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| Jesus at Shrine of Christ Passion |
"I will take revenge; I will pay them back," says the Lord.
Instead,
"If your enevies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads."
Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
Romans 12:14-21(NLT))
These verses are very tough to live out. Praying for people that persecute me is not easy. I don't, in my own strength, want God to bless them. That is the response I want to show many times. But... it isn't the Godly response.
Yesterday I read a couple of paragraphs attacking Christians for their views on homosexuality. It blatantly said that those that believe in the Biblical standard for marriage will end up denying their loved ones if those loved ones one day say they are gay. I wanted to cry out in frustration. Instead, I went for a walk. I don't want to hide from the tough questions. I want to turn to the Lord and depend on Him.
I asked myself the hard questions and then prayed about them. What would my response be if a child or niece or nephew or a grandchild told me they were homosexual? I thought about it deeply, and without fear, because I have confidence that Christ won't steer me wrong.
Sin is sin. I was not a Christian for most of my life. I committed sin. I made mistakes. I look at myself now as so very blessed because Jesus died for those sins. I don't feel that those sins were too big to be covered by my Savior. My sins weren't any better or cleaner or less sinful than homosexual sins just because I sinned with the opposite sex. Sexual sin is a sin against God as well as against self. No matter what, there are consequences for sin, even if we don't want to admit that it is sin.
Maybe the problem is that many out there want to be saved by Christ, but don't want to live holy. They want "freedom" to live as they want without consequence in any way, shape, or form. Pre-marital sex is not Biblical, no matter how many out there practice it. Yet the world says that if you love the other person, sex outside of marriage is okay. I used to believe that before my life was changed by Christ. Adultery is still not Biblical, no matter how many affairs are glorified on television, in movies, and are a common occurrence in way too many marriages. Adultery was one of the bombs that blew up my life and the lives of my children over 14 years ago. Trust me, the long-term consequences, mixed with divorce, linger still in the lives of my children. If you don't believe me, just ask my adult daughters if it touches their lives even still. It does.
And yet, in the church, we've gone too extremes. Either we bash those that have sinned, making them feel unworthy of Christ, and treat them like trash; or we ignore the situation altogether, afraid of offending others. Sometimes, the truth spoken in love goes a long way. This would go even further if, as Christians, we reach out to others in love instead of simply condemnation. Some don't care if or how you reach out if your worldview differs from theirs, but it is our job to tell the truth in love, and let the Holy Spirit do the convicting.
When I asked myself how I would react to a loved one coming forward, stating they were gay, I prayed. Would I be supportive of their lifestyle? No, I would not. But I would not act hatefully or call names. I would take my case to the Lord. I would pray. I would love that person. I would bless that person. But I would not support a lifestyle the Bible says is wrong.
That's not hypocritical. I would be plain and honest. When I had a child out of wedlock at 19, there were several reactions. Those that claimed to love Jesus, for the most part, were not nice to me. They didn't love me. They treated me like I was trash. I wasn't the only girl that believed that if you loved your boyfriend, it was okay to sleep with them. I simply was one of the many that had outward consequences. I wasn't a Christian. I got pregnant. Despite having been to church off and on as a child, I had no real relationship with Christ. No one took the time to mentor me and love on me and show me that Christ loved me more than any boy. All I knew was I longed for the attention of a man to love me. My father was not in my life, I was a socially and physically awkward girl, a bit of a loner that hid her pain and escaped into books. A boyfriend that was attentive and seemed to care had my heart. Those that supposedly loved Jesus treated me poorly. They, for the most part, didn't even try to reach out in love.
The one exception was my wonderful grandmother. She deeply loved the Lord. When I got pregnant, she didn't treat me poorly. She cooked food for me when I wasn't feeling well. She rented me and my boyfriend the apartment upstairs from her. She prayed for me daily. She showed me love. But I knew the entire time that she wanted me to live for the Lord. I knew she didn't agree with the fact that I had had sex before marriage and was pregnant with a child out of wedlock. I knew she wanted me to get married. I knew she loved me, even if she didn't agree with my choices. She showed me she loved me, and was polite to my boyfriend. Her prayers lasted for years. No one rejoiced more than my grandmother the day, 14 years after I had moved into her little upstairs apartment as an unwed, pregnant teenager, that I finally accepted Christ and was reborn. My grandmother was honest with me. She showed me the love of Christ. She did not change her Biblical beliefs because her granddaughter was pregnant out of wedlock. She, too, knew the forgiveness of a Savior for mistakes she had made. My grandmother rented the apartment to me and my boyfriend after we had committed to get married. We did marry just a few weeks after our daughter was born.
