When I was ready to let God shape my life through the person of Jesus it soon became apparent that there would not only be a change in how I live, but also in how I think. I wasn't sure at first that I was comfortable with that! After all, how I thought in the past seemed to have served me well for quite a few years! I like things nice and neat and in their place, including people. With a quick look I could categorize people. There were the "good" people and the "bad" people. The people worth any investment of my time, and those who weren't! It seemed like such a good system. There was no need for life to get messy!
But then Jesus invited me to see people the way He sees people! As He opened my eyes and my heart I began to see what I had been missing! I found out that when we open our hearts to other people that there is an expansive nature to love! And as my heart and love expanded to more and more people I quit putting them into boxes of "worthy" and "unworthy". As I began to learn their stories, I was struck by not only the beauty of the diversity but also by the common theme! It seems as though we are all writing a story with our lives, and each one of us is searching for someone to know us and to love us, and to know and love in return! As I thought about this, I realized that God blessed us with human relationships in part to point us to Him! It is when we experience sacrificial love from another human being that we can begin to understand His love for us! When these thoughts really started to sink in, I wondered how so many of us who call ourselves "Christians" could work so hard to deny a group of people the right to marry and make a life-long commitment to another person! Do we really believe that gay marriage will destroy marriage itself? I've come to believe that there are other motives at work here. Not the least of which is keeping people in the boxes where we think they belong. As I listen to Jesus and let Him shape my life, my thoughts and my actions I can no longer deny the right to marry to these people! From now on I will align myself with the Human Rights Campaign (hrc.org).
I will do what I can to eliminate any attitude of exclusiveness in my own life , anything that might stand in the way of anyone getting to know the Jesus who loves all people !
next post - Are we better than God ?
