!!