Yesterday, a federal judge declared California's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, saying that no legitimate state interest justified treating gay and lesbian couples differently from others and that "moral disapproval" was not enough to save the voter-passed Proposition 8. The ruling was the first in the country to strike down a marriage ban on federal constitutional grounds.
Some of you may be angry about this judicial intervention—a violation of the voters’ rights. You may be angry with the court; you may resent the movement toward what-is-called ‘equal rights’ for gays and lesbians. And in all of this you may think your anger is justified—righteous anger! But let’s not forget the heart of our Savior is not anger, but love.
“You have heard the law of Moses says, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven…If you love only those who love you, what good is that?... If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that" (Mat. 5:43–48).
Yes, the Bible does say that homosexuality is sin! But so is anger, bitterness and unforgiveness. Surprise those who are thus oppositional: by loving them! Pray for them! That is exactly what Jesus did!
I am angry that we voted and one judge decided to overturn what the majority voted for.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to chew on this one. Thank you for the reminder.
I am steaming mad, like Ta'ahine said, that one advocate judge overturned the will of the people. I am not mad at gays, but I find it absolutely detestibal that we ammended the constitution of our State, and a rogue judge was somehow able to call it unconstitutional. If it was added to the constitution, guess what? It's constitutional!!!
ReplyDeleteAgain, I am not mad at people of the homosexual persuasion, but I am flipping mad that we are now living in a judge driven dictatorship!
Greg,
ReplyDeleteSo what do we do with our anger? It seems so frustrating to feel absolutely justified in our anger when we have to have our faces smacked with the fact that we have a "legal system" but not a "justice system" anymore. While James informs us of the possiblity to be angry yet not sin he didn't say it was not a challenge.
Perhaps as a response to the ruling we can begin an aggressive campaign to worship our God with all of the fervor and love He deserves. If we choose to make the issue of the lone judge overturning a moral ruling into a matter of faith in the Judge of all the earth to make things right...and offer Him the praise and adoration He is worthy of in the process... we may very well find that our anger dissipates and our trust in His wisdom increases.
We cannot afford to allow ourselves the luxury of believing more in the power of people's moral failure than in God's power to overturn the enemy's tactics that led them to fail morally in the first place.
The Israelites had their back to the wall when they found themselves being pursued by Pharaoh's armies with nowhere to go except directly into the Red Sea. Moses had to command them to "stand still and see the salvation of your God." With this ruling we have to do an equivalent action. But instead of a reaction of fear and anger we have the freedom to respond in worship and honor our God in the face of imminent defeat!
Easy? No. But well worth the effort and determination to push forward in faith. Then watch the waters part so we can continue our journey to the Land of Promise!
Stan
By necessity and by my choice, my blog devotionals are brief, and very pointed. I can only cover an aspect of any subject. The point of this blog is to approach conversations both about and with gays and lesbians with Jesus’ heart of love and compassion¬Jesus loved sinners and ministered to the sick. If we love our enemies, and pray for them, we will have a much different heart in our discussions and confrontations than if we don’t.
ReplyDeleteWhat I didn’t say in this blog is all the hard stuff--the questions of what to do politically and socially. That’s too much for a blog posting. I think Stan has re-focused us very well.
It is definitely hard to show love for the sinner and hold fast to our moral (and 'offensive' to them) convictions at the same time. God will show us how.
The most important thing is to make sure we separate gays and lesbians (as people Jesus loves, and died to save) from the 'political issue.'
Greg,
ReplyDeleteThank you for clarifying. I enjoyed this post.