My adult children haven't always made choices that I agreed with. I am honest enough to tell them the truth. I pray for my children on a daily basis. I love them, and they know this. They also know that I love Jesus, and I won't change my beliefs to enable what I feel goes against His Word. I'll reach out in love, but I won't enable sin.
A couple years ago I found out that a loved one had been living a double life. She had been doing ministry, showing one face to me and others, but living a different life in secret. She had been having sex with her boyfriend for quite awhile and hiding it. The reality of that didn't come out until after the relationship ended with that boy. This girl went to church weekly. She had many people praying for her, and even though those praying didn't know that this was going on. She didn't have much worth in her own eyes. She too bought into the lie that she heard amongst her friends, at school, and on television, that it is okay to have sex outside of marriage if you love your boyfriend. She kept it a secret because she knew enough about the Lord to know she was not living as she should. She was also disappointed in herself and didn't want to face disappointment from loved ones.
When the truth came out, it caused some time of serious reflection on my part. I remembered the girl I had been, the way I had been treated. I remembered the love and forgiveness that my Lord gave me for all those things I did wrong. Did I trash this girl? Berate her? No. She knew I disagreed with her choice, but she also knew I loved her. My prayers for her increased, and in time, God did some major healing in this girl.
A lady I know had an abortion a few years ago. I disagree with her choice. She's not sorry because she was in a horrible spot and isn't sure if she would do it again. She isn't a Christian. Her values are very different from mine. And yet we bonded over a similar struggle we went through together. While I don't agree with her choice, I pray for her. She knows how I feel about the Lord and my faith. We get along. I don't call her names. I don't trash her for her choice. I have tried to be a blessing to her. I don't harbor negative feelings toward her at all. If she one day accepts Christ, I'll rejoice. She doesn't call me names or make me feel like I am attacking her. Is she a close confident, or one I turn to for advice? No. But we have been there for each other for years of dealing with a very tough situation that impacted both of our lives greatly.
I can say with confidence that if a loved one were to come to me and tell me they were gay, I know how I would respond. I would pray for them. I would bless them. I would show them love. But they would know that I don't agree with their choice. They would know that I would be honest with them no matter what. They would know that I believe that God can redeem anything. They would know that, no matter what the law states, I stand on the Word of God that marriage is between a man and a woman.
True freedom is not the ability to live anyway you want without consequence. In our world, there's a feeling that if you say something often enough, it will become a reality. Hitler used this approach as he stated that the Jews were to blame for all the ills of Germany after World War I. The statement that has been repeated over and over through the last 20 years is that people that are gay are born that way, but "there is no scientific or DNA test to tell us if a person is homosexual, bisexual or even heterosexual for that matter. And since nobody is “born gay,” it’s clear that sexual orientation is, at its core, a matter of how one defines oneself – not a matter of biology or genes." It's not for a lack of trying to find that "magic gene" or some sort of biological cause. I used to believe the lie, but then I met a some Christians that had lived the gay lifestyle before they were redeemed through Christ.
Another statement that is gaining in popularity is that Christians are homophobic and full of hate. I'm sure some are. But that's like saying all brunettes have blue eyes. Some do, many don't. And, as I tend to think, not everyone that says they follow Christ actually do so, or the difference between standing firm on the Bible and hate would not be blurred. Christians should show the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
It's hypocrisy to tell Muslims that they have the right to stand on the Koran, to tell those that advocate gay rights that they have the right to their beliefs, to tell pro-choice advocates that they have the right to their beliefs, but then tell Christians that they don't have the right to believe and stand on the Bible.
There is a misconception that because Christians stand behind the Bible, we are angry and full of hate for those that disagree with us. That simply isn't true. In fact, the emotions I feel for those that are living contrary to the Bible isn't hate at all. Instead, I feel an urge to pray for these people, desperately wanting them to know the same love of Christ that has been so amazing to me. I can disagree with someone that doesn't share my worldview, even stand behind my worldview, without harboring hate in my heart. I'm an adult. I have a lot of people I come into contact with in this world that I don't agree with in some form or another, and I don't hate them because of it. In fact, as Christians, I venture to say that we come into contact more with people we disagree with in some area or another than with those that agree with us in every area. Differing views are a part of life.
