God does not look at you as a no good, rotten, dirty, messed up, broken sinner

God looks at you as a beloved child of God, created in the image of God who is LOVE

“You don’t know me! How can you say I'm good?!”

I'd pushed a button. He was fired up and ready to set me straight. I tried to respond at first, but it became clear he wasn't interested in a conversation. He just needed to talk. So, I invited him to sit and let him talk. For almost 45 minutes he talked. The more I listened the more my heart broke for him. Ultimately, he was kind and faithful. He wasn't rude. He wasn't mad at me. His understanding of “the gospel” left him concerned that I was misleading people. It was too important to him NOT to talk with me about it.

“People want to hear they are good and ok. They want to hear that God loves them no matter what. But that just isn't true” he reasoned. “If it is, then people can just do whatever they want. Nothing matters if there are no consequences or accountability.”

Again my heart broke. I looked at him and assured him this was a safe space to disagree. I thanked him for being thoughtful enough to come to me with his concerns. Here's what I said that triggered his response.

“God does not look at you as a no good, rotten, dirty, messed up, broken sinner. God looks at you as a beloved child of God, created in the image of God who is LOVE. Everything God creates, God looks at and declares “IT IS GOOD!” That's how God sees you!”

“I'm not good” he insisted. “I'm a wretch. I'm depraved. I'm broken. I'm messed up. I am NOT good!”

I let him get it all off his chest. When he ran out of words to describe how awful and terrible he is I said,

“I don't really know you, but you don't strike me as any of those things.”

He started to protest, but I said,

“I imagine you sometimes do things that are not good. I imagine sometimes you might even have wretched or depraved thoughts. Maybe you've even acted on some of those thoughts. Again, I don’t really know you. Regardless, none of those things are who you are. If anything, they are examples of what happens when you forget who you are.”

The gospel is NOT, “You suck. In fact, you suck so bad that God wants… no, God NEEDS to kill you. And God WILL kill you unless you pray a prayer ‘accepting’ God’s opinion that you suck and that God killed Jesus in your place because God HAD to kill someone because God is THAT bloodthirsty and in need of payment for all the heartache and headache God’s sucky creation has caused God.”

Whew! What an exhausting sentence that was to write. It must be even more exhausting to believe.

This is a sad excuse for what many of God’s beloved children have settled for as “gospel.” I don't bottom line many things, but I will with this. This “gospel” is NOT good news. I would go as far as to say it isn't “gospel” at all, and it is certainly not THE gospel.

Most people who buy into this “gospel” don't express it so explicitly, but it is every bit as harmful (and flat-out wrong) in the subtle ways people cling to it.

The GOOD NEWS is not laden with guilt and shame and accusation, whether explicit or subtle. Someone in the story of scripture is nicknamed “accuser” and it's not Jesus. 😉

The good news in a nutshell is YOU ARE LOVED. End of story. The creator of everything that lives and breathes loves YOU. The problem is not our wretchedness and depravity. The problem is that we forget who we really are. The journey for us as part of God’s beloved creation, then, is to remember. That’s the intent of our spiritual practices and religious activities; to help us remember! If they don't, they are not much more than empty rituals and traditions.

He listened intently in the next session, and in each session that followed. Again and again I pointed to the good news of shame-free Gospel. I don't know if he changed his mind, but the expression on his face seemed to soften. Maybe he started to remember who he is. Maybe today I will remember too.