Sometimes I like to ask children a question: “Does God love bad boys and bad girls?” Some children aren’t sure. Then I ask, “Does God love boys and girls better if they are good?” And again, some don’t quite know how to answer.
When we lived in Africa, one day I had to work on our car, a Model A Ford. Bobby was about 3-1/2, and he wanted to watch me work on the car. When we came from America on a boat, we had lost his clothes on the boat and all we had was a nice white jumper suit and one pair of white shoes. With his beautiful blond hair, he looked nice all dressed up, not at all like a mechanic’s helper.
I said, “Bobby, sure, you can watch me work on the car. But one thing: don’t get your hands in that basin of black oil that I have drained out of the engine.” The basin was there on the ground, at one side.
All went well as I was working on the engine, my hands of course getting dirty. But then several of the teachers came from the school to talk about some school problems, and while my back was turned, can you guess what happened?
Bobby forgot about what I had said. That shiny black oil in the basin looked too nice. He wondered what it felt like. So he gave in to the temptation, and put his hands in it.
But then when he drew his hands out, they were all black with this gooey dirty oil! Then he remembered what Daddy had said. And he thought he’d better get rid of the evidence.
So he started wiping his greasy, dirty black hands all over his nice white jumpsuit, and even on his beautiful yellow hair. The dirty black oil was even dropping on his one and only pair of shoes—the white ones. He was a sight!
What do you think I did?
Some children have said, “You spanked him!”
No, he was only a 3-1/2 year old child. I didn’t get angry with him. He had just been curious, he was wanting to learn.
Do you think I called out to the Africans, “Hey, you Africans! You want a little missionary boy? You can have him—he’s all dirty now!” Do you think I said that?
No, I loved him just as much when he was dirty as when he was clean. I could not hug him at the moment, lovable as he was; he was too oily with black oil. (If I remember aright, I think I picked him up and gave him to his mother.) But I wouldn’t think of giving him away. The point is that God loves you just as much when you are bad as when you are good. That doesn’t mean that He doesn’t care; and it doesn’t mean that He doesn’t want to clean you up (and all of us). The teachers and Pharisees were upset with Jesus because He showed that He liked to be with bad people (so He could save them). “One day when many tax collectors and other outcasts came to listen to Jesus, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law started grumbling. ‘This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them’” (Luke 15:1, 2).
Jesus said, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). Yes, it may sound bad, but it is true: Jesus loves dirty people! When you make a mistake and you feel guilty and polluted, you are not to feel that God no longer loves you; He does!
Why did I love Bobby so much that I wouldn’t think of giving him away? The reason is that he was my own child! We were forever together! When Jesus gave Himself on his cross, He bought you; Ephesians says God the Father “chose” you to be His child “through Christ,” He made you “His son,” He adopted you (1:4-13). An adopted child is just as much loved as one who was born in the family. If an adopted child makes a mistake, the new parents never disown him. So, when you feel guilty, when the Holy Spirit convicts you that you have sinned, remember that the Father loves you just the same.
Now, let Him clean you; accept His forgiveness; thank Him that He still has “adopted” you into His family. Be glad for His love that never can fail. And tell everybody you can, that He loves bad people and He wants to make them become good people!
Did you know that the Bible says that God has “fun” just as we like to have fun? The word that is used in the Bible is “pleasure,” but it really means the same.
Can you guess what God has “fun” doing?
The dirtier, the more sinful, the more hopeless some person seems to be, the more “fun” God has in watching him or her transformed into some one who is the very person Christ died to save!