Blessed is the Whore
Somewhere in America there is a young prostitute once again on her bruised knees, with her tear-covered face in her hands, begging God to deliver her from her circumstances. She is fresh from Saturday night's debauchery where she used drugs to make it all bearable. She regrets her decisions, and would give anything to be like the women she attended Church with when she was little. She will, in time, fall asleep on the floor.
A few miles away another woman is sleeping. This woman has always been good at being good. In a few hours she will be in Church. She will be encouraged to rise early on Monday to have devotions, but she will not... Because she will stay up too late on Sunday night watching television. She will meet her friend from Sunday School at the mall. (They will not discuss spiritual matters. They have never prayed together.) This woman wants to pray more, but she simply cannot find the time. She will often begin to pray in her recliner, but will quickly fall asleep.
Which one of these women has a relationship with Jesus? Which woman loves the world, and which one hates her life? Whose posture reflects worship and an understanding of her soul's condition? Which life comprehends its need?
"Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you." --Matthew 7:22,23
This scripture has always troubled me. I know it accurately indicts my church's celebration of the outward appearance, and the way we take pride in our deportment, regardless of how oblivious we are of our spiritual inattentiveness.
In this narrow description, I believe the young prostitute has the relationship with Jesus. It is she who is seeking Him... It is she who understands her need.
And I believe the Lord sits in Heaven on His throne captivated by her attention, with her soul safely secured in His hands, as He absently taps His foot to the tortured rhythms in her wailing.
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18 comments:
Oh, Malott...you're a heartbreaker and you always have been. Thanks.
Grammy,
We read that it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye than it is for us (the rich) to enter Heaven... And we continue on, upright and proud.
We just don't get it.
There is no salvation in our mutual reassurance... No safety in our numbers.
Sackcloth and ashes... Yet to see that on Sunday morning.
Then again...
There is nothing in my past or my present that makes me an authority on any spiritual subject.
My multiple disqualifications should keep me humbly silent.
Malott,
I generally find myself in agreement with you, but, with all due respect, I am troubled by your description of the young prostitute "fresh from Satuday night's debauchery where she used drugs to make it all bearable," followed by your conclusion that "her soul [is] safely secured in His hands..."
What troubles me is not your conclusion that the other woman you describe has become too comfortable in her relationship with her Savior (or lack thereof). I find that an indictment that hits too close to home for my own comfort. Rather, it is the conclusion that the young prostitute's soul is safely secured.
As part of her path to salvation, that young woman must repent and turn from her sinful lifestyle. "Go and sin no more..." Otherwise, whether she regrets her decisions or not, she continues to choose the path of sin. As a result, I have a difficult time understanding your description of the young prostitute as having the relationship with Jesus that is more worthy of emulation.
Perhaps I have misread your example, and it was intended to suggest that the prostitute has made a decision to turn from that lifestyle. Otherwise, I am going to need some help following you on this one.
Anonymous,
Too many young women CANNOT get out of the sex trade. They are kept captive by the pimps who own them (just Google: sex trade in america, and you get over 4 million results). These women can repent until the cows come home, but they'll be debauched again with no way to stop it.
"As a result, I have a difficult time understanding your description of the young prostitute as having the relationship with Jesus that is more worthy of emulation."
Anonymous,
I do believe the young prostitute better understands her need for redemption than does the woman who will not turn off her vulgar network television shows so that she can get up early to have devotions and pray.
I don't think either woman should be emulated, but at least the prostitute knows she is in trouble... and I believe humble brokeness may be more of an intimacy to the Lord than the comfortable, perhaps lukewarm, faith of the "good" woman.
That's what I tried to say... And I may be completely wrong...
Like Chris, I'm no one to be preaching. I'm a sinner too.
That said; I believe I have asked to be forgiven for many things on many occasions. I am sorry. Because I'm still a sinner and fall short every day, am I not a child of God? Am I not saved?
"That's what I tried to say... "
That's exactly how I understood it, Chris.
Anonymous,
Also, in the case of the young prostitute,being saved and being delivered might fall years apart.
Like I said, I could be wrong... But maybe the Lord accepts failure in our struggles better than He deals with complacency and being ignored.
Chris,
You're right. Jesus said so in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18). The Pharisee said, "Thank You, God, that I'm not like that scumbag tax collector over there." The tax collector said, "Have mercy on me, a sinner." And Jesus said the tax collector was the one who was justified before God. Same idea with what you said.
