By Anne Anjao-Eboi

 There are people who can attest to the fact that society has given up on them. Such a story is common inside any prison.

A child reaches puberty and her body contracts the rebellious virus. For most teenagers, it may be a not so serious case of rebellion. For others, it’s being expelled from one school after another.

Soon, the teen is uncontrollable and is teeming with bad behaviour at home and in school. The teen has been to a juvenile jail and back without any lessons learnt. The parents know each and every teacher and even the walls of the school. At the end of it all, the parents give up. The rebel is sent packing into the streets with a curse following her.

Give up

But thanks be to God who does not give up on humanity. It is the psalmist who wondered that if God were to count sin against us, then who would stand? The sins we have committed are terrible and nowhere near God’s holy temple.

Recall the time when Saul, determined to persecute believers, committed atrocities but when he experienced God, he got completely wrapped up in the love of God and fervently spread this love?

While ministering to prisoners, I have come across the worst possible cases. I remember recoiling in horror at what one man had done — he was a serial killer and his case was splashed all over the media. It was despicable, appalling, loathsome, and vile to say the least. Little did I know that I would later shake his hand.

Here was a man transformed by God. In his testimony, he said he did not know what had actually led him to commit those murders. He had now been rescued by the saving grace and love of God. This is what God’s love can do.

Faced rejection

I have experienced it and I can identify with the man above. I have faced rejection, not because I was a criminal like the man above, but simply because we human beings can be so prejudiced at times. And we are pretty good at judging.

How many times have we put people in a box without really seeking to understand them?

Everybody rejected the woman in the Bible who had a bleeding problem because in those days, a woman who was menstruating was unclean; yet this woman had had this problem for 12 years. But when she touched the hem of the Lord’s garment, He felt power flow out of Him and knew someone had harnessed that power. Immediately she confessed, she experienced God’s immeasurable love.

This Christmas, remember His love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on you. Great love is the reason Jesus came into the world.