Another pastime of mine occurs solely
in my head. I'll listen to pastors give great sermons and wonder if
they would change the sermon if they were speaking to LGBT people. I
was radio surfing on my drive home and stumbled on one guy speaking
of Christians needing to have reverence for God when it came to all
the matters we squabble about. He was saying we need to remember
that God is in control no matter who is in office.
I wondered if he'd also promote
reverence for God when discussing whether or not homosexuality is a
sin. The current debate is so focused on trying to convince the
other side that you're the one with the right biblical
interpretation. People have made great logical arguments invoking
historical context, experts on ancient languages, and personal
experiences.
What about God?
Neither side is actually letting God decide the issue. The closest both sides seem to get is to ask the
other side “to prayerfully consider” their interpretation.
That's not reverence. Reverence is
knowing that our all-powerful God is control of this whole big messy
situation. Reverence is knowing that God loves those we disagree
with. Reverence is remembering that the Christians who disagree with
us, even the ones who think we are committing a huge offense by
showing love to the gay community, also attend a church and praise
and worship God.
Reverence is trusting Him to meet
people on an individual basis and show them His heart, in His timing,
and as He sees fit.
Maybe that's why the debate keeps persisting - maybe God is waiting for us to remember He is in control of all of this. Waiting for Christians to remember their own cliché - "let go and let God" - instead of going back and forth with arguments based on human logic.
I think our reverence for God is
displayed in how we show respect to those who disagree with us.
That's easy to say now. We don't
currently have anyone damning us to hell on our Facebook page.
Hopefully I'll remember this post in a few months when they show up
again.
