The belt of grace

In the ’90s, I was involved in work in a country I am calling Muldanesia. As this is a true story, the names of people and locations have been changed. While working in this country, I saw many people come to Christ and lives changed.

However, a problem arose with a man I will call Lonny. For a couple of years, I worked very closely with him whenever I visited this country. He was in charge of coordinating the work I did there.

Then he became very ill with a contagious disease. The missionary in charge told me to replace him with another pastor who could serve as the coordinator of the work I would do there in the future.

I chose Alan, a young man I had come to know and really trust over the previous few years. He had worked with us on our evangelistic teams, so I promoted him to the leadership of those teams for our next visit.

It turned out that Lonny didn’t like Alan at all. There were personality conflicts that had long existed below the surface between them, thus Lonny was deeply offended by being replaced with Alan.

Lonny started spreading rumors about me. A good friend of his was the leader of churches in one district, and he turned that man against me. The next year, when I was making plans to work in that district, I was informed I was no longer welcome there.

It didn’t stop God’s work from happening. We just moved our work to another district and saw great success there.

noun: (in Christian theology) the free, undeserved mercy and kindness of God shown to creation; the opposite of sin (Søren Kierkegaard)

However, it really hurt. I had considered Lonny a friend yet, he had not only gotten angry at me for a decision I had made, he had spread stories about me and turned others against me.

I didn’t say anything to Lonny about it at the time, but the betrayal hurt deeply. I prayed about it and, in my heart, I did manage to forgive the man. I just hoped and prayed that God would do something in his heart one day.

A few years later, I spoke at a university where Lonny was doing further study. I shared a sermon about Isaiah Chapter 6 and the things that happen when we genuinely encounter God in our lives — not when we encounter church or religion but when we really encounter God in some genuine way. At the end of the meeting, a lot of people responded to a challenge to get their lives right with God.

To my surprise, Lonny was one of them. I was surprised to see this man, who had turned against me so publicly, humbling himself to the point of responding so vulnerably under my teaching ministry.

After that, Lonny and I were reconciled and continued to have a good friendship throughout the years to come. One time, when I was speaking at an event in Muldanesia just a few years ago, he was attending and kept telling me, “Chris, I have a gift for you. I want to be sure and give it to you before you leave.”

On the last day there, he came to my room with a belt. It was covered in beads and had my name spelled out on it. It had to be one of the ugliest belts I had ever seen! But it was special to me because it showed genuine love and repentance. I kept the belt and was very grateful for the heart that gave it to me.

Not too long after that, Lonny became seriously ill again. One day, I was surprised to hear the news that he had died. He wasn’t old at all, so I really was surprised.

I wore that belt when I preached on Sunday. A couple people made fun of it, but I wore it proudly in memory of my friend. I told his story to the church and explained what the belt meant to me. It represented grace, and it represented God’s power to change a heart.

Lonny was not the only person who ever turned on me like that through the years. I know what it’s like to be gossiped about, betrayed, and rejected. Unfortunately, that’s something I think we all experience in this broken world. We can’t control how other people respond to us. Some may change their attitudes in time, but there will also be those who won’t. All we can do is pray for those who have hurt us, forgive them so that we are not overcome by bitterness, and be willing to love them if and when they return.

In the meantime, I will always remember that belt of grace. I, myself, have betrayed God and rejected Him more times than I care to remember, but He’s always welcomed me back into His arms. It’s a wonderful thing to remember that grace still exists and people still can be changed by it.