The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. -2 Peter 3:9/NIV

I saw a magazine at the store with a handsome celebrity’s face on the cover with the quote a few years ago and it said “Everyone is Redeemable.”

It intrigued me because my heart said “Yes!” My emotions soared at the news. My head began undoing the conclusion my heart made, and my emotions got a little troubled.

Why?

Why would I not agree with this statement?

Who doesn’t want the world to be saved?

Every missionary, evangelist and pew-sitting Christian I know does.

Here’s how Jesus untangled my thinking eventually to match my heart and reorder my emotions.

Somewhere inside me, whether it was my selfishness or some teaching from long ago, that had embedded itself so deeply I thought it was my own, surfaced and it went like this.

“Well, what does the Bible say”?

I was at a watershed moment. Not an intellectual or emotional one, but one that fused the two together in a way only the Creator can. I was at a crossroads of heart. The road I took would determine my motivation, and would mirror the kind of person I was letting Jesus mold.

Road one was my head that wanted to go through Scripture. Afterall, was this man one who believed like I did about God, salvation and church? Should I seek his spiritual credentials to be making such a bold statement casually tossed onto a magazine cover for the masses to believe, and possibly to agree with? Afterall, he might lead them down a wrong path, and we know there are false prophets. I know, I’ll begin talking about the false prophets. The next thing I know, my thinking may come out in my writing, my speaking, my comments in a Bible class (where this celebrity cannot defend their hearts) and shows the general arrogance and ignorance on my part, not the love on the celebrity’s part.

But convicted me to chose door number two…

Wow! I agree! In fact, God does say he loves the world, he wants everyone to come to salvation which means everyone breathing is redeemable. This celebrity may not be of my background and thinking spiritually, or does he? But he derived by observation what God said Greeks could do (Romans 1-3); though without the written Scriptures, they can see God in nature. This man must have been through a tough time, came out better and understands humbly how redemption worked for him and wishes it for others. How unselfish of him.

I don’t have to agree with others in every way to see God at work in a word they say, an action they perform or the love they show their families. The ones who’ve done it better than me have been Jesus’ visual pattern for how I can do a thing better. Rather than get jealous and hide it under the rug of Scriptural-righteousness, I was free to feel God’s love in that moment, and be more loving to those around me.

I also find myself praying for this celebrity when I think of him, and hope I am as kind when I speak to others about God’s great love and salvation as he was in speaking his heart.

Amazing!