People that know me, know I love Project Runway. I went to school for Fashion Design for a while and I love seeing what the designer’s create…and the chaos that brought them there. It reminds me of some of my classes, and one very interesting midterm where we were simply told to bring our supplies; no studying necessary. (Turns out we had to create garments out of paper — in 3 hours!) Crazy, fun times.
It was while watching one of the episodes from this past season that I started thinking about one of today’s most controversial topics. Homosexuality. You see, during this particular episode one of the contestants proposed to his partner of 19 years. Everyone was crying…including me. Although, not for the same reasons.
During that moment I was struck with a new sense of God’s love that I’ve never fully grasped. I know that God loves homosexuals, just like he loves preachers, prostitutes, drunks, liars, adulterers, Mother Teresa, you, and me. But God’s love means more than what we think it means. I cried because I saw them as Christ sees them. I cried because I saw that they’ve traded God’s plan for their own. I cried because they want love like everyone else. I cried because they’ve been deceived. Like all of us.
It’s like trading diamonds for dirt. Sure, dirt is easier and cheaper to get, but it’s not diamonds. God is offering diamonds, satan is offering dirt. No matter how it’s packaged, dirt is still dirt.
I’m not minimizing their love for each other by comparing it to dirt. I’m simply showing the greatness of God’s offer, compared to what we settle for. No one would choose dirt over a diamond, but we chose satan’s lies over God’s truth every day.
I’m not solely talking about the LGBT community now. People are being lied to by the Father of Lies and are accepting the fact that this is real, this is right, this is who they are, this is love. Everyone is being told that if they’re pretty enough, rich enough, successful and talented, then they will know happiness and love. THAT…is heartbreaking.
Please understand, I’m exposing my own failures here as well. We all have our own lies we’ve believed. I’ve taken the bait too. I’ve tasted the Kool-aid. I thought the life I wanted would make me happy. I was wrong.
Christians have stood with their noses pointed high at the LGBT community as though their sin is worse than ours, making a whole community of people feel excluded by God. Somehow it’s become Christians vs. “the gays.” That’s wrong. It’s wrong to make anyone feel that God doesn’t love them, regardless of the fact that what they may do goes against what you believe. I don’t think it’s God’s goal to make sure every gay person becomes straight. –I’ll repeat that.– I don’t think it’s God’s goal to make sure every gay person becomes straight.
I think God’s goal is for everyone to know Him, because He loves us all…equally. He wants to be with every single person on this planet. Plain and simple. He didn’t say, clean up your act, do everything right, pray five times a day, give away all your money, and THEN you can have a relationship with me. Nope. He said confess and believe that Jesus is Lord and you will be saved. (Romans 10:9) Why do we try to add to it? Why are Christians trying to get homosexuals to believe what they believe? That’s not the Gospel. That’s not the Good News. And that’s not our job.
The Good News is that Jesus came to earth to be our salvation and our way back to God. Even while we were sinners and rejecting God, he showed unconditional love and died in our place. He took our punishment and gave us eternal life instead.
The Good News is that ALL of us can give back our dirt. We’ve all traded God’s plan for our own. We’ve all thought money, success, relationships, education or going to church will make us happy. Well guess what, it won’t. It won’t make us fulfilled or happy. Living the way we think is best, and deciding to do things on our own terms will bring us nothing but death.
The Good News is that we don’t have to be stuck with our decision. We can trade our dirt for diamonds! God will take our crap and give us EVERYTHING in return!
THAT is the Good News! Will you accept it?
Be encouraged! Let’s start over, give up our dirt, stop alienating people, and do what God told us to do in Mark 16:15. “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.”
If you stumbled across this page and you don’t know God but have some questions, please message me. I’d be happy to answer your questions and talk about God any time.
