On Friday, June 26, 2015, the
Supreme Court of the United States made a landmark decision regarding the
definition of marriage for the entire nation.
What
should we do about that?
Well, we could start by following Jesus. We could go out into all the world (not just this nation) and start to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to everyone. We could begin to teach people to obey everything that Jesus commanded. We could participate and collaborate with the Holy Spirit as He transforms people into the image of Christ. That's our job and our mission as Christians – regardless of what our Government does.
How should we treat LGBT individuals?
Well, we could start by following Jesus. We could go out into all the world (not just this nation) and start to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to everyone. We could begin to teach people to obey everything that Jesus commanded. We could participate and collaborate with the Holy Spirit as He transforms people into the image of Christ. That's our job and our mission as Christians – regardless of what our Government does.
How should we treat LGBT individuals?
We should love them.
We should open our hearts, and
our homes, and, yes, even our churches, to embrace them and welcome them and
love them.
Forget the politics. Let the
politicians do what politicians do, but please, let the Body of Christ do what
She is called - and commanded - to do.
If we're successful in our
endeavor, it won't matter what laws they pass.
Besides, if
Christians were as concerned with loving everyone as they are with "being
right" the whole world would have known Jesus' love by now.
It’s time to get our eyes on
Jesus, and to start doing what he told us to do, and begin loving with the kind
of extravagant love he expects us to be known for.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." - Jesus (John 13:34)
Think about that verse for a moment. "As I have loved you," Jesus says, "so you must love one another."
How has Jesus loved you? Did He love you because you did something first? Or did Jesus love you as you were - unconditionally?
Unconditional love is what brought us here. Unconditional love is what transforms us. Unconditional love is what Jesus pours out on us, and it's what we are commanded to pour out on everyone else.
What does "Unconditional" mean to you?
Love like that and I think we'll not only please our Father in Heaven, but we'll be demonstrating that we love our Lord Jesus.
"If you love me, you will obey what I command." - Jesus
(John 14:15)
"You are my friends if you do what I
command"- Jesus (John 15:14)
"Whoever has my commands and obeys
them, he is the one who loves me." - Jesus (John 14:21)
"If anyone loves me, he will obey my
teaching." - Jesus (John 14:23)
"He who does not love me will not
obey my teaching." - Jesus (John 14:24)
"If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love.." -
Jesus (John 15:10)
BONUS:
For those of you who are
fearful that America is falling away from previously held Biblical values,
please remember that our faith was born under cruel, anti-Christian Roman
Emperors who tortured and killed the followers of Jesus for sport. If America
ever gets that bad (and I doubt that it ever will) we'll still
be ok as long as we continue to follow Jesus and obey Him.
Let’s
keep our eyes on Jesus and continue to seek first the Kingdom of God. We are
not called to become entangled in the affairs of this world. We are called to
love people as Jesus loves them and to demonstrate the transformative power of
the Gospel of Jesus to the world around us.
And maybe, who knows, maybe in the
process we might discover that we are the ones who are just as much in need of
His transformative love and grace as anyone else in this world.
Amen?
-kg
3 comments:
Yes so be it.
After all my reading this is the BEST commentary I have read. so simple and straightforward,.......just like the Gospel.
Thanks you so much for giving us this.
Amen!!!
I use to get so wrapped in politics and government. I can now look at myself and what a fool I was. Of course nations and governments do blasphemous things - they are in control of the prince of this world, Satan! But it matters not what Satan or they do. I'm called to one response - love.
Keith, you asked how Jesus loved me? First, when I was His enemy, when I hate Him, when I mocked Him and His creation, when I did not believe He created me, when I spat in His face, when I denied Him with all my strength and all my mind and all my soul and all my heart, when I cursed Him, when I demanded Him to prove He was God by coming down from the cross, when I drove the nails through His hands and His feet...then He died to show how great, how deep, and how wide His love is for me. He forgave me for everything I did to Him. Second, He went beyond mere forgiveness. He continued to love me. He taught me, rebuked me, chastened me, corrected me, and reproved me as a father does a son so that I could be conformed and transformed into His image, so that His very life would be my life. He died so I could live, but now I die so He can live.
So how I do love like Jesus loved? I die daily. I crucify my flesh. I have death in my flesh so that it can be life to others. All so that the world, those who hate the Lord and therefore hate me, can see Jesus.
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