Questions..

As a Christian I get asked what my "opinion" is on a variety of issues that are currently considered "political". I see two problems with this…

1. More often than not this ends up being a form of baiting because the person asking usually responds as if they know what I believe and their prepared reply is an attempt to shame me or, frankly, prove they are superior to me.

2. The issues may be debated politically, but that does not make them "political issues", they are still *human* concerns.

I have been asked what my stance is on Phil Robertson's "gay bashing", I have been asked about whether this or that is a sin, I have been asked if I believe so and so is going to hell, how I feel about the president, so on and so forth. My response, which is more often than not twisted, taken out of context or completely ignored, is usually followed by being called a bigot, or a racist, or any manner of term meant to paint me as "hateful" or point out my low intellect. All of that I can deal with because they are the assumptions of someone who has made a generalized judgment of me based on their own ideas.

The response that bothers me is this: I get told that my faith makes me believe I am better than others. That statement could not be further from the truth…

My faith very clearly tells me: We are *all* capable and guilty of sin. We all make mistakes...

Believe me, I know. I have a list of sin a mile and half long. Some the world considers “big” and some “small”. Either way SIN IS SIN. I believe in transparency. You want to know who I was, what I have done, the mess that God has and continues to rescue me from?

At some point in my life I have done the following, which is likely not limited to, but including: I have stolen. (Whether it be a paper clip from work, a pen from the bank or something bigger, taking without permission is stealing.) I have lied. I have cheated. (Ask my mother, I used to hide the Old Maid because I didn’t want to get stuck with it again.) I had sex outside of marriage. I have done whatever someone asked in order to “earn their affection” over receiving God’s perfect and healing love. I tried to kill myself. I talked unkindly about people who weren’t there to speak for themselves, which is basically gossip, or bearing false witness. I wished horribly unkind things on those who hurt me. I took the Lord’s name in vain. (I’m still working on reigning in my habit of using colorful language. Work in progress, y’all.) I envied. I was not compassionate. I disobeyed the laws of the land, yes this one even includes little things like speeding. I disrespected my parents. I got drunk. I tried more times than I can count to do things in my own power, my own way, instead of trusting God. I became too good at building walls and cutting people off. I have hated and I was unforgiving.

More importantly my faith tells me this: That we are all equally loved by our Father in Heaven!

Think about that for a moment… Regardless of my “list”, regardless of your “list”, He LOVES us all!!

His heart is not for one of us to perish in our sin, but to be washed clean by the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. That His unending grace is enough to forgive all of our sins… all of our mistakes. AND that is exactly what He wants to do for us! Jesus chose to suffer and die so that we can be forgiven and spend eternity with our Father who loves us enough to let his perfect and blameless son die in our place! What one of us would send our child die to save someone who wronged us? Yet that is what our Father did for us!!! God’s love is so far beyond anything we have experienced in this world! His love and sacrifice would be meaningless without our freedom to choose it for ourselves, which does mean that His wrath is still on the table.

So when people want to keep Christians from sharing their faith, what they are doing is denying the opportunity for those who don’t yet know that love and forgiveness are theirs if only they ask. That is why as Christians, His sacrifice and His love are something that we cannot “shut up about”. ;)  

So yes, life style choices, actions, behaviors, habits, words, attitudes, treatment of others, beliefs or unbelief, etc. are sins against God, but they are equally forgivable! He loves us in spite of what we have done! Jesus is the answer to our brokenness. Romans 10:9 – “⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

So no matter what the response is going to be, I will keep answering the questions because I believe that everyone deserves the freedom to choose for themselves, and without the knowledge that there is a choice or the need to make one, what hope is there for healing?

His love is for you. Forgiveness and healing are yours all you have to do is ask. <3