"WILL YOU ALLOW ME MARRY YOUR BROTHER?"
As that priceless soul sat in front of me that day, I heard those words: "Sir, I feel nothing. I have done a lot of things wrong in my life".
From getting sexually involved with close relatives to having an abortion. She had been through all.
I began to talk to her about God's love emphasizing that in Christ, her past is thrown into the sea of forgetfulness and she is a new creature. I emphasized new.
Then she smiled. I said, "I thought you had no emotions". She said, "I sense some great joy".
Then she leaned forward and asked, "But Pastor, what if I am to marry your brother, with all you have heard, will you allow me?"
What a question!
I replied, "Why not! You are a new creature. You are new. My brother is not marrying that dead one. You are a new one in Christ".
She was taken aback! She then burst into a great smile.
And that is the truth.
Honestly, you would not understand the weight of some challenges until it is close home. She brought it home to me. You cannot preach what you cannot live.
Some Christian brothers preach love of Christ but draw the line because "they cannot marry a virgin" even after she is in Christ now. Where is the love?
Family, the love of God is powerful. He wipes away that handwriting of sin and you become a brand new template of His love.
He takes a broken soul and brings a global brand out of him.
In CHRIST, you are never your past (Can I say that a thousand times). You are new.
Whatever keeps reminding you of where you have been and bringing that shame and guilt is a bastard- It is not the Spirit of God.
God never uses our past as a tool to judge us. Only the devil does that. Sometimes, you judge yourself.
But you are redeemed. You are new. Jesus died for both your sin and the consequence of that sin.
Sister, Brother, the fact that you had a terrible past does not make you a second class kingdom citizen and you now start settling for less in marriage.
There are no second class gifts in God. You do not deserve lesser love. You have all the love of God.
Whoever (including yourself) looks down on you because of your past does not understand what God has done- the person is still in the past.
Wake up!
You deserve the best.