My beliefs on what is best are grounded in the Bible. The beliefs of others are often founded on current, popular, cultural ideas that haven't been tested through thousands of years. I have seen that, with a foundation of Biblical principles, countries tend to prosper and be blessed in nearly every area. History proves this, as well as proves that countries that form their foundations on non-Biblical principles tend to be repressive and abusive to all but the elite few. Judeo-Christian principles include things like the Golden Rule and adhering to simple morals, like the Ten Commandments, which advocate not lying and stealing. Why would we want to get rid of values that encourage honesty and honor and mercy? Why would we want to weaken families when families are the training ground for future generations?
Do I believe in standing up for Biblical values? Yes! I believe that following Biblical values as a nation is a protection for that nation from consequences that will be not only temporal here on earth, but eternal. Some believe that our "foundations" of Judeo-Christian values denies them their "rights". I'm allowed to disagree with that way of thinking just as those that don't agree with me are allowed to speak freely about how they believe. If those that disagree don't like feeling hated because of their beliefs, why is okay to treat Christians the way they don't want to be treated themselves? Or is it okay to treat Christians in America poorly because to treat others how you would like to be treated is following the Golden Rule, which is a Biblical value?
The challenges that are happening recently against Christians are gaining momentum right here in the United States:
-The IRS was recently exposed for unfair targeting of conservative groups.
-The military is threatening to court marshal Christian soldiers for "proselytizing".
-A Christian homeschool family from Germany was denied asylum and face deportation after Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, claimed that homeschooling is not a fundamental right worth protecting.
-Christian business owners are being sued for not wanting to violate their beliefs... and losing.
- Chick-fil-A, a company founded and operated on Biblical values, was highly criticized when the founder spoke in favor of Biblical marriage. Free Speech won out as support was unprecedented.
-Hobby Lobby and many other Christian organizations have had to file class-action lawsuits against Obamacare because the policies that they are being forced to support are so offensive for not only Christians but other faith-based companies.
These are battles, ones that we fight on our knees as much as publicly. However, this isn't the same kind of persecution we see around the world. We aren't sent to labor camps for being a Christian as they are in North Korea. We don't have to meet in secret like so many in China. We aren't being beheaded as they are in so many Muslim countries. Our churches aren't being burned. We aren't being jailed for practicing our faith... yet.
I can go to church and worship my Lord. I can read His Word daily. I can teach it to my children, despite those that want to state that teaching the Bible is child abuse. Christians aren't insular like many other faiths. We are commanded to go out and preach the gospel. We are commanded to make disciples of all nations. That includes reaching out to those that could harm us and THOSE WE DISAGREE WITH. We can't hide, just wanting to be left in peace. That didn't work for the early church and that doesn't work for us. The early church members were crucified, boiled in oil, thrown to lions, and jailed in conditions that make our prisons look like a four-star hotel.
And yet the animosity towards Christians in the United States is growing as it is around the world.
True freedom is having a "true north". "True North" is the difference between trusting a compass that works by a magnetic field and trusting longitude lines. "Magnetic declinations vary from place to place, depending on the intensity of the Earth's magnetic fields. For instance, if you hold out a compass in New Zealand, magnetic north will be about 20 degrees east of true north, whereas the declination in Los Angeles is 12 degrees. Geographical lines do exist where true north and magnetic north are aligned, and these are called agonic lines. In North America, one currently runs through the panhandle of Florida up to the Great Lakes and into the Arctic Ocean."
In the same way the Bible is the "true north". Following the world's philosophies is like getting in a raft on the ocean. You will be tossed on storm-tossed seas, heading in whatever direction the sea and wind can take you. This is what happens when people follow and copy whatever is popular at the moment. This is the direction many people follow. This is why people will believe whatever is most convenient for them. This is why Hitler was able to, as a charismatic leader, convince nearly an entire country that the Jewish people were the enemy.
Following only Christian pastors and preachers without researching the Word for yourself is like following the magnetic compass. Most of the time it will get you close to your direction, but it could be off by a few degrees... which could end up a long way from your destination.
Following the "true north" of the Bible and His Holy Spirit will lead you to Christ. It will lead you counter to the path most people want to travel. It may mean standing firm in the midst of vicious attacks. It will mean reaching out in love to the very ones that hurt you. Being a Christian is slowly coming to mean much more than just "believing in Christ" and "going to church". It is coming to mean a devotion that is stronger than just a "lifestyle". It is coming to mean laying everything at the foot of the cross, understanding that an "easy" and "unchallenged" faith is no faith at all.
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