Underneath All the Ick

Yesterday, I reflected on a post I published the other day.

This happens from time to time. Sometimes I go, "Ericka, were you being "too Ericka" again?"

And most often the answer is, "Yes, of course you were."

But it wasn't my thoughts on Scripture and the ways people twist it that were tripping me up (I fully stand behind everything I wrote).

It was this: I forgot to talk about having a gracious heart for those who get it all wrong.

A writer friend, Priscilla, shared her own story in the comments of that post, and it prompted me to reflect on those times when grace didn't come into play for me.

Right after becoming a Jesus follower, I started to study...a lot. And as it often goes with me, I'd start to lean towards whatever it was I was studying. Like my whole Calvinist rabbit hole. I felt uncomfortable with their doctrine but then spent a whole heck of a lot of time wondering if I was even forgiven and how exactly hot the bonfire of hell was.

Fortunately, God snapped me out of it, leading me back to His loving-kindness, but it taught me a good lesson.

Just because we tend to get it wrong, doesn't mean there isn't a righteous heart underneath all the "ick."

God created that heart, even the hearts of those who insist on sacrificing them on the altar of evil. So, the best we can do is stand firmly in truth but also love like Jesus.

We have to understand how easy it is to get things wrong, to listen to Satan's deceptive tongue, and to find ourselves off the path that leads straight to the Father.

So, yes, there will be people who use Scripture against us and even against the Lord (whether they're fully aware of that or not...see Matthew 7:21-23).

But no matter what, all we can do is what Jesus has tasked us to do: to firmly know the Good News, share it with those around us, and thoroughly love God and love others as ourselves.