At some point in your life, I hope you had someone love you enough to tell you to grow up.  We are not meant to live like children into our later years, nor as Christians are we meant to remain as spiritual children.

1 Corinthians 13:11 – “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.“

You will encounter suffering.  You will encounter temptation.  These things are guaranteed in this world, which is stained by sin.  Resolve to glorify God in each day, so that when those things come, they are not a time to shrink back from your faith, but for the faith and God to be magnified.

James 1:2-4 – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

My exhortation today is short – the time has come to put away half-measures, self-deception, partial-allegiance, and lukewarm faith.  You have been redeemed by the blood of God in Jesus, His burial, death, and resurrection.  Grow up.  You are an adopted daughter or son of God, if indeed that is what you are.  Your thoughts, your actions, your resources are towards one end, in this life – what can be done to lift up the name of Jesus, push back darkness, proclaim life to the spiritually dead through the proclamation of the gospel, pursue justice for the oppressed, and serve the poor for the glory of God.  Life will not be easy as a Christian, but the joy of the LORD is great, and there is no better place to be moment to moment of each day than in the will of your Creator.

As is often the case, my writings stem largely from what God is showing me from scripture, and at times events that happen in my own life.  There is a desire in all of us to be liked and accepted by those around us.  That desire, while not bad in and of itself, is increasingly at odds with a culture that wants to chip away at Biblical authority, doctrine, and ultimately God Himself.

So it happened, that I found myself having a conversation with someone I know about homosexuality, and the Biblical/Christian view.  It’s not the first time I’ve had this conversation, and I know it won’t be my last.  I start usually by apologizing for the church’s poor performance in dealing with all sexual sin, but especially homosexuality in the past.  My personal view is that the church was too harsh in the past, however, now (in part to cultural changes) it has seemingly swung the pendulum to the other side seeking to justify actions that the Bible clearly lists out as sinful and not in line with God’s design.  Second, I am quick to humble myself and say that I’m no better than anyone else, we are all sinners, and we are all in need of the grace of God.  I want to empathize as one sinner to another, how difficult it can be to wrestle with sin.  I want to put this issue in context with an eternal view, pointing back to Jesus – we are not married in Heaven, we will not have romantic relationships, but we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.  Most important, I want to get to the gospel, to remind others, that while we may not understand how or why God does everything, we know He loves us, and He demonstrated his love for us in dying in our place on the cross for our sin.  Because Jesus atoned for our sins, we are not in bondage to them, and we have an eternal hope in Him.  In short, life is not about sex, it’s not about personal relationships in this life (ultimately), it’s about our relationship with Jesus.  Compared to everything else, that’s the only thing that matters.

Sometimes the above answer is good enough, often it is not.  Usually it turns to an emotional argument about how they don’t believe God would give someone emotions they can’t act upon / He created us for relationships, so why would God be against a “loving relationship” between two people of the same gender.  Some have educated themselves enough to have read some recent commentaries by some on the underlying Greek word used in 1 Corinthians 6:9, and 1 Timothy to say that the word doesn’t necessarily have to mean homosexual relationships.  (Mind you, this ignores Romans 1, Matthew 19, and all of the Old Testament verses on homosexuality/marriage)  So I will listen, and with as much patience and kindness as I can ask a few questions.

1.  If the Bible does say that the practice of homosexuality is sinful, what would you do?
2.  Are you more concerned with offending a person/being rejected by culture, or offending God/being rejected by Him?

With those two questions, every time I will uncover a larger issue in the heart of the person.

With the first question, the answer always comes in the form of – I wouldn’t believe in a God who would do that, or I would only believe it if Jesus said it, not Paul or another “author” of the New Testament.

With the second question, we come to heart of the matter.  Where does your allegiance lie?  Does it lie with God or with the world?  The world hates God, rejects His authority, and is at war with Him in all things.  God tells us in James 4:4 “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

People change, culture changes, churches can change, but God’s word does not change.  Isaiah 40:8 – “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”  In short, it is not my job to convince someone else of what God’s Word clearly teaches, it is their job to decide whether they want to submit to God or not.  That is each of our choice, and we must make it daily.

My encouragement today, whatever your struggles with sin is, each day is a new day in the Lord.  Your past does not determine your future, and God will meet you where you are.  The walk home to God is not always and easy one, but there is no better place to be than in the will of your Creator.  You are loved, wherever you are, by Him.  Let us not be people who conform to the world, but let us be people to are transformed by the renewing of our mind from God’s Word, continually entrusting ourselves to Him.  Let our steps not be full of half-measures or obedience when it easy, but let people look at the hard obedience of our lives as evidence of the exceeding worth of Jesus and our hope in Him.

Grace and Peace,

Adam