Jesus loves you . . . as you are. (The Rooms of Tobiah)

"Jesus loves you . . . as you are":

a well-worn phrase from many evangelistic campaigns from the twentieth century until now. Even now the phrase causes conflict in my heart and I can scarcely explain why. Who could ever disagree with the love of God? Who could ever disagree with the assertion that we need to be loved? And who in their right mind would disagree with the free unconditional offer of love with no need to change or earn that love?

The love of Jesus commands devotion, it demands a response without any coercion purely because the love is given without reference to self. The love that is given is the demand itself. We must leave and go with Him and drop from our hands the very last thing that we cling onto: the rich young ruler was wise and had a form of righteousness, but he loved money. That very last thing is the thing that defines us as sinners, as rebels, from which we gain our status and identity - the very last bastion of human independence and autocracy. We may even think it has merit. Anyone can surely identify the rank sins of the love of money. Surely! I know I'm not like that! Everyone can see the grosser sins of lust and the kind - surely! But it is the very wood in the trees that we cannot see - the very last rock we do not want to turn over - can't see it - because we stand upon it! It exalts us and defends us. It is the adjectives we stick in front of 'christian' and use as labels to put everyone else, bar ourseles, into little boxes; it is the lens through which our distorted vision holds a plumbline to the world and finds it wanting. It may be the denomination, of whose doctrines and practices we may be proud of, it may be our age group, our sex, our sexual orientation, our job, our political affiliations or our opinons. We were called to be disciples - but we have made converts in our own weak image, tolerant of the labels and the baggage we imported into our new 'life'. We were called to abandonement and nothing less will do.

" . . . as you are," has covered - literally - a multitude of sins. And under that cloak it has been smuggled into Tobiah's rooms within the temple (Nehemiah 13). We await another Nehemiah to give Tobiah the treatment he deserves. As we speak, enclaves are being established within God's temple under the banner of love and tolerance: bridgeheads to de-stabilise God's church and render her powerless. Our own rhetoric, once used to win people for Christ, is being used against us to tolerate many kinds of sin: co-habitation, pre-marital sex, divorce, homosexuality, same-sex marriage, multiple-partner marriage and bigamy. One by one each battle has been lost by the church because we still cling to " . . . as you are". Some battles still remain and we get ample warning of them shining up our engine from our enemies. We see them coming but are powerless, undone by our own rhetoric: " . . . as you are." We ourselves still cling to that last thing, how could we ever expect anyone else to change and let that sin go that is now their identity.

What is it that God loves in us? It is not our sin and neither is it the sin that masquerades as righteousness. The love of God draws a circle around us that separates us from our labels and adjectives and our worldly identity. Once we drop every single one, including our skills and our gifts, we find that He has reduced us to one; he has isolated us; he has drawn us into the desert to be found as a bride. We are separated and denuded before Him, reduced to a being of worship. We are laid bare, we are exposed and we find the cause of the love given is the Lover Himself. He who is Love does not love us for a reason other than Himself. Even the love He gives robs us of our boast and we are enthralled by this love that is Him. We are taken with Him - not with the justification of self.

" . . . as you are" has strengthened the arm of the wicked against the Lord, it has tolerated sin, it has affirmed new converts in their sin and ensured that will never become disciples. The rooms of Tobiah proliferate in God's church under love and tolerance. The true love of God compels us, draws us on into devotion that is obedience to the faith for in this love we discover a God who loves us apart from our sin, when we ourselves defined ourselves by our sin. The love of God tears us from our sin and provokes us into action. Will we be a Nehemiah to kick Tobiah out of the temple in obedience to God? Will we calmly sit there and twine together a whip with the full intention of driving people out of the courts of God? Will His zeal consume us? Will we strap on a sword and go about the camp to deal with our brothers? Will we run through a brother with a spear who fornicates with a Midianite woman in the middle of the camp - while they are in the act? Will we grow up into maturity to speak the truth in love - no matter the cost to our reputation or the legal threats about us?

Tobiah may have many powerful friends, but God's opinion of us will be eternal.