Who Cares?

Who Cares About Them?

I recently spent some time speaking with a neighbor of our church who works as the head chef at a refuge for homeless teens. Most of the teens are runaways, some have been kicked out of their homes, and still others have just slipped through the cracks of the system. Why have the teens been kicked out of their homes? The primary reason was because they declared homosexuality as their sexual preference.

Homosexuality - that sin that seems to have climbed to the top of so many self-proclaimed Christians' lists. Sure it is contrary to scripture, but so is gluttony (eating too much). Sure it is not natural according to the rules of natural selection, but so is celibacy. So why have we put it at the top of our list as one of the worst sins?

What if we treated gossips the same way we treated homosexuals? Why are we quick to cast stones at those whose sins are different than our own? Would we give them a stone to cast at us?

What if we loved them? We do not have to agree with their agenda, nor do we have to condone their sin. In fact we should clearly state what we believe in midst of the confusion regarding their agenda and even vote accordingly. But, we have to love them.

So what should be our compelling message? I think it should be clearly communicated that we all: homosexuals, gossips, rebels, etc. stand before God as condemned people. But, because Christianity is the only fair faith, we can all be forgiven by the free gift of Jesus - the only sufficient sacrifice for our sin. Remember that we are not declared righteous because of what we have or have not done. We are only declared righteous because we have received a free gift from God.