We call her a prostitute. Because our culture is a fan of labels.
Sadly, we most often label people by the scars of their most defiable sin.
Tweet ThisYet, she was more than unapologetic sinner. This disreputable woman was labeled as a Woman of Faith by one of the greatest Apostles himself. (Hebrews 11:31)
She lived in a world of darkness, saturated by sin, choosing a life that hid and catered to men.
She lived separate from all her family, was the most stunning woman and had her own, well-earned possessions….
Yet, hope remained a part of her. And she knew, her hope layed not in all she had gained or attained, in a world of control and dictating, demaning or surrendering to the men around her.
She had faith for something greater, had heard the stories, and clung to a hope in a God she knew believed just might redeem her…..A God who had parted the seas, won battles abroad, and would soon claim the victory over everything she had known or seen. (Joshua 2:10)
She sensed her land’s coming destruction. And yet, she didn’t crumble under the certain impending doom….She found God could meet her in her wanting and she was not too far gone that she couldn’t hope for a better life.
I must confess….
I often read about Rehab and labeled her as well “Prostitute”. My mind didn’t want to go where she had been or remember sins that left her physically in tact, yet scared from within.
I didn’t want to step into her life with my mind or my heart….
Imagine a woman who likely was abused as a child, and turned the sin she’d known into a business for her own survival.
I didn’t want to imagine someone so bold and resourceful, or could imagine that a God who was good, loving and holy REALLY might even want to save her.
My past put religious walls around women like Rehab. I mean, she didn’t serve in women’s ministry, try to live dutiful, or pose in some cocoon of sub-servanthood duty.
Why would God save her? And by what merit does God redeem any of us, for that matter?
There is a little known fact about our God. As we paint Him in the sky with some one-dimentional look….God shines through the heaven’s into the hearts of women like Rehab.
He melts into the depths of those who’ve sinned and failed, tripped and messed up, and seem too far gone, our pety minds might think God can’t save them.
But, God doesn’t just stand far off and stare at the seemingly unredeemable. He races like a loving Father toward us, fervently embraces and pursues the least likely.
He reconciles the needy. His redemptive work on Calvary not only finds favor in their desperation, but delights in their sold out faith and single focus.
- Oh God, how many times have I been like Rehab? Seeking my own pleasure, running after my own ways, depending on my own resources?
- How often have I lay with the enemy, not necessarily physically, but mentally and emotionally, while being given over to a culture that separates us from God?
- How frequently can I relate to a woman who seems to be beyond redemption, no hope of personal salvation or way of self-pursuing freedom?
And yet, God meets me.
As we place a mustard seed of faith in a God who didn’t come just for the polished and perfected, but laid His life willingly down for those needing a path to freedom….
We can count on one thing….
God sees us…..God sees YOU.
In our Tower of Babels, hidden in our Walls of Jericho, Collecting from the Well of desperation, isolated and alone….
He doesn’t ask for prerequisites before meeting us with wisdom and understanding. He doesn’t need our personally-written resumes, or some list of good behaviors before He encounters us with freedom…
God simply longs for us to see Him, see the light amdist all the darkness, and make our way home to Him.
He is waiting, like a God Father, with the lights on. And there is nothing you have ever done or could ever do that is beyond His redemption.
Rehab was known by most, as a prostitute. Yet, the moment she was counted among God’s people, she 
left everything, turned her back on darkness, and not only changed the trajectory of her life….but God changed every generation after.
- Her son was a kind, gentle, and generous man, named Boaz. (Who married Ruth)
- Her Great-Grandson was a forgotten Shepherd Boy who became a King and a “Man after God’s own heart.” (David)
- She was in the ancestorial lineage of Jesus. (A prostitute)
God doesn’t see what we have done, He sees who we were called to be. He reaches us on His merit, not because of anything we have ever or could ever do.
It is His grace that is sufficient, His path that leads us to mercy. His plans that takes a woman like Rehab and places us in the lineage of a King.
It is by His blood we are saved, through His stripes we are healed.
Let’s stop clinging to titles and positions, our own repretoire, abilities, or goodness….
Jesus is the way. He is the only way. He is the redeemer that lives unparralel to everything.
Let’s give Him our life, and see how He changes our yesterdays of shame. He longs to lead us home, offer us deliverance, and give to us the power of a redemptive-tomorrow.
It’s not too late. God was able to save Rehab. That means, He is able to redeem me and you.
(It was such a gift to be able to share about my own testimony and the story of Rehab at this years Missional Women Retreat, last weekend. For more on last weekend, read here.)
7 Comments
What a great post, thank you for the reminder that God’s love & grace are ALWAYS available no matter what we have done. Found you on Graceful Thursday & will be sharing!! 😉
Beautifully written! May God help us not to label people but to see with His eyes, treating everyone as the unique person they are, being made in God’s image. None of us can earn a place with God, but in His great love, He made a way. Blessings to you, Jen! I’m your neighbor at #InspireMeMonday.
It is so easy to do that, even inadvertently, like the lady with cancer, or the divorcee. I know Mary Magdalene is thought of in a bad light but was first at the tomb. I was amused to by even the phrase, Jesus was at the home of Simon the leper, the Mary of Bethany story. Were people relaxing at the home of a leper? No, I’m sure he had been healed by Jesus already, but even his label stuck.
Jen, such a beautifully written post and one packed full or truth. thank you for the reminder that we are not the labels others place on us, or even the ones we place upon ourselves … our sins do not define us, God does. Blessings
PS.: if you are looking for another place to link to on Thursday’s I would love if you would consider joining my linkup #TuneInThursday – it opens Thursday 3 am PST and runs through Sunday night. You can find it at debbiekitterman.com/blog
Well said and appreciated!
Oh! What powerful Truth! The temptation to label others – and even ourselves – is so huge in our society. This post is a great reminder of the power of the Gospel. “The ground is level at the cross.” We all need Jesus, and we all can receive His grace because of Who He is, not because of who we are. Hallelujah!
As I’ve learned more about human trafficking, I’ve come to hate the word ‘prostitute.’ It’s a word that’s imposed on men by the women they dehumanize and shame through their aggression. Women become prostitutes by force or necessity, they don’t usually make a lot money from turning tricks. I’ve only ever heard of one woman who entered a brothel in Nevada on her own accord. Therefore, the word ‘prostitute’ is incredibly sad. It’s a label that women use to describe other women who have been sinned against. It’s a label men use to demean women. I wish I knew Hebrew so I could learn what the original word meant!