Have you ever tried to love somebody who is really not lovable? I want to share with you a personal experience I had in my life that forever changed me. It was an experience that happened in our early years of ministry, in which God exposed my true un-Christ-like nature and taught me how important it is to love all people, even the “unlovely.” She was on the fringes of society. An older woman, whose existence included years of abuse from her father and from many men she had mistakenly turned to for love and acceptance.
She had a history of prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse, and was suspected, although it was never proven, to have set her house on fire, killing her children as they innocently slept. Her hair was all mangled, her clothes were dirty. She had a foul mouth and could be terribly demanding at times. Her name was Maxine, a woman first broken, then discarded by society, who God sent to me.
She said yes
My husband and I were just starting out in the ministry, pastoring a rural area in the Midwest. Eager to ‘find the lost,’ we began door to door surveys. Maxine answered yes to the question, “Would you like to take Bible lessons?” I reluctantly accompanied my husband to the weekly studies. I had already heard the stories about her past, so I found myself wondering, how could someone who had lived such a sinful life truly want to know Jesus? Yet, she was faithful in completing her studies, and after a time asked to go to church with us.
Her former history had left such a negative mark on her that we needed to
let the saints know that she would be coming to church. Most of them tried to discourage us from having anything to do with her, saying we were wasting our time. She sat with me while my husband preached. The “saints” ignored her, yet week after week, with great tenacity, she continued to come to church with us.
What did God see?
Have you ever had someone describe you as being tenacious? Holding fast, persistent, not easily pulled asunder, tough? Maxine was all of these … she held on! My heart softened. Over time I began to see her through God’s eyes. I saw her pain, brokenness, and longing to be unconditionally loved and accepted. I found myself asking her to join us for Sabbath dinners. I remember so well how I would sometimes find her sitting asleep on our living room sofa. She frequently joined us on Sabbath outings and other church functions. It didn’t matter to her where we were going or what we were doing. She never asked anything of us, she was content to just be with us.
I started seeing a change in Maxine. Her language softened, the lines in her face relaxed, and she no longer smelled. She had a look of peacefulness. She had finally found a place where love and acceptance were unconditional. The church had grown to love this dear woman. And she eventually was baptized and continued to be in the thick of church activities. Maxine had finally found a place where she was a part of “family.” A place where she, for the very first time in her life, felt included, valued, and loved.
Peace in the Lord
Not too long after being baptized, Maxine was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and her already weakened body was not able to fight off the disease. She knew she didn’t have much time left. When asked what her outlook on life was, she replied, “I want to live my life to please the good Lord and then I want to go and be with Him when the time comes.” Maxine died within a few months.
Knowing her impacted my life for the better. She taught me how a simple smile, a kind word, and a gentle touch can mean so much to someone who is desperately needing to be noticed, someone who feels so unimportant. Her desire to know Jesus and the tenacity with which she held on to a church that tried to push her away changed an entire congregation!
From Maxine, I learned a deeper meaning to the familiar saying, “You may be the only Jesus other people see.” And that I must be willing to go to those who are the untouchables of society, the Zacheuses, Mary Magdalenes, tax collectors, and lepers of my time. We must go to the Maxines! Maybe it is a neighbor, a church member, or someone who makes us bristle. Jesus sought out people who needed compassion. They were the very people He came to heal and save. We too must do the same.
My prayer is that God may show me how to love others as He loves me, and that He will give me the gift of compassion so I can see others through His eyes and hear their stories through His ears. I pray that God will use me to show others that He is God, the One who cares for and loves them. Amen!
Reflection Questions
1. Is there someone in your sphere of influence who might need to experience the unconditional love of Jesus through you?
2. What might God be calling you to do?
3. How will you respond to His calling?
Mary Jo Dubs enjoys partnering with God in creative methods of ministry. She serves as the family and women’s ministries director of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and is the founder of the God in Shoes Ministry, an effective method of evangelism.