One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:39-43

The thief on the cross. We like him. Well, most of us do. We like that he was a criminal yet, Jesus told him he would be with him in paradise. It comforts us to know that we, too, may make it to paradise one day even though we are a royal mess.

I went out on a limb and listened to a podcast with a speaker who has gone a little rogue in the Christian faith. Honestly, I was going to skip over this one because I didn’t want to hear her rhetoric, but I gave it a chance. I am glad I did. The wisdom that spewed from this author was phenomenal. Her words were thoughtful, loving, kind, and truth-filled.

So, what am I supposed to do with that?

What do we do when a respected Christian author, speaker, or pastor goes rogue on one issue of the faith but is so wise in other areas? I am wrestling hard with this right now.

One thing I know to be true is that my theology ebbs and flows as I journey through this life. I am always learning something new gaining new perspective. I am always changing; ever evolving right alongside my faith. Scripture comes to life in various ways when I study. I can read the same Scripture at different times in my life and I see different things through it.

After I finished that podcast, I went on a run and listened to a book on audio. The author has also gone a little rogue on some Christian topics. But, one thing she said got to me. She talked about her daughter’s blanket getting destroyed by the family dog. She was devastated because this was her daughter’s baby blanket and made by a family member. She took it back to that family member to see if there was anything she could do to repair the blanket. Sure enough, the blanket was fixed using the tattered pieces. Only this time, the blanket was much stronger.

This is us. We are all just tattered pieces trying to figure this faith thing out. I am fairly certain that at least one of these women changed their Christian perspective because of deep hurts in her life. Does this make her completely void in feeding our souls wisdom? Just because she is wrestling with the Truth, does that mean that we cannot garner anything from her?

We deny the true power of God when we believe He cannot use the broken. At the end of it all, we are no different than the thief on the cross. We will all enter paradise as tattered pieces; our theology not mastered.

I hate to break it to you, but your pastors and those that you think have it all figured out are also tattered pieces. My husband used to read while we were in church. He’d open his Bible and have his nose in it while the pastor preached almost as if he wasn’t listening to the lesson. I used to get so frustrated, Oh, but he was listening. He was taking what the pastor was saying and comparing it with the words of God. He knew that just because the man on the stage was a pastor did not alleviate him from being made up of tattered pieces.

We are so quick to throw people out when they get the interpretation wrong. The moment someone opens their mouth and goes against the traditional beliefs and “rules” of the faith, they are no longer qualified. Look, I am not talking about those that are obviously preaching falsities. I am also not saying that we should take everything an “authority” on the faith is saying as truth. Because, quite frankly, there are no authorities on the faith. We are all just tattered pieces trying to understand a God so big that we cannot wrap our human minds around all that He has for us.

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:15-17

We forget about the awesome tool Jesus left for us. The Spirit lives within us. Tap into that power. The Spirit will guide you to truth. You only need to be aware. We need to give ourselves permission to listen to others even when we disagree; even when we disagree on spiritual things. God can use anyone. He uses the tattered pieces to save souls. The broken are his game plan. Read the Bible. Is there one perfect teacher besides Jesus? You will not find one.

We will all be broken, tattered pieces, when we enter paradise. Each and everyone of us. Some of our theology will be on point, while some of it will be way off target. That’s okay. God never called us to understand. Just believe. The thief on the cross got this. Unlike the other criminal hanging with them who was held-up by theology, the thief knew the heart of the matter: salvation. We can look at his story and see where theology got him. One stood with Jesus in paradise not because he understood God, but because he got to the matter of his heart: believing in a Savior.

Don’t be afraid to listen to the broken people; those tattered pieces. You are in good company there for this is where Jesus resides.

Love & Blessings,
Meg