The line that separates sinners and saints is a thin one. But the dividing line between me and hookers – perhaps thinner.
The differences: I freely offered up my body for exploitation without requiring compensation… but have since found LIFE – a rich, meaningful, love-drenched life – in Jesus Christ. The first persuaded by a longing to be loved. The second by God’s longing to love me.
But I’ve never been so aware of this humbling reality until this past week when I spent time ministering toprostitutes in the slums of Kigali, Rwanda. Until then, I had never realized how strikingly similar a young, white, middle-class American woman with a master's degree could be to a poor, uneducated, African 20-something hooker. In this world we appear to be so disparate, but in His world we’re quite the same.
As I sat on the concrete floor of the tiny, 2-room home to 2 prostitutes and their 2 toddlers, I recounted my personal testimony of how 2 years ago Jesus swept me off my feet – saving me from a dull, graceless life. In that moment, He brought veracity to my lips right as I looked into the desperate eyes of each woman and said: “You and me – we’re no different. We’re the same… except that I now know the love and freedom of having a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
That truth seemed to soften their stubborn, wounded hearts — as if God Himself had gently whispered the most wonderful secret into their ears. The veil of separation aroused by opposing skin colors, language barriers and diverse professions – gone like a mist.
And that day, those women gave their lives to Jesus – not because of anything I did, but because during our time together God used me as a vessel to translate His perfect, unconditional love for His beautiful, lost, broken daughters in a language that spoke to their hearts. Because I was once just that – a lost, broken daughter trying to gain love and intimacy through empty, meaningless acts – exactly like them. A daughter longing to be loved but ignorant of the affections of her Heavenly Father – just like them. A daughter redeemed – just like them.
The line between sinners and saints is thin, my friends, because though not every sinner is a saint, every saint is a sinner. But Jesus died for sinners – so that "by grace through faith" – we might all experience a rich, meaningful, love-drenched life. And not only does His grace bring freedom, but it's free to all who willingly accept it. Grace – which out of His intense love for us – He offers up even more freely than prostitutes offer up their bodies.
Grace aroused by love – love that’s strong enough to transform promiscuous into pure. A hooker into a saint…
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:16-19
