Cancer culture. Chrissy Teigen says it when she stands up for her friends. Taylor Swift says it when she feels attacked by the Kardashians. Kevin Hart lost a hosting gig. Megan Kelly is fired. TV Shows are canceled. Careers are ended. The culture is permeated with this idea of canceling a human because of a mistake or a disagreement. Every day, headlines reflect another politician or actor or person who has said or done the wrong thing. Their remorse, their willingness to grow and change, never matters – that’s the worst part. Do not get me started on the wave of true crime shows and podcasts where we are all proud of our role as couch-judge and couch-juries. We have to do better. We cannot be a society where we die on every sword. We cannot be people who are not allowed to make a mistake and grow from it.
We cannot exist in a world so fixated on justice that we forget mercy.
People make mistakes. Sometimes it’s more than a mistake and it actually does harm to another person. There should absolutely be consequences, but this notion of no redemption is not of love, and it’s not of God. He is a Redeemer, and even better than that, He is a Forgetter. Forgiven AND forgotten. Our culture not only refuses to forget, but we go diving into the sea of forgetfulness to see if there’s anything juicy there. These people who go looking for your past, these sin-seekers of the world, are in direct opposition to the love of Christ. Never trust a person who swims in your past. Redemption is the foundation of our faith, for we were redeemed first.
Record-holding of others’ sins is ungodly and destructive to the church. We are not worthy to recount someone else’s sins. We are not responsible to remind them of their past. I am not saying to let someone preach who shows up to church hungover. I’m not saying to let someone whose divorce was finalized last week teach a relationship workshop. Redemption takes time. God took three days to redeem the sins of man: it’s not something that happens overnight.
Instead of canceling someone, what if we let them grow without another reason to be bitter at humanity? What if we let them apologize, provide restitution and then mature without another reason to be mad at God? What if we celebrated the change, going from making critical statements, promoting exclusions, and discouraging groups, to celebrating differences, inclusion, and loving people no matter what. Because my goodness, how far we have come!
This generation is aware of pain and sorrow and what causes it. This generation has an emotional intelligence that far surpasses past generations. What a gift to know how to love people better! But what a tragedy that in this generation’s pursuit of love and awareness, there is no grace.
Love without grace is just a sentiment, but love with grace is a force. Redemption is powerful. It can change lives, heal relationships, restore a human. Redemption must be allowed.
We can’t keep destroying everything that makes a mistake and wonder why we never have anything good that has grown from failure.
Tom Petty said it best when he said “Redemption comes to those who wait. Forgiveness is the key.” That’s our job; not looking for sin, not keeping a record of mistakes, not determining who can and cannot bring value. Our job is only to forgive. Get good at it!
I am so grateful that when the world said cancel him, God said redeem him. I’m so grateful that when the world says finished, God says I’m not done yet. When the world says death, God says everlasting. When the world says pain and sorrow, God says peace and joy. When the world says sickness and disease, God says I am the Healer. When the world says no hope, He gives hope to the hopeless. When the world says worthless, God says I am the Redeemer. Paul said in 1st Corinthians that God calls the despised and ignoble and base things of the world to nullify.
And if that’s good enough for God, it has to be good enough for us.
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