Christians and Homosexuality

My early morning began with my usual spiritual diet - the reading of scripture following the read through the bible in a year plan, and this morning's reading was from 1 Kings 21–22; Luke 23:26-56. What jumped out at me from these passages was how the gracious Lord was still ready to forgive the evil King Ahab when he humbled himself. I then traced back to the previous chapters to remind myself all the other evil kings of Israel - Jeroboam, Baasha, and now Ahab. However, the unrepentant king will ultimately be killed in battle. The entire Luke 23 chapter described the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, the cruelest punishment reserved for the worst of criminals. It is impossible to comprehend the depravity of man and the extent of love demonstrated on the cross!

This had prepared me to listen to an hour-long podcast by Christopher Yuan at The Gospel Coalition (TGC) conference (my wife had sent the link to me the night before). I listened with tears in my eyes of his journey from being a prisoner in a penitentiary (for being a drug dealer) to becoming a preacher dedicated to help the church to open its arms to the LGBT community. It is very very good! I will listen to it again, I am sure. Lots of practical lessons on bringing the gospel to my gay friends. But most of all, he reminded me of the power of the gospel to me - a sinner saved by grace, by a loving Lord Jesus who was willing to demonstrate His love for me by dying for me (Romans 5:8), even death on the cross (Philippians 2:1-11). As long as my identity is found in Jesus, His Holy Spirit will help me in my day to day battle with the temptation to sin, of which lust and pride are high on the list. As long as my life is overflowing with the grace that comes through Jesus, I will be in a better position to help my LGBT friends to find the gospel. Although the scripture does say: "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18), I will remind myself that my own salvation comes from the cross of Jesus. That's why He reminded me that "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)

I just bought Christopher Yuan's book "Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son's Journey to God. A Broken Mother's Search for Hope." on my Kindle. Looking forward to a good read through this week.