Modern Tax Collectors

I have an update and a thought for this post.

The update is that I have officially been listed at the top of the heart transplant list.  Now, we just play the waiting game.  They do an evaluation in a few days to determine if I need to stay in the hospital or if I am strong enough to go home with an IV.  Either way, they'll continue looking and waiting for a donor, and some day, I'll have a new heart.  In the meantime, I'll be praying for patience and strength to endure through this whole thing, and I know that God will surely bless me with me with the grace to do so.

Furthermore, I've gotten up and walked around a couple times today with the nurse.  It felt so good to use my legs a bit after sitting in bed for the past couple days.  My mother has also been narrowing down on a place for her to stay these next few months, and we are seeing God graciously provide in so many ways for her and for myself.  The faculty at my old high school gave her a $250 gift card for Wal-Mart to pay for gas, food, and any other necessities, and families have offered their homes to her all over the place.  I thank God for our faithful and humble brothers and sisters!

Now for my thought of the night, and this is solely for those who are or may call themselves Christians; however, do not be discouraged to read on if you are not.

Though I've been sort of excluded from society in a sense, I'm not completely oblivious to the things happening in the world and in our country.  Lately, the social media scene has been full of statuses and updates regarding the whole debate over same-sex marriage.  Some of it is like listening to a "fire-and-brimstone" evangelist, and some of it is more or less stale and indifferent.

I've often struggled with trying to have an opinion on some political issues, especially as a believer in Christ.  On the one hand, I do not advocate for same-sex marriage because I hold to the truth (which has been revealed to me by the divine authority of God Himself via the Bible) that marriage is designed by God for the union of one man and one woman, and the Bible clearly teaches against homosexuality because it perverts the original design of the Creator.  On another hand, it's hard for me to hold this knowledge over people who advocate for same-sex marriages and homosexual relationships, and I honestly don't think that politics is the best way for those of us who are believers to spread the word of truth to those who do not know.  I believe that's what some call "'Merican" Christianity.

Again, I do not advocate for same-sex marriage, but if it happens, so what?  Are we more concerned with the external features of homosexuality than the root of it?  Are we not called to love and serve these people?  To have the same mind as Christ (Philippians 2)?  I would rather that people knew that Christ had died out of love for them, so that they would know that they won't perish in Him, than that they knew Christians have a furious vendetta against homosexuality.  It is better for us to love those who are weak and poor in the faith than to possess a greater knowledge of the truth than they do (1 Corinthians 8).

By loving and serving them, we build them up instead of tearing them down.  If anything needs to be torn down, it's the sin, not the man.  We need the cross.  They need the cross.  Go forth in love, brothers.  Pursue the opportunity to be a light in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.  Share Christ with all people with the hope that lives can be and will be radically changed by the power of God through Jesus Christ who died for the reconciliation of all things to the Almighty.  Let's be just as inviting to homosexuals and same-sex marriage advocates as Christ was to tax collectors and prostitutes.