The following is a guest post by Family Council staff member Sarah Bean.
I am not prone to road rage, but this morning I read a bumper sticker that made me want to rear-end a car and then drive away. Don’t worry, I showed restraint, but I still sat in my driver’s seat fuming. Let’s just say that if those pushing the homosexual agenda were looking to ruffle feathers, it succeeded this morning. It’s not worth mentioning what this bumper sticker said, but anger was my first reaction. This wasn’t anger aimed at or a hatred for homosexuals, but rather it was for sin.
Now, before I get labeled as a hypocrite for being a Christian in the Bible Belt with nothing better to do than judge others, I’m not just talking about homosexuals, but for all of us who struggle with sin in our lives. If you think “oh, that doesn’t apply to me,” I hate to burst your bubble, but it does.
By the time I was almost to work my anger had turned to a sadness at the depravity of the human heart—mine included. I had this profound moment of once again knowing that without God’s grace I would be just as susceptible to Satan’s many lies. And actually, all professing Christians do struggle with sin, this side of Heaven, but that’s exactly what it is—a struggle, but choosing not to give in. It’s good to know that while we do have this struggle, we can also have immense joy knowing that, in Christ, the victory is already won.
It is easy at Family Council to become a little numb to the work we do on issues such as abortion, homosexuality, the lottery, and so on. Sometimes I have to step back and once again realize the horror of abortion in taking a precious life; or realizing that God affirmed one man and one woman as the standard for marriage back in Genesis 2 and not another combination; or even how the lottery preys upon poor families by peddling a false hope.
I also have to realize that there is a very fine line that should not be crossed in this kind of work. If I have a self-righteous attitude, then I can’t show grace and mercy to a girl who comes out of an abortion clinic. I don’t want to shout condemnation at her; I want to hug her and say “I’m here for you” because chances are she will break, at some point, at the realization of what she’s done. Or with the homosexual agenda—I don’t want to be painted as some “homophobe” because I think homosexuality is wrong. Instead, I want to let all who identify as LGBTQ, and any other letters that could follow, that just because I have an opinion about the homosexual lifestyle doesn’t mean that I don’t love homosexuals and want better for them. What about the beast that is the lottery? Rather than rolling my eyes behind the lady in front of me with 10 tickets at the cash register, I want to tell her that an honest day’s work is far more rewarding than scratching off some piece of paper only to be disappointed, again, that they aren’t the big winner.
At Family Council we promote and protect traditional family values. The crazy thing is that this isn’t just some random idea that we came up with. Rather, we are trying to honor the standard that God has set. If God says that life is precious and He says that He knows His creation before they are born, why shouldn’t we protect life? If God created male and female to be together in marriage and has deemed this as “good,” then how arrogant are we to think that we know better by giving a supportive nod to a lifestyle that completely goes against the standard that has been set? Or with the lottery, if God has set it in the hearts of men and women to take pleasure in their work, how is scratching off a lottery ticket supposed to be fulfilling? It’s the false hope of another handout that you can’t take any pride in.
God does know best and when we try to usurp control, things go horribly wrong. The values I’ve expressed are worth fighting for, but the best part is that even though it is easy to get down and overwhelmed by the evil that is in this world, the victory is already won.
