Redeeming Love

There is a story in the Bible about a prostitute who knelt at Jesus’s feet and washed his feet with her tears. I heard a sermon about this story a few weeks ago and then it came up in the book I’m reading.

“When Jesus looked at [the prostitute], he saw a woman- a woman with great love. He saw past her sin. He saw past her past…Jesus looked at her and saw more than just her sin. He saw her faith and her love.”

-Steven James, Becoming Real

I’ve been reading this book for a few weeks now. It’s really powerful and dense so it’s taking a bit to get through, but the quote above really spoke to me.

I think it really sums up what it is to be redeemed. God doesn’t look at our past mistakes and think we’re disgusting or dirty. He doesn’t think we’re weird. He sees us as beautiful. He accepts us fully as we are. He understands us on a deeper level than anyone can.

I went for a walk this morning, and, of course, I came across some squirrels. Some ran across the street to get away from me. One started to climb a tree. I went up to the tree and it knew I saw it. So then it moved so I couldn’t see it anymore. It did this a few times. It was like I was playing hide and seek with the squirrel.

I think in a lot of ways we’re the same with God. We try to hide our past, our regrets and our mistakes. But the truth is God knows it’s still there, just like I knew the squirrel was hiding behind the tree. No matter how many times you try to hide it, it’s still there. The crazy part is that God knows what’s happened in our past and He looks beyond it. He forgives us for our past mistakes, for those things we’d rather hide forever.

I’ve honestly had a hard time understanding redemption because I’ve made a lot of mistakes that haunt me to this day. I carry a lot of “baggage,” as they say. It’s sometimes really difficult to understand that God would just look past all of that and see me for who I really am.

But He does.

And that’s what is so beautiful and powerful about faith. We are redeemed. Our sins are forgiven. Our past mistakes now gone.