Forgotten

"Disclaimer": This topic is one particularly near and dear to my heart, as God has given me an intense love for the brokenest people and, I believe, is calling me to minister long-term to them. I'm currently working in a pro-life crisis pregnancy center, and will, Lord-willing, this summer (and possibly for a whole year) go to be trained and work at a rehab facility in New Hampshire that helps heal people with drug abuse, sexual addictions and trauma, depression disorders, psychological disorders and eating disorders. So pardon me if I get a little heated, 'cause I'm passionate about this subject. X) Comments welcome, tho'.---

They're "those people." The kind of people you hear about and give a little shudder. People with inner demons, people with a dark, ugly past and a future that looks to be about the same, "untouchables:" Drug or sex addicts. Prostitutes. Porn stars. The psychologically ill*. Depressed people. Suicidal people. The self-harmers. The "freaks."

I call them "the forgotten." They're the ones Christians, on the whole, seem to've forgotten about. They're the "sinners." They're the ones you can't seem to witness successfully to. Unrepentant, we say--entrenched in their life of sin. They are the ones with deep darkness in their hearts of one kind or another, unwilling to leave their darkness, it would seem. So, on the whole, we write them off. Even if we don't entirely mean to… it seems we almost unconsciously block them out of our mind as dirty, disgusting people we should take warning from and be glad we're not.

When it comes to the homosexuality debate, we're quick to say "we're to love the sinner and hate the sin!" … but it seems to me that we're not so quick to look past the sins of other people trapped in what we call a "gross" sin. If we did, if we really tried to see the hearts living in the deepest darkness, the strongest bondage like Jesus sees them… what we'd find would break our hearts.

These people believe themselves to be unloveable and worthless. Their hearts and lives are shattered by years of pain and sin--both their own and the sins of others against them. They have no hope. They are trapped in iron chains of deception, guilt, and sin, wrapped around the enemy's finger. If there is a God, they think, He certainly couldn't love me. Their hearts are bitter and hard against God and humanity. They think they're beyond hope of salvation, of anything better than what they have.

They're not. And my heart's desire is to show them that. God's love for them is so immense. He died to make them valuable, and they don't know it! But you can't just walk into a brothel and preach the Gospel with much success, so to speak. Those who try will most likely be disappointed in their efforts and write it off on "the sinners." There are so many layers of deception, of sin, of depression, pain, and, often enough, demonic oppression, that it will take a lot of work to truly see these people set free from the bondage of the enemy.

And what these hearts need first and foremost is LOVE. Not all the right Bible verses, not optimistic truisms, not even "if you'd only trust Jesus…" Truth goes with love, absolutely, I'm not saying it's not important, here. But what these people tend to get is "You're a sinner. Your sin is disgusting to God. Leave your life of sin. [insert Gospel presentation.] God will set you free and heal all your hurts and you'll live happily ever after. [exit Christian]"  … it doesn't quite work that way. If we remember how Jesus handled it, that's not what we'll see. In Jesus, it looked more like this:
1) He SHOWED the sinner he loved them, that he cared for them, that they weren't worthless or unloveable. That they weren't scarred beyond any chance at beauty. That they weren't broken beyond any chance at being whole. His love gave them hope, and hope is something these people desperately need.
2) THEN Jesus went on to say "Go, and sin no more."

And, most importantly, it takes STICKING WITH IT. Love does not fail, but it takes strong, tenacious love. Love that says "you're worthwhile to God, and so you're worthwhile to me. And I'm going to keep on loving you no matter what you do, even if you hurt me or experience failure again and again. I'm not letting go, because God's not letting go." It'll take getting your hands dirty in the Lord's work. It'll take getting your heart broken. It'll take a great amount of emotional strain and frustration to love someone who's broken. But the love of Christ is the only thing that will set these people free from their sin and bondage and pain. And we're the only way they're going to SEE the love of Christ! If we don't live that love to them… they'll never see it, short of divine intervention.

… now, I've talked primarily about unbelievers in this one. But, really, a lot of the same applies to people in the church. Even Christians can live in continual defeat from the Enemy if they're not secure in their identity in Christ… especially if they were deeply wounded or were in a lot of sin before they came to Christ. These Christians, especially ones who struggle with depressions or other psychological problems*, are often misunderstood and judged by well-meaning people who don't understand the power of past hurt or the role of the enemy in oppressing even the believer. Hurting brothers and sisters don't need Bible verses shoved in their face. They don't need to be told "if you only really trusted Jesus this wouldn't be happening." They need someone to see past the surface and see the hurting heart. Someone to display Christ's love. Someone who says "hey, it's going to be okay--I'll stay here with you 'til the nightmare is over. It's gonna be a little tricky, and you'll hafta work with me, but in our God there is healing and restoration and glory, so I'm not leaving 'til you're living in the peace and freedom he has for you." Warning: it's not easy to do that. Most hurting people are very hesitant to let people in… in fact, will often try their darndest to keep people out and put on a very tough front. But that's no excuse not to love them.

Neil T. Anderson is my absolute favorite author on the subject of believers struggling with past bondage and seemingly having no victory… I highly recommend that everyone read his books "Victory Over the Darkness" and "Bondage Breaker." Lots of compassion, lots of truth. Helped me tremendously in dealing with my own struggles and hurts.

So yeah, sorry that was kind of a rant, but I think it's an important truth the church as a whole needs to realize:
BROKEN, "DIRTY" PEOPLE ARE NOT BEYOND THE REACH OF THE GOSPEL. … they merely require more work, more time, more sacrificial love, more tenacity than other "groups" of people. But I firmly believe that if the Christ-follower will pour him/herself out to the broken in love and service and prayer… God will come through and do amazing things to reach His lost lambs.

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*though I contend that a spiritual cause/factor is inherent and central in every case of "psychological illness", therefore every case is, theoretically, curable. Comment if you wanna hear my thoughts on that… or better yet, read Dr. Neil Anderson's book "Discipleship Counseling."  X)