A Lost Cause

“You’re a lost cause and not worth my time or energy.”

I was 17 when I heard those words. He was a grown man with a PhD in some kind of Biblical studies and I was a hot-headed kid with a smart mouth.

To be fair, I was the one who started the fight, and I did it on purpose. Those days I was usually looking for a fight and he was an easy target to bait into one on account of the fact that he wasn’t my biggest fan. But that day we were alone and he didn’t filter himself as much as he typically attempted to.

Those words stuck with me.

They really shouldn’t have, rationally, I mean, I didn’t really care so much what he had to say about most things, much less me, but they stuck that day.

They were fuel splashed on the coals of self-hatred that already glowed on the verge of ignition in my soul.

And ignite they did.

Worthless? Yeah, that sounds right.

A lost cause? Well, it certainly seemed that despite everyone’s attempts, including my own, to fix what was obviously broken about me, I was a hopeless case.

I spent far too many years trying desperately to escape the aching desire to be something else, anything else, just not me. Until the day when I came crashing into the wild, irrational, unconditional, alien love of a God I had lived the majority of my life believing hated me. In my worst state, at my most unlovable, when I had nothing to offer but anger and despair and I came looking for a fight. God found me there and said nothing but I love you.

It’s the only thing that worked. I tried all the other stuff.

Religious fervor.

Pleasures of earth.

Self-produced goodness.

Enjoying badness.

Nothing seemed to cut through the myriad of voices living rent free in my head, shouting at me that I wasn’t worth much. Not until Love did.

I get criticism sometimes that I teach too much about love and grace.

“What about truth?!” they ask.

Hmmm. How about the truth that He loves us. There is no truer truth.

“You’re discounting God’s holiness!” they worry.

Anyone who thinks teaching excessively about God’s love is not honoring His holiness has not yet discovered just how holy His love really is.

It is the holiest thing on this earth. It is other-worldly, heaven sent, beyond what we can ask or imagine. It tramples sin, demolishes fear, makes a fool out of self-righteousness. God’s love is unusual and exceptional and sacred, and I can’t imagine anything else more worth talking about than that.

A lost cause? Sure. I was that. I once was lost.

And Love found me. Quite easily, actually. But now I’m found.

From Eden forward, our shame inspired attempts at hiding have never been successful.

Amazing grace. That’s what does it. It hurdles every obstacle, removes every false identity, restores every shattered heart, and redeems every failure.

Grace is a person and His name is Jesus.

You are worth His time and energy, and He delights in giving it to you every moment of every day. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise (not even you).