When Love Really Won

Since everyone insists on writing posts about the recent decision about gay marriage, I am too. 

I am a Christian. Let's establish that before I start in. However, I do have strong feelings about Christians putting down non-Christians. I do not support gay marriage, but I am also not against it either. 

First of all, gay people aren't gonna kill us. This isn't the Holocaust, and the LGBT community are not Hitler. That's just dramatic. They are people, just like me and you. And second of all, I'm tired of people bashing gays all over their Facebook based on their "Christian" principles. If that's you, I don't know what Christ you are following, but it's not the one I know. He commands us to love all. When Jesus died on the cross, He died for all sinners. That's me, you, gay people, transgender people, atheists, and beyond. We are all sinners, and if you are bashing gay marriage, and calling yourself a Christian, you need to take a good look at yourself before you jump in on others. All sin is measured the same, that means Jesus views liars on the same level as that gay couple down the street. We are all sinners. So what gives you the right to judge other people's sin? Jesus forgave your sin, and loves you even through your sin, and that doesn't change because someone is gay. He's a liar, she's a cheater, he's gay. Christ loves all. And if you are convinced that he loves gays any less, you are wrong. 

We are not God, so we must stop playing him. Stop trying to rewrite the Bible. We are commanded to love and live as Christ would. And I believe, if Christ walked among us as a man today, right now, he would love the LGBT community. Because he died for them, too. And that is when love really won. We cannot change the world, or the law. But we can set a Christianly example, we can be like Christ. And if you cannot do that, don't say anything at all. 

“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to cast your stone” (John 8:7)

Childlike Faith

I am currently an aunt to two nephews and two nieces. My closest brother, 16 years my senior, married, and honored me with the title "aunt". This is a big word for me, especially at 12 years old when I first learned I would soon be wearing the name. But nonetheless, 4 years later, it's a title I wouldn't turn over for the world. When Sophia was born, I thought my heart would burst with joy. Then Asher came 2 years later, and I was one of the first to hold him. As my past 4 years being an aunt they have taught me more than I have learned in my entire 16 years on this planet. And one of those lessons is this: faith. We hear it at church all the time, that we must have childlike faith to enter the kingdom of heaven. This was not fully put into perspective for me until just recently, when I was babysitting for my brother and Sophia wanted me to pick her up by the arms and swing her around. Now anyone that knows me knows I am pretty small, and I certainly wouldn't trust myself to have a grip strong enough to swing a small human through the air. This didn't seem to cross Sophia's mind, and she begged me to do it. So I did, because I knew it would make her happy. And she squealed and smiled and had so much fun just doing this simple thing. And it amazed me how much faith she had that I would hold her hands tightly enough and that I would never let her fall. For me, now, as an adolescent, I am not sure I would be willing to do such a thing. Faith is too often something that feels like a lost cause, an invisible promise. As children, our hearts are whole and pure, not quite tainted by the world or by society in its whole cruelty. She had unwavering faith and trust in me when she held tightly to my hands that day. She didn't even have to ask, she just knew that I was not letting go. And that, I believe, is what the Father asks for in us. Repeatedly in the bible we are told to have faith and trust in the Lord, that he is a deliverer, healer, and protector. Too often we become impatient and we give up on faith, for what is something we can't even see? But that is where the fault lies, because Sophia had no idea if I had a strong grip on her, she just knew I would never let her fall. People listen, Jesus will never let us fall. Just like Sophia's faith in me holding her up, we must have the same faith in our Father's ability to hold us up. We serve a good, good Father, one who loves so much he let his son die a brutal death, for us. If that's not enough to place our unwavering trust in him, I don't see what is. 

Faith is often the glimmer of light we cannot see, yet it is constantly there. It's the same faith we have that the sun will rise every morning, and fall every night. That's the faith we must place in Jesus. 

Childlike faith in our always-faithful Father. 

          

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. {2 Corinthians 4:18}