thoughts.

The world is in disarray. Chaos is all around. Phones keep beeping and eyes keep straying. Relationships are being shattered by a handheld thief. So much dispute over laws and how a country should be run. Abraham Lincoln said it two hundred years ago, "a house divided against itself cannot stand." We attack one another with words about our beliefs saying tolerance is the only way, all the while in-tolerating one another. We have extremities but not compromises and absolutely no love. If you do not believe what I believe we cannot be friends, we say. The words we hurl are like bullets.  Women and children are being raped and killed daily thousands of miles away. People are dying to their belief because a group holds knives to their necks and gives them a chance to turn. "Do you follow Jesus Christ?" They say.

The world is in chaos. We are falling apart. 

The temptation is to withdraw and pretend it doesn't exist. The temptation is to pick a side and tear others down if it's not your side. 

The temptation is crippling fear. 

None of these are the solution. 

While praying the other day, I felt the immensity of the Lord's broken heart. I could feel his tears as I imagined Him looking out over the earth and whispering, "you've missed the point, my children." 

As a Christian, my job is not to hunt down, steal, kill and destroy the ones who disagree with me. As a Christian, my job is not to force my Bible down anyone's throat. As a Christian, it is not my role to change anyone's heart. 

My part to play is to follow Jesus. 

Jesus came to give life and give it abundantly. He never forced his way upon others. He looked at them in the mess of their sin with deep love. And made them valuable. The woman at the well in midday, feeling overwrought with shame. He chose to value her and tell her of his immense love for her and the life he could give her. Addressing the sins when she knew who she was to him. 

He told Zacchaeus he was coming to his house. He dined and enjoyed life with a sinner. Out of that expression of love, Zacchaeus was convicted of his sins and gave everything back he stole from people and gave to the poor.
Jesus stopped condemners from throwing stones at an adulterous woman. He said, "Where are your condemners? Neither do I condemn you."
If Jesus made others drop the stones and being the only one who had a right to pick a stone, wrote her value in the sand and set the woman free then why are we hurling stones?

Who are you to hurl a stone?

Romans 1 has been speaking to my heart during this tumultuous time.
Please, I ask you to read the whole thing.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,[e] as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”[f]

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

God spoke to me about knowing my belief. But first He led me to this passage. Right in there with homosexuality He also talks about envy, gossip, deceit, pride, disobedient to parents.

Romans 3 says “None is righteous, no, not one;

11     no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.

As a Christian the only reason I am not condemned by these things is because I am drowning in grace.

Every. Single. Sin. Is Covered in Grace.

Not one sin is excluded from that standard. It is nothing that I have done, nothing that you have done. It is everything that God has done. Please, heart, stop condemning.

We must not approach other sins, as though we are righteous by our works and holier than thou. We must approach them as a sinner saved by grace and extend the only love we have ever been given. We are called to love deeply as Jesus loved. There are no exceptions. We are to walk out in the life that Jesus has offered, abundant and new. We are to be vulnerable and share our struggles and sins so others may see our lives as a testimony. 

We have to stop letting our testimonies be a story of perfection but a story of perfect redemption. 

Our churches must stop being a sanctuary for the holy, but a hospital for the broken.

Yes, sin is wrong and must be addressed, but condemnation from a Christian is worse, it turns the unbeliever far away. 

1 Peter 3:15 says "But in your hearts honor Christ as Lord, as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect."

First and foremost, we are to know what we believe.

Secondly, we are to love as immensely as Jesus did, not seeing sin, but seeing the value of the person.  God is in no rush. He values relationship so deeply, He will wait until that person is ready to see His Face. Condemnation from a Christian will turn that person even further away from the Gospel. 

When the relationship is established, and that person sees your deep relationship with God, they will begin to ask questions about how hopeful you are in a decrepit world. They will begin to wonder why you are different they every other Christian they see. They will notice that you are different then the churches, and maybe, the name Christian means something different then the standard it has lived up to. Soon, they will see Jesus, and once they see Jesus in you, then and only then will He speak through you as they see a life bigger than themselves. Then your words will be valid to them. 

Discipleship is not a one moment thing, it happens out of relationship.

I didn't want to write this blog, but it flows from me the way things do when God is speaking. I know I must. Facebook is filled with condemnations and convictions and beliefs. But it is definitely not filled with Jesus. I'm not saying my words are correct, and I'm not saying you need to believe me. What I'm saying is that you need to open your Bible and figure it out for yourself. Open the word, and honestly study these topics. Ask God to speak to you through the Bible. Be open to conviction. Be open to change. Know without a shadow of a doubt how God says this issue should be addressed. Stop condemning, stop accepting, and ask the One who knows how to deal with everything.