Homosexuality, sin, and God's grace

By God's law I am a lot of things. A liar, an adulterer, a glutton, a thief, and I'm sure the list could go on. I've don't many things that make me worthy of eternal damnation. But, by no doing of my own, Christ came to earth as a child and lived the life I could not live, so that I would have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him. Now, by God's grace I am none of those things. I am a child of the most high God. The one and only God.

It seems that a lot of Christian theology has focused on homosexuality, and that if homosexuals are to be saved they must be heterosexuals. I would not take that position. That would be like saying a glutton can no longer eat or a liar no longer talk. It would be a very quiet world as we all starved to death. No, I think the only thing a homosexual ( or heterosexual for that matter) has to do to be saved is accept God's gift of grace and forgiveness. And they, just like me, will become a child of the most high God. Then they begin their walk with Christ. They(we) work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The Holy Spirit guides us, leads us, and comforts us. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and leads us to repentance. I do believe the Bible lays out that homosexual sex is a sin. As is any sex outside of marriage. Or lying. Stealing. Gluttony. Etc... The Holy Spirit leads us each in our lives, and that's why there are some differing beliefs within the evangelical Church, but the basics are agreed upon. Our sin. Our repentance. God's forgiveness. Just as I am no longer an adulterer, liar, glutton, or thief, a homosexual is no longer to be thought of as a homosexual, but as a child of God. Though they may identify with the LGBT community, that is not who they are. Much like a Christian attending AA meetings. If they have repented they are God's child. We all like to be around people we can relate to. I have nothing in common with bull riders who listen to country music. Except we are both alive and breathing. Our conversation would be pretty short. But a football fan? A runner? We could talk for hours. 

I feel like I am getting wordy and sidetracked. Everyone is able to be brought into the family of God. And when we are our behaviors and desires change. This is not to say a homosexual becomes a heterosexual. But I believe the Holy Spirit will be their strength to see them through the trying times of life, just as He does for all believers. 

God wants us to deliver his message of love, life, and hope. Not to send messages of hate. We are to follow Jesus' example. And I don't think Jesus ever shouted to people how much he hated them. He was maybe close with the religious leaders who were defiling the temple, but I would say that wasn't even a message of hate, but anger at belittling something holy. 

Let's share God's message of forgiveness. Especially this time of year when we celebrate the birth of our savior. It's a great time to be thankful and share that thankfulness with others.

Merry Christmas! Christ was born for you.

Priority: God

Sometimes I hear events happening in other peoples lives and wonder how they can be so ridiculous as to let these things happen. I wonder how they can be so naive and wasteful. Or so incompetent. I heard about some people the other night that made me say that to myself. Now I sit here and wonder, what is it that I do that makes people say that? Honestly, I feel I have a well balanced life. Maybe a little on the busy side at times. I get out enough, and I rest enough. I eat well most of the time, and exercise. I spend time with my wife, and I spend time with friends, and sometimes I spend time alone. I read my Bible and pray. I am involved in some things, but not over committed. There is always things that can be tweaked, but mostly, I think I am doing well.

Matthew 6:33 "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."

Maybe you aren't feeling balanced. Maybe life is out of whack. Spend more time in the Word. Seek God. Seek the things that God seeks. Prioritize God. Turn of the TV. Turn off the cell phone. Turn off the video games. Tell your husband/wife/family that you will talk to them after you spend time with God. You see, we can worry all we want. But when we fix our eyes on Christ, the things of this world grow dim. It might seem like a big task to sell your house, pay your bills, have peace in the family, love your spouse, etc... but not when you put God where he belongs. He goes first, family is second. He goes first, hobbies are second. He goes first, exercise goes second. Put God first and you won't have to worry about your 401k, your monthly bills, food, etc...because Christ will give you what you need.

Yes you need to pay bills, you need to spend time with your family/spouse/friends, you need a hobby, you need to exercise. Those are not bad things. But when God is your first priority the rest fall into place.

