My cousin laughingly told me about attending a product demonstration event years ago in Nashville. Reba Rambo, daughter of well-known Christian artist, Dottie Rambo, sang some of the new music along with the recordings the company offered. One of the numbers was quite lively, and Ms. Rambo began to clap to the music and asked the assembled ministers to clap with her.
Someone in the front row refused and sat stone faced.
Ms. Rambo stopped the tape and peered down at him from atop the stage.
“You’re being tacky,” she said, “and God don’t love tacky people!”
Oh, my. I think I would’ve clapped rather than being singled out.
Lately I looked at the “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13, in some other less-familiar versions and was struck by how they rendered Paul’s well-known words.
The apostle wrote to a troubled church. Whenever people suggest we ought to be more like the early church, I often reply that we best not be like the Corinthians. This church was split into four groups, sued one another in civil courts and got drunk at the Lord’s table. Paul took a moment in his rebuke to lift high a greater standard. The word he used, “agape,” is familiar to Bible students since it uniquely describes God’s kind of love. And the apostle explained that this is the kind of love we show one another by not being harsh, jealous or unkind.
Of course, none of us passes the agape test with an A+ every day. We often fall short. We get angry with others. We drive like pagans on the highway. And we pound on social media with “keyboard courage” things we would never say face-to-face.
I reread Ken Starr’s book a few weeks ago and remembered those eventful days in the 90s. Starr, the infamous Whitewater prosecutor, uncovered additional misconduct outside his jurisdiction on the part of the president, and asked the Justice Department for permission to expand the probe. After permission was given, he submitted his completed report to Congress. Legislators decided fairly quickly to release the full report on the newly popular Internet. Thus, the president’s misdeeds were posted to the world.
What if this happened to the rest of us? If my sin was posted for the world to see, I think it would cure me of being harsh, jealous or unkind. I’d have no room to peer down at others in condescension. I’d be more concerned about a personal rehabilitation project.
I don’t think we can say “God don’t love tacky people.” After all, he loves us. He doesn’t discard us for our indiscretions but patiently exhorts us to fill our lives with agape.
And for this, we’re thankful.
