Ever since the supreme court has redefined married to be between two consenting adults rather than a man and woman, I have seen a vast amount of comments on facebook and twitter regarding this issue. My addiction to electronics aside I couldn't help be notice the vast amount of self-righteousness coming from people of both sides. I've seen posts like, "God honors my marriage, soon you and all your bigoted people will be forced in the closet" and posts like, "You are a perverted person only interested in twisting God's word to suit your own ends" I've seen all kinds of posts talking about how America is one step closer to becoming this magical utopia where skies are filled with rainbows and everyone is happy and I have seen posts predicting that America will be the next home of the Nazis in less than 5 years. Perhaps what I have seen the most of is professing Christians on both sides calling for the other to repent. Now some of you who are reading this might think that I am one of those who aim to walk down the middle of the road, and this is an article about how Christians on both sides should not worry about these issues because God loves us all. Rest assured I am not that person, and this is not that article. This article is a calling out to myself, and to everyone else who has gotten more self-righteous rather than righteous which has expressed itself in the issue of homosexuality. There is an important difference between self-righteousness and righteousness. That difference is understanding where one's righteousness comes from which is not from ourselves, but from Jesus Christ. No one, again no one is righteous through themselves. We are all thieves, perverts, adulterers, gossipers, murderers, or in short sinners. All of us have done wrong and desire to do wrong, and have desired to do wrong. We are imperfect, we have missed the mark, so there is not one person who should dare claim to be righteous because if they do they are liar and the truth is not in them. All of us have sins we are guilty of and should feel ashamed over, but many Christians have become too busy arguing with each other which conveniently leads them to ignore their sin, just as the flesh desires. One is not righteous because they support same-sex marriage. One is not righteous because they support traditional marriage. One is righteous because the Son of God came and died on the cross taking on the full wrath of God, conquering sin and death and granting to those who are united to Christ through faith His righteousness. Being united to Christ through faith means repenting or turning away from your sins, no longer desiring to do what is evil in God's sight, but wanting to do what is good. It also means trusting in Jesus Christ. Believing that it is Jesus who has saved you and will bring the good work that He started in you to completion. As Christians if we only call people to repent, then we have given them only half of the command. We must call for them to repent and to trust in Jesus Christ if we are going to give the the full command of God. We must also make sure that is true for ourselves as well. Have you repented of your sins, and are trusting in Jesus Christ? Professing Christians on both sides of this argument need to repent and trust in Jesus. There are several sins that Christians in support of traditional marriage must repent of. They should repent of not being as loving as God has commanded. They should repent of being self-righteous rather than trusting in Christ. They should repent of waiting until this moment to start to care about the sanctity of marriage. They should repent of not speaking the truth in love, but of speaking the truth to win an argument, caring not for the edification of brothers and sisters in Christ, but to make themselves feel important as they defend the faith. If you're not guilty of any of these sins, then repent of the sins you are guilty of. I was picking sins that I need to repent of. If you are Christian in support of same-sex marriage there are sins that you should repent of. You should repent of proclaiming a false witness against God. Scripture is clear on this issue, and for a man to have sex with another man or a woman to have sex with another woman is sin in the eyes of God. You have promoted that your brothers and sisters who experience same-sex attraction should not practice self-control which is a fruit of the Spirit, but have encouraged them to engage in sinful activity. You have also spoken not with love but with hate towards Christians who understand that sex persevered for husband and wife, not merely spouse and spouse. You have sought to create confusion over God's word rather than trusting it. You are guilty of trying to justify sin rather than confessing it to God. For these sins Christians on both sides are called to repent, and put their trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. Let us not have righteousness in ourselves for we know that self-righteousness does not honor God, nor does it lead to salvation. Instead let us trust in the righteousness that has been given to us by Jesus Christ and let us seek to live lives that reflect that righteousness, and trust in Christ, not ourselves. Jesus has died for our sins. He will grant us victory over them. It is because of how good Jesus is that we can be righteous, and so let's seek to be righteous. The righteous Christian is one that trusts in the mercy of God. The righteous Christian is one that does not speak from position of being better than his neighbors, but speaks like one beggar telling another beggar where to find food. The righteous Christian loves not because of how good he is, but loves because God first loved him. Let us seek to be the righteous Christian. What do you think? What did you think of this blog? Comment below and let me know. Thanks for stopping by.
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OverviewHere you can read various thoughts and discussions that come from the mind of our Pastor Archives
February 2023
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