Who, or what is your priority? Video games? Exercise? Cell phone? TV? Make God your priority and your life will have peace.

Stalled

As I was reading in the book "Plan B" yesterday, I figured I had gotten the jist of the book, and not much more would surprise me. After all, I was in the 2nd to last chapter, what could be left? As it turns out there was more for me to learn. Pete Wilson mention a book called, "The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith" Now, understand I am not really a fan of, "follow these steps and God will do..." because that is not the way life works, no matter how much we want it to. But this book seems to be more about assessing your spiritual walk to see what needs to be worked on. And books can be a valuable tool in doing so.

 As Wilson started going through the stages I was trying to guess about which one I would fall into. I guessed there wouldn't be too many, after all we like to break things down into 3's or 4's, so when I read that stage four was "The Journey Inward" I said AHA! this must be the stage I am at! And I felt pretty good about that. After you have recognized that you are in need of a Savior, have been discipled, and done outreaches or other 'good' things, then you begin to look deeper into your life. So I was quite sure this was my spot. To my dismay the next sentence was something like this, "And this is where many Christian stall." Crap. Alas, there were more than 4 stages. I read on and tried to convince myself I was at stage 5 or 6, because there is no way I was a "stalled" Christian. But as I continued to think about it, and no matter how much I wanted to be on a later stage, I settled that stage 4 was a good assessment of where I was.

Stage 5 and 6 are "The Journey Outward" and "The Life of Love". But something is supposed to happen in-between stages 4 and 5 that perhaps isn't happening, and that's where many Christians get stalled. Don't worry about which stage you may or may not be on, that is not really what is of importance. Pete goes on to say(and maybe int he book too, I haven't read it yet.) that in-between stage 4 and 5 there is a transformation that takes place. I would guess that most of you, like me, are comfortable with how you live your life. You don't want to change anything. Or maybe you just don't know what to change. I see this part of the journey as being where 'the rubber meets the road'. Will our everyday life reflect how important Christ really is? Will the way we do business, our actions,  & our words leave a pleasant aroma? What will our spending habits say about us? What will our planner say about us? Are we actually going to give God the place he deserves in our life?

I think its all too easy to get stuck in this spot. God ends up getting the back burner. We get embarrassed to say that we aren't going somewhere, or aren't doing something because we believe God has called us to a higher standard. We don't want people to think we are crazy, or weird. Or, heaven forbid, actually letting our beliefs dictate how we live!

I plan on reading this book when I can get my hands on it. Not so I can work through the stages, because that is not what life is about. Its not a spiritual ladder we have to climb. Its just a tool to use to assess our lives and have the Lord look into our heart and see what needs fixin'.

What about you? Are you stalled? Are you shying away from God because of unexpected events? Pain? Have you even acknowledged you need a savior? Have you started down the discipleship path? Where are you & where are you headed?

1 Thessalonians

I was reading this book last night and not really getting much out of it. And then after chapter 3 I kinda felt like I was reading someones mail. Those first chapters were all about how thankful Paul, Timothy, and Silas were for the church in Thessalonika(?) And why were they thankful for them? Well they were living life and doing everything they could to obey Christs' teachings. They were working hard and being honest. They weren't giving in to sin. They were resisting. They were doing well. They didn't all turn into evangelists, prophets, teachers, etc...they were just doing their work. And they were giving God praise. And Paul was urging them to do so more and more. Continue to grow. Continue to love God. Continue to resist sin. And look forward to when Christ will return from heaven to take us to be with Him. At first I wasn't getting much out of Thessalonians, but as it sank in I began to realize that this is what life is all about. We build our lives on the principles set forth by God, and then continue in them. Live life, love God, love His principles, work to adhere to them, and look forward to eternity with God. Life will happen. We will have our share of "Plan B's", but continue to be faithful to God. Be faithful to his decrees. He will comfort you and He will guide you. It's not our job to make things happen. It's our job to be faithful and follow Christ. Just like the church in Thessalonika.