Proverbs 9: 7-9
Several years ago I was driving home from ministry school and I heard the Lord tell me to drive to a gas station and follow a man with a black hat. I drove to the nearest gas station and as I pull in, a man with a black hat walks out and around to the back of the station. I followed him around the corner and watch him get in his car and drive away, but as he does, I see a young homeless girl sitting just behind the car, and immediately I hear the Lord tell me, “That’s her, go love the HELL right out of her”. I jumped out of my car and begin to strike up a conversation with her and tell her how valuable and loved she was, but she was closed off, as if she didn’t believe the words I was saying were true. I was struggling to find out how to reach her and then she exclaims, “I just need a cigarette”. Everything inside of me wanted to say “No! You don’t need those, you need Jesus!” But Immediately I knew what I needed to do. I ran and got cigarettes from the gas station and gave them to her. She said to me, “Aren’t you a Christian? I thought you guys were against all this stuff” and I responded, “My job is not to change you, it’s to love you.” She was taken back, but preceded to put the cigarette in her mouth and light it. As soon as she lit it, she coughed and spit it out. It was as if in an instant, all of her desire to smoke was driven out completely by love. She then gave her life to Jesus because of the love that she was shown, not judgment or condemnation.
So often Christians feel the need to try to immediately change someone and correct their actions. But we forget that our job is not to be the ones to transform, but to be the ones that extravagantly love, and when we do, God will do his job to bring the transformation. If we call out someone’s sin that has no grasp on what that actually means, it will do absolutely nothing to transform them, it will often bring nothing but contempt and turn them away. People are not attracted to Jesus because of the rules he brings; they’re attracted to him for the freedom that he brings. It is the kindness of Christ that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). Proverbs 9:7-9 doesn’t give us an excuse to ignore the lost, but it rather gives us a mandate to love them into wisdom and truth. God is love, and wisdom always follows encounters with God. When love is displayed, God is invited and wisdom cant help but come soon after. Our job is to love the lost, and to disciple those who have seen and experienced truth. Love always triumphs over punishment.