By Dustin Wagley, Fraser Valley Baptist Church
I can\’t remember the last time I listened to a song by the artist Pink. At least not intentionally. My Pandora app was shuffling songs that she thought I would like, and she made a bad choice. She does that on occasion. How she could make the jump from Drew Holcomb to Pink, I’m still not sure. Here I was en route to preach at a High-Country church replant, being serenaded by Pink. Just a typical day, right? I let the song continue to play. The words were honest and coming from a deep place, but a little disturbing. As I listened to her lyrical pondering, I couldn’t help but wonder if true, soul-level honesty should be a little disturbing.
Pink repeatedly asks if the one she’s in relationship with will continue to love her anyway, even when she’s not the spouse she should be, or even if there is borderline unfaithfulness on her part. She asks:
Even if you see my scars Even if I break your heart
Do you think you’d walk away? If I get lost in all the noise Flirt with all the other boys What would you say?
Could you love me anyway?
Is it for better or worse
Can you still hold me when it hurts Or would you walk away?
Even if I scandalize you
Cut you down and criticize you What would you say?
Could you love me anyway?
And with a haunted tone, she repeats the simple question over and over, “Could you?”
I could hear her pain as she honestly questioned and pondered the security of this relationship or the lack thereof, based on her own failures, shortcomings, and unfaithfulness. And right there on Berthoud Pass, the gospel shone through like the beams of blinding sunlight streaming through my windshield. As I navigated the switchbacks, the Lord was preaching His gospel to me through Pink, of all places. He’s good at surprising us with the truth of the gospel when we’re not necessarily looking for it. Maybe Pink’s questions are really ours as well. Is His grace enough? Will His love for us continue? Is it secure?
When we find ourselves in sin,
and when we realize he does see our scars,
will He walk away?
When we get lost in all the noise,
and when we’ve flirted with the things of this world, could He still love us?
Could He?
How could He?
Like Pink, when we’re honest about the darkness of our own hearts, it’s a little disturbing. And in that moment of questioning and pondering the security of our relationship with Him, we hear His beautiful word and feel it washing over us … grace. I wish there was a way to animate a word like grace in an article like this. If there was, you’d see a slow-motion clip of a mountain stream, slowly washing over the rocks and debris of our lives. His grace— His continual unmerited and unearned favor washing over us, even in our worst moments.
When we find ourselves asking the above questions, may we see and hear the truth of the gospel shining forth…
No, He won’t walk away.
Yes, He loves you.
Yes, His grace is sufficient for you in your time of need.
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16
