Would you believe me if I said I believe homosexuality is a sin AND I love and care about all people, including those who identify as homosexual?
In the wake of the supreme court's decision last week, it would seem that the only way #lovewins is if I endorse both homosexuality and the right of homosexuals to marry.
But I don't, and I can't.
As a follower of Jesus, I'm bound to both grace and truth. I realize the Christian church has had a hard time keeping a firm grasp on both of these, but the one is lost without the other.
Truth without grace ignores Jesus' sacrifice and our inability to save ourselves. It makes little of love, because love is what gave birth to grace.
Grace without truth is a lie. It denies our guilt before a righteous God and makes Jesus' sacrifice useless. He becomes nothing more than a good man who showed us how to love our neighbor and died for . . . . . what?
Much has been said lately about keeping silent in the face of sin and injustice. People's passion for the oppressed has caused them to overcome fear of ridicule and even hate. It is this spirit in which I'm writing. I realize my stance lends itself toward being labeled as hatred, and that's scary. But I won't allow fear to silence me.
I'm writing because of love. The love of God shown to me through Jesus, and the love I have for Him, for His word, for truth, and for the costly grace He secured for me and all who would repent of their sins and call on His name.
Yes, love won on Friday . . . Friday a couple thousand years ago on a hill in Jerusalem.
Because love won on the cross and will win in our world, I will love.
(I commend to you the entire chapter as an accurate & beautiful description
of Christian love . . . "the kind of love the Father has given to us")