Janice,
I've never been good at being good, so I'm not burdened with a great deal of religious pride. Maybe you feel as I do, I have the right to be humble... And that's about it.
I think it's a bad habit to start rating sins... When we do it is easy to become modern-day pharisees.
Anyway, I appreciate your comments as always.
Skyepuppy,
I appreciate your comments. I don't know anything about the sex trade, but I can't imagine how a young girl could cope with it.
I feel neither girl has the relationship with the Lord. One is desperately in need of help. The other is a "Laodicean Christian" (Rev. 3:14-22) - just content with whatever.
Now, what I feel is worse is that the "church" in general tends to go out of it's way to avoid the prostitute/drug addict instead of reaching out to help.
The church won't bother too much with the content to watch TV and stay in bed Christian because 1) "at least she is saved and will go to heaven; and 2) such churches lack the life of the Lord within their walls themselves.
"Too much religion and not enough relationship." (I'm thinking of an Elvis song again! Guess which one? :-D ) sigh
Thanks all, for your comments. I think I better understand the concept of the original post. Perhaps my disconnect is that I do not understand the sex trade as Skyepuppy correctly identifies.
No offense was intended to anyone. I guess I was trying to assess whether the implication of the original post was the assertion that, as long as we regret our decisions after they are made and beg God for deliverance, He will look the other way if we choose the next day to practice the same behavior. Salvation is not, of course, a license to sin.
Thankfully, my role is not to determine the eternal fate of the young woman who participates in prostitution because, as Skyepuppy indicates, she cannot escape it... and I hope my post was not interpreted as a condemnation of that young woman. Rather, my concern was with my (perhaps incorrect) interpretation of the original post as suggesting that regret and wishing for better circumstances was sufficient for God to hold "her soul safely secured in His hands." Maybe it is, if she truly cannot escape. For me, however, I prefer not to carry that assumption to its logical conclusion: that as long as I regret my decisions and hope for better circumstances in the future that will allow me to make better decisions, until those better circumstances arrive, I am free to keep on sinning and God will choose to look the other way.
By the nature of the responsive comments, I suspect that I have not expressed myself well, and I apologize to any that I have offended. In the end it may simply be a case of viewing the example in the way I now think I understand it was intended: that the prostitute better understands her need for redemption than the other woman. With this principle I have no quarrel. My only concern is taking the implication of the example so far as to believe that salvation offers a license to sin, rather than a requirement of true repentance that is manifested in turning from the sinful behavior.
I recognize, of course, as Janice points out, that we all, even after becoming Christians, continue to sin and must seek forgivness. That is not the issue. Rather, my concern is with the lack of true repentance evidenced by someone who makes a conscious decision to continue in a sinful lifestyle (later regret and wishes for better circumstances notwithstanding). Is that truly the "repentance" we are called to as Christians? And, if not, if that is the "repentance" we exhibit, are we secure that our souls are "safely secured in His hands"?
Homogeneity in church membership is a big problem in America. It's a lot easier to be connected to and care about the poor and desperate if you sit next to them in the pews on Sunday. I went to a church in Downtown San Antonio once and watched a man in a nice suit almost carry another man in rags up to receive communion. It was a kind of jarring vision that we rarely see. My son is a pastor and he did a sermon once on the good Samaritan. His main point was that the interaction between the good samaritan and the injured traveler was very physically intimate...the sights, the smells, the blood and sweat, and the heavy lifting. It was down and dirty. Jesus touched so many filthy people. We do too much long distance charity so that we don't get dirty. We need to feel the sweat and blood of the suffering on our skin, and see these least of his brothers as Jesus himself. It is an honor to do so.
Grammy,
Jesus set the bar rather high, didn't he.
My life is so convenient, orderly, and antiseptic.
More reasons to be humble.
If there is a lesson in this post for us "Churched" people, it might be best expressed by my good friend Skyepuppy when she wrote:
“Keep putting into practice…” “Pursue…” These are active words, determined, but the way I live my life seems to be passive, being tossed by the waves. They’re good waves, for the most part, but waves nonetheless. I’ve lost some of that determined pursuit of God that I once had, and I need to get it back."
I particularly like the "determined pursuit" part.
I believe that needs to be at the forefront of our daily walk.
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