Resisting Sin

So I've been doing some thinking.  Mostly about the gay marraige issue and where I stand.  Gay rights.  What to do?

 

It seems to be a very tricky issue.  Politically, I can't say I'm against it.  I mean, let them do what they want, right?  And religiously, we're called to love and we're called not to judge.  And if they're not living under Christ's law, how can we hold them accountable to Christ's law?

 

But then I stop and think some more.  Hebrew 12 speaks some about sin.  The writer of Hebrew's assumes that we are struggling against sin, that we are resisting sin.  The Bible says to be righteous and holy, set apart for God.  So then I wonder what this means in regards to homosexuality.  The Bible clearly says it is wrong.  The Bible clearly states it's sinful.  And we're told to struggle against sin, to be righteous.  But are we supposed to struggle against personal sin, or sin in general?

 

I think we are supposed to struggle against sin in general.  Otherwise we aren't responsible for anything that happens to anyone besides us.  I mean, who cares if we had stepped in or not against Hitler?  That's not our sin, and he wasn't living under the same laws as us...heck, he created his laws.  So why did we hold him accountable to our laws?

 

Sin is sin.  It is wrong.  We are told to resist sin.  Jesus fought sin throughout his ministry.  He would heal someone, and then tell them to leave their life of sin.  How often did we hear Him say, "Go and sin no more?" 

 

Of course the problem arises when we choose homosexuality as the sin to fight and forget about drunkeness, which is a problem with "Christian" teens.  Or slander/gossip...listed right along with sexual immorality. 

 

It seems Christians like to pinpoint a sin or two (homosexuality and abortion) and forget about all the other sin rampant throughout our world and rampant within the church.  Before decrying homosexuality, let's remove the plank from our own eye.  Before crying "family values," let's deal with divorce, which is almost as common within the church as without.  Let's deal with slander/gossip in the church.  Let's get rid of silly arguments among church leaders..let's fight hypocrisy on the home front. 

 

We need to challenge the church to resist sin in their own lives before resisting sin elsewhere...we need to deal with sin within the church before we battle sin outside the church.  Remove the plank first(Matthew 5?)...

 

If we are going to be holding others to Christ's standards, we need to make SURE that we are doing everything we can to resist sin on the homefront.  We need to be living "such good lives among the pagan's that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven" (1 Peter 2:12). 

 

You want to resist sin?  Awesome.  That's what we are called to do.  But resist it, in every aspect, in your own life first.

 

Grace and peace,

Mike