"I had you pegged the first time I saw your mug." That's a line from one too many cheap detective novels. The job of the detective is to size up the possible suspects and neatly pigeon-hole them, so he can find the murderer. Christians are not supposed to be cheap detectives.
The Apostle Paul tells us that, "love always hopes (I Corinthians 13:7)." This means that we see the potential that Christ brings into each life. People grow. When we pigeon-hole someone it's as though we see them stuck in amber. They cease to be people to us. They become static things.
They don't really. It's only our perception that is crippled. Well, that's not true either. Our potential to be a healing, helpful influence is crippled as well.
A river flows. It has a source in the past and a destination in the future. You can ride the current; you can dig trenches and divert the flow; you can build a dam to slow it down; but nothing short of an ice age is going to stop it in it's banks (and that doesn't even work as evidenced by the tracks left by glaciers).
Every life is like a river. We move through time as we grow. A judgmental person evaluates someone based only on where they have been and not on who they can become. We must make sober assessments based on past behavior. Trust must be earned as well as given (see the Parable of the Talents, Mat 25:14). But our love, service, and dedication to someone hopes for how Jesus can transform a life.
None of us is without regret. None of us has escaped failure. None of us wants to be defined by those moments. Sometimes it's hard to escape our disappointments and failures, but that's exactly what Jesus is doing in our lives as he extends his forgiveness for our pasts and the power of his Spirit to bring new life and growth. Many times we need the help of those around us to remind us of what Jesus is doing in our lives.
Others need that reminder as well. We need to learn from our past; sometimes we need to make restitution for our past; but we are defined by what we choose to do today and by the transformation Jesus promises as we follow him. We spur each other on to love and good works not by whips and rods but by reminding each other of the glorious person God is transforming us into. Love hopes because Jesus is not done with any of us yet. Pigeon-holing everyone he met may have helped the dime-store detective get his man, but maybe it was also the reason he ended up alone when the case was over.
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