In His Name Devotionals
PLEASE, NO MORE LINDAS!
In His Name Devotionals
PLEASE, NO MORE LINDAS!
We'll call her Linda. She grew up in a home and church that demanded more than she could ever give. Her father demanded perfect grades and perfect behavior. Her preacher and Sunday School teacher combined to teach her that God demanded perfect theology and perfect performance. Linda lived in fear of failing and disappointing.
Linda went to college but didn't graduate. Linda got married, but she also got a divorce four years later. Linda gave up on her church a couple of years into her marriage. Linda looks ten years older than she is, and her life is a shambles.
What could you expect? All her life, she had been taught that (a) perfection is the only thing my father/Father will accept; (b) failure means I can't go home and face my father/Father; and (c) failing my father/Father means certain rejection.
It is a monumental shame of eternal proportions that Linda was programmed to believe she was unworthy of love unless she could meet someone's impossibly high expectations.
Linda was made to believe that heavy breathing on a date was as bad as adultery and that using a bad word when she got mad was as bad as murder. After all, her dad explained that there are no big and little sins in the eyes of God and that any breaking of the rules separated her from God. And the pity is that she believed it. She swallowed it whole.
For all the Lindas of the world: (a) Mercy is just the name of the hospital in the next town; (b) Grace is a skinny girl who has braces on her teeth; and (c) Peace is a term politicians use in long-winded speeches.
Fathers, preachers, and Sunday School teachers must stop teaching guilt and shame in order to teach gospel. The gospel is the wonderful news of acceptance through Christ rather than through our performance. It must always be presented as a free gift and never as a series of steps to take or hurdles to clear.
Haven't seen Linda in a while. But probably her greatest need could have been met if she had ever known the truth contained in the first song she ever learned at church: "Jesus loves me, this I know, For the Bible tells me so, Little ones to Him belong, They are weak but He is strong."
Our Heavenly Father credits the status of His one Perfect Son to all His other children in our imperfection. Through our little faith, He has saved us by His grace. And failure does not mean rejection, but compassion. This is the Good News of Christ.
We must preach the gospel—or we will continue to create Lindas.
