Out of the Fire into Love … I believe.

Out of the Fire into Love … I believe.   Matthew 7.1-5

Bruce Jenner, the manliest man of my lifetime in terms of physicality and athletic prowess, winner of the 1976 Olympic decathlon – did you watch the interview?  Or did you read notes of his personal story and struggle?  Wait, how does his story square with Christian beliefs? 

Have you sat across the table from someone who struggled with same-sex attraction from the time they were in elementary school, knowing what life ahead was going to look like?

In consideration of questions like these, and our study of Matthew 7.1-5, someone said to me yesterday, “How could God do that?  How could God set someone up for a lifetime of internal struggle and pain, or the loneliness if they instead remained celibate?  I don’t get it…how could God do that?!” 

My response was rather quiet, ‘I don’t think he did.  I do not understand these things, frankly, but I do not have to.  Here it is again—a time when we reboot our computers, when we hit the ‘reset’ button and go to what we believe as absolutely true:

But first, hear me, listen to me—we do not have to have answers for that which we do not understand.  It would be arrogant and prideful to think we have answers to issues that confound humanity. 

That said, my default mode looks like this:

>I believe in the God of the Universe and the love he displayed toward all mankind by giving us Jesus.

>I believe God’s heart is good.

>I believe his Word is true and is meant for our guidance, training, instruction in right things and godliness, inspiration and knowledge; and I believe it is the divine Word(s) of God.¹

>I do not have to understand everything—Isaiah said it so well, ‘for his thoughts are not my thoughts, nor are his ways my ways—His ways will   always be higher than my ways.’²

>I believe God gave us free will from the time of the creation of man, and therefore mankind has always been free to choose his own course

>I believe there are many things in this world, and in this lifetime, that I do not and will not understand, things for which I will not have explanations

          ~like why little children suffer or die

          ~like why evil people prosper and ‘good’ people struggle mightily

          ~like why there are natural disasters and wars that wreak catastrophic

             damage and leave behind thousands dead, etc.

>I do not believe I was ever meant to understand everything,

 including the heartache of Bruce Jenner or those who self describe as ‘born gay’ …

>I believe I am not to judge these matters because there is only one 

   righteous Judge, and I am not him.

It is certainly not mine to condemn!  Remember the beautiful words of our Messiah?  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.³

And then, do you remember when the Jewish leaders tried to trap Jesus with various questions?  I love this exchange:  ‘Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”⁴  

Huh, love your neighbor as yourself, in spite of theological/doctrinal issues, in spite of sexual orientation, in the face of misunderstanding and judgment going either direction, love your neighbor as yourself.  As Joey Tribbiani said, ‘How you doin?’

Christine 

PastorWoman.com

1 – 1 Timothy 3.16-17

2 - Isaiah 55.8

3 – Mark 12.28-31

4 – John 3.16-17