Day 72: We Can do Better Than Bitter

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. Genesis 1:26–27

“In his own image.” In Latin, the term that gets at this biblical principle is Imago Dei. And it simply means that human beings were created with inherent dignity, according to God’s likeness. That’s a huge thing—we weren’t created in the image of inanimate objects, but in the image of God Himself. Which means we weren’t made to be marginalized and missed and victimized and violated, which is at the root of much of the angry “we’re not going to take it lying down anymore” narrative so prevalent now in modern culture. People are just flat sick and tired of putting up with abuse. Be it personal abuse like sexual molestation and discrimination or systemic abuse like racism and misogyny.

Now, I am all about the restoration of human value and dignity. I was sexually molested for years as a child, and raped in college, and have stories for days about being oppressed, humiliated, and undervalued by people with small minds and bad theology. My daughter Missy was orphaned in Haiti after her first mama died of AIDS, unwittingly infecting her with HIV, and she’s been the victim of many racist slurs and even assaults (a couple of which I’ve already shared with you right here in this book!). So believe me, we’ve had our fair share of shame, bigotry, and marginalization.

Yet, I think some people in the community of faith have passed right by the restoration God has made available for us in their quest for revenge—and as we all know, restoration and revenge are two very, very different paths to take in life. The kind of value and empowerment we can absolutely derive from Scripture and being enraged are not synonymous. God’s Spirit empowers us to share the living hope of Jesus Christ with a world that is desperately hungry for redemption. But an embittered, wounded spirit is what drives the kind of furious, less-than-productive diatribe we’re seeing some people hurl nowadays under the banner of renewal or freedom.

I read an article recently that was written by a lovely woman I used to learn from and teach alongside. In this article she explained how being deeply hurt and offended by other Christians had compelled her to spend several years deconstructing Scripture and she now believes the Bible is something that can’t be read with any certainty and faith in Jesus is not the only way by which sinners can be restored to a holy God. Actually, I don’t think she used the word sinner because she also made it clear she doesn’t believe in that kind of archaic terminology anymore, much less a theology that includes the concept of repentance.

Now, my point here isn’t to throw anyone under the bus. Frankly, these kind of “deconversion” stories break my heart. My point is that the mass exodus of so many dear, wounded deserters should jar the rest of us into diving deeper into God’s Word so that our experience and understanding and cognizance of His redemptive nature will resound clearer and louder and more compelling than their heartbreaking and heretical deconstruction narratives. Their wounds are real. Which should force those of us still under the banner of Christian faith to ask why, to fix what went wrong to the best of our ability, and to create a better, healthier narrative. When it comes to sheep who were harmed by hypocrites and liars, the answer isn’t throwing all the sheep out of the fold to fend for themselves. The answer is to handle the hypocrites according to the Word of God (which tells us how to deal with wolves!) and draw even closer to the Good Shepherd and His Words—to the only One who can speak to us with the kind of power that can restore and heal!

I believe anyone who takes the time to get familiar with the overarching story of Scripture will come to the realization that God has always been in the business of reducing human suffering, restoring human dignity, and repairing the intimacy that was broken between us and Him a long, long time ago.

• Have you ever felt marginalized in the context of Christianity?
• If so, how did it make you feel?
• How has Jesus helped you stay true to the faith, remain in His Word, and heal from past wounds?