A whore in church....

There is a phrase I had never heard of until I came to North Carolina. That phrase is "Sweatin' like a whore in church!" It's a phrase that shows up when the mercury begins to rise and the humidity sets in at the end of May, early part of June. I can say North Carolina is hot, and that is saying a lot coming from a guy born and raised in the swamp state of Florida. The phrase to me seemed a bit outlandish, but I laughed at the mental thought of a woman dressed in clear plastic high-heels, hot pink pleather short-shorts with top to match. Her sitting in the front pew sweating for the sins she knows she has committed and how Jesus will be there, first in line to send her to Hell. Sadly, it is not even close to what really happens with Jesus. Think to the story of when Jesus meets a woman of ill-repute (John 8:2-11) in a busy temple court as she is about to be stoned to death for the way she was living. Jesus didn't step into the situation to condemn her, but to save her. Not just save her from her evil ways, but later to save her soul by death on the cross. The woman who meet Jesus was a lowlife. She was dirty and used. She was despised for sins committed, and was near death for them. Jesus met her where she was, as she was. A sinner, like the rest of us. This brings me to our "whore in church." Our human nature is to point out the sins of another person, to feel better about ourselves and think that we are living a stronger spiritual life and we have the right to condemn "the whore in church." We have to be able to love whoever is in church. That means everyone! Even the woman with the mini-skirt and a heavily beaded brow of sweat. In church is where we find redemption and saving grace. A place where the stones should be dropped. A place where sins are forgiven and lives are transformed (2 Cor 5:17). The church should be a place of love. The only sweatin' in church should be from the A/C being busted.(Sidenote: A church is a place to be rebuked for sin, but it should be done firmly in love.) We are all sinners, we all have fallen short of the Glory of God. (Romans 3:23) It is this proverbial streetwalker whose sins are more prevalent than others; it makes it easier for us to judge. Sin is sin, a white lie all the way to murder; it's all the same in God's eyes. Everyone has the same chance for redemption, so if you are reading this and feel that you don't deserve to go to church, to be saved by God's saving grace, you are wrong. Jesus met the soon-to-be-stoned woman in a dire circumstance and told her to stop her sin and let her go. We make ourselves sweat with the circumstances we put ourselves in, but Jesus can wipe the sweat from our brow. Jesus meets us with love and saving grace! Jesus meets us where we are, no matter what we might have done in the past. That is not to say that our actions are not without consequences, but Jesus will forgive us regardless. Jesus loves us, no matter how much of a jacked up lowlife we are!