Before I married, I worked at the Flushing Shirt Factory in Meyersdale , PA. Beachley Street ,”
formerly First Mennonite
Church , called “Rock Church
I worked at a sewing machine as a bander next to a woman
named Connie* in the shirt factory and we became good friends. She was not a church-goer, but her oldest
daughter, Linda,* started coming to Rock
Church
One day when lunch hour was over, and I went back to my
sewing machine, Connie looked very uncomfortable and other banders teased me: “We
saw you in your car with Linda; we know what you’re up to.”
I was clueless, and felt hurt and bewildered by their snide and
snickering comments. I demanded of
Connie to explain why the girls would say that.
She replied, “It’s a family matter; it doesn’t concern you.”
Some days later, Linda invited me to join her at Gnagey’s
Dairy Bar for some ice cream after work, and though I was in a hurry to get
home, I obliged her. She began a tale of
woe – how her mother was so cruel to her, how she just couldn’t bear to go home,
etc, etc. She said she had no place to
spend the night. Out of my heart of
compassion, I believed her and invited her to come home with me.
We weren’t home but half an hour before an angry mother
called and said she was coming over immediately to get her. Linda just looked at me and didn’t say
anything. The next day at work, Connie
told me her daughter was a lesbian. I
didn’t even know what that was and had to have it explained to me. I could tell Connie was embarrassed, but I
assured her God could change Linda and that I was still her friend. Linda did cause some trouble for our church,
but I remained friendly toward her. She
later married and had four children. And
Connie became a Christian before she died of cancer many years later. I haven’t heard from Linda for many, many
years, and I wonder where she is. I pray she has given her life to Jesus.
Were I to sit at my kitchen table with someone who was
“gay,” my heart would be filled with compassion for them. I would show them from God’s Word who God
made them to be, and that He has a beautiful purpose for their life. I would assure them of God’s love for them,
and that Jesus wanted to set them free from it.
Just like any other sinful bondage.
If that person insisted she didn’t need God’s intervention
and instead belittled, argued and mocked me because I refuse to “okay” her sin
or wrong beliefs, there is nothing more I could do. If she kept pushing me to accept her
lifestyle, and showed no interest in wanting to be set free, I would have to
let her know I have a boundary where that subject is off limits. I would gently say, “I give you grace to have
your belief, because I can’t change you.
Only God can do that, and I am going to pray for you. I love you; you have value because you are a
person made in God’s image.”
I would always be courteous, but I would not need to be a
close friend to her, because “bad company corrupts good morals.” (I Corinthians 15:33 NIV) I have the right to my boundaries too.
In my private prayer time, I would lift her before the Lord,
with tears and compassion, and ask the Lord to reveal His truth as only He
can. I would declare with joy, “Thank
you, God, that you’re at work in her life; I declare her set free from
believing a lie. I thank You that once
she is free, You are going to use her mightily to help others become free who
are trapped in this belief and lifestyle. Thank you, Jesus! I see her as a mighty warrior in Your Kingdom!" I'd go on the offensive in the spirit.
Whether it’s the daughter of a close friend caught in
promiscuity, or a son whose parents are grieved over his bondage to drugs,
alcohol and fornication, or a son or daughter caught in the homosexual
lifestyle, I have compassion for each one of them. I pray the best for each of them, “calling
things that are not as though they were.” (Romans 4:17) I pray/say what I know God wants them to
be, how He wants them to live in freedom and holiness. Let the Holy Spirit guide me in praying the
Scriptures for them. Prayer to an
all-powerful God changes people – neither I nor anyone else can. I believe there
will come a time when they will be changed by the grace and power of God if I’m
faithful in prayer.
Even though all sin is sin, nothing destroys the home and family
like sexual sin: divorce, unfaithfulness, incest, and homosexuality, etc. There’s
hardly a family anywhere anymore that has not been touched in some way by the
scourge of sexual perversion. As I said:
sin is sin. But I have yet to hear of any
group demand political and social acceptance for murder, lying, stealing,
gossip, fits of rage, jealousy, etc. Satan
tries to stamp out the image of God from the earth because he hates God with a
vengeance. Sexual sin is a particular
area where Satan wants to deceive Christians; that’s why I stand against it in
warning believers to stay faithful to the truth of God’s Word.
And therein lies the rub.
Far too many people right now don’t seem to care what God says; they
think they are smarter than God. I am so
concerned that Christians would be duped like Eve was in the Garden of Eden
where Satan slyly said to Eve, “Did God really say…?”
I ask myself, “How can I say I love someone
if I don’t tell them the truth?”
Jesus even warned especially about sexual sin in Revelation
2:20-23 (NIV) where He tells the church at Thyatira, “…I have this against you: you
tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into
sexual immorality…I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is
unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed
of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer
intensely unless they repent of her ways.
I will strike her children dead.
Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and
minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.”
Jezebel symbolizes a mocking spirit that claims to speak for
God (prophetess), saying that sexual sin is okay. The
adultery is against Jesus and our love for Him; Satan wants to draw believers
away from obedience to our Lord.
Jesus was a Friend of sinners. He ate with them and forgave their sin,
saying, “Go and sin no more.” That’s
where my heart is. He does not approve
of a sinful lifestyle or wrong beliefs, and I can’t either, but I love the person. My name is Elaine, and I am a friend of
sinners.
*Names have been changed
Copyright ©2014
Elaine Beachy
Well said, Elaine. There is no example in the gospels of Jesus rejecting a sinner, but many examples of calling the sinner to godliness. You have handled a difficult subject tactfully and truthfully, and I say "Amen" to it.
ReplyDeleteThank you; I appreciate your encouraging comment, Kenton. The issue of sexual perversion seems to touch every family in one way or another these days. It makes me think of 2 Peter 2:7 -- "he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless deeds he saw and heard..."
DeleteBut I thank God for all the righteous, godly people such as yourself, who stand for truth and righteousness in the face of this pervading wind. God bless you!