What? Love an Ugly Soul? — Carol McLeod Ministries

“Love all men, my dear brothers,
but bestow the greatest part of your love on the ugliest souls.” 

-Richard Wurmbrand, author of Tortured for Christ

Oh my, really? You don’t understand—they used me and mistreated me; I was left alone—all alone; I don’t believe they deserve my love; you don’t know the pain and sorrow that person has caused me; the abuse I received was unmentionable, embarrassing and shameful—I will never, never be able to look them in the eye again. 

I’m supposed to what—love them in return? 

I—I can’t possibly . . .no, I won’t do it. I can’t do it. I don’t know how to love them even if I wanted to. 

Dear saint and child of God, this is the mindset of an unredeemed soul. This is the thought pattern of one who has need of a dip in the river of God’s love. Even in the face of the greatest violation possible, there is perennial hope to recover and find a love far above the natural realm. Our dear sister Corrie ten Boom is known to have said, “There is no pit that God’s love is not deeper still.” She endured much torture and abuse in the concentration camps of the Holocaust. To the degree that I can accept the embrace of God’s love will be the degree that I will be able to distribute it to another “undeserving” soul. To believe a situation or a person is hopeless is sort of like slapping Jesus in the face while He is in agony on the cross. 

To love doesn’t equal trusting again. To love doesn’t mean there will be automatic friendship. To love doesn’t mean I agree with what you did. To love doesn’t create amnesia of the evil act that violated me. 

To love as God loves means I will forgive and release you from my prison of bitterness and anger. To love means I will cut the ball and chain that has locked us together in a pool of bitterness and torment. To love means to cut the strings of what you owe me for what you did to me. 

To love an ugly soul is spiritual warfare in the highest form. To be infused with divine affection means I will let you off the hook and release you into God’s care. It equals taking action of courageous proportions that will go against the grain of my sulking flesh that only wants to lash out and make you pay. 

The ugly soul will no longer “owe me” when I take an honest, intense look at a holy God that loves this very unholy human being (me). 

Oh, my. To demand payment from one who owes me a little compared to the mountain of debt I was forgiven at the cross is unacceptable to Jehovah, who has provided all for me to live debt free before Him. 

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2:20 

Christ died for the ugliest of souls. This is the thing: we are all ugly before the blood of Jesus washes over us and makes our sins as white as snow. 

Revenge, unforgiveness, bitterness, sinful anger, blame and hate are all weapons of the devil. Those who use these types of weapons are on a collision course with death. 

The supreme weapon of holy love will turn a world of evil upside down. The war club of God’s love will do more damage to the kingdom of darkness than you could ever imagine. It has the power to bring the haughtiest to their knees and the proudest heart to repentance. 

In order to walk in this narrow passage, one must die first. There must be death to what I want and death to what I deserve. All my ambition must be laid at the foot of the cross. The desire to defend must dissolve. Christ will stand in that place. He will defend and protect me. I must die to self and allow Him to define my life. 

2024 is here, ready or not. I have heard it said that he who forgives first, wins. May you find the winning victory all year long as you fulfill the first two greatest commandments.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40

Are you having trouble loving someone? This is your first clue that you may be struggling to accept Jesus’ love for you! Remember to soak yourself in the love of Jesus. It’s a stringless love not earned. Just as the sunshine beams upon the earth, so is God’s love for you. Practice times of simple absorption just as you would when you spend time in the sun to receive that vitamin D! Meditate upon this love that comes from His heart to yours. As you do, it will flow like a river from you to the one in need of it.

Let this new year become an even greater outgrowth of your union with Jesus Christ! In the words of Carol McLeod, “Make hell smaller and heaven bigger.”