WARNING: I might rant and it might offend many of you.
I’m sitting here at Starbucks doing work and checking Facebook intermittently — and I couldn’t help but notice all of these posts with President Obama’s picture and the quote, “Same-sex couples should be able to get married”. Instantly in my mind, I could hear all of the nagging and criticism from Christians worldwide. I feel like much of my life as a Christian I have heard the idea that if we accept this as a nation that it will bring judgment upon us. This isn’t limited to just same-sex marriage it spans much further into issues like abortion, prostitution, drug use, and even traffic cameras. I can see some validity in the idea of judgment being passed on a nation because of laws and practices, but most of that vanishes quite quickly when I hold that in light of who the man Jesus truly is. As someone who values rules and doing things correctly, I fully embrace passing laws that create black and white lines of right and wrong. I love to know when I’m right and when I’m wrong and then also to know when you are either right or wrong too, but there’s just one problem — the kingdom has never been black and white.
Sometimes I think it’s easy to think the Kingdom is a place where only “right” choices are made. A place with no sin and no ability to sin. It’s easy to feel as though we’re actually seeing the Kingdom come when we simply pass legislation. If all of the laws were passed to set up the world to be this sinless place, would it actually be any more Kingdom than what we have right now? I think back to how the Lord started this whole thing — with two trees. One life. One not-so-much. These trees were right out in the open. The Lord was super honest with the fruit of each tree, He said, “Hey, if you eat this one and you die and if you eat this one you live”. He didn’t have a Heavenly congress or courtroom that passed two-thirds of Heavenly majority. The Kingdom was pure freedom. There weren’t police governing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and they probably didn’t hand out tickets for soliciting the tree. We would probably all agree that sin is sin and none is greater than another, so we could easily equate the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to be like the choice of any sin. What I’m trying to say is that in the garden same-sex marriage was allowed in the form of fruit on a tree, and I’m sure Adam and Eve were abundantly blessed as a nation in spite of the option.
You see, I’m not saying that same-sex marriage is okay in my mind, I’m not justifying homosexuality, I’m not running to the nearest Planned Parenthood to get rid of my baby, and I certainly won’t drive away from here and run all the red lights on my way to the church — what I’m saying is that there’s something much more powerful than legislation. It’s choice. If my relationship with Jesus was Him, forcing me into relationship with Him by luring me into a room locking the door, and not letting me out; it wouldn’t be much of a relationship. I always think, if Scott and I were in a room together and the only reason he was with me was because I had the door shut and locked, I would be so sad when the door opened and he would run for his life. If my marriage to Scott was simply a rule for him and he was waiting for any chance for it to end, that would be devastating. I wonder if that’s the fruit of some of our legislation?
There’s something that seems so good about our government making all of these things illegal, something that gives us a sense of arrival. It’s almost as if we’ve changed the world if only the right laws would be passed. But is that really change? There’s something about this idea that minimizes the greatness of God, at least in my mind. The creator of the universe is powerful to transform the most jacked up life and rewrite the darkest of histories. What if the presence of God swept over the nation and suddenly even with all of the sins of the earth at our disposal we simply would choose not to partake. What if His reality was the law?
Well then so many people would be all jacked up, hurting themselves and others.
Right? That’s naturally my first thought.
Maybe if we think like that, we haven’t really tasted Him. The truth is that His presence causes the most expensive of perfume to be broken open and spilled out. Jesus never asked for that, it was simply the response that His presence required. Something about His presence causes Sauls to become Pauls. It turns sinners into saints, and makes a place for the most unlovable person to find a home. It allows criminals hanging on a cross the promise of paradise. It gives a room for everyone… if it wasn’t true He wouldn’t have said it. (John 14:2)
So, it’s a choice. A powerful one. Drinking alcohol isn’t illegal, getting drunk isn’t illegal, but I still choose not to partake. Why? When I have had an alcoholic beverage, it’s never a situation that I could invite the Lord’s presence into. It would make me feel incredibly uncomfortable to say, “Holy Spirit, come,” as I sip on a Blue Moon. If any of you know about my past, the same goes for my past relationship with a woman. There was never a day that I could stop and say, “Holy Spirit, come”. I felt unable to enter into the Lord’s presence. It was awful. I mean, I had fun. Sinning is fun, heck, just sometimes bad things are fun, but would I ever go back or even desire to visit for a day? No way. The reason isn’t because it’s sin, it’s because I love Him too much. My choice isn’t because of my conscience, it’s being conscious of the Lover of my soul. I love Him too much to ever enter a place that I couldn’t bring Him with, and that my friends, has changed my world far more than any rule or regulation.
That’s my rant.