Music for your Spirit!

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Bruce Jenner

I went looking for an answer and God's answer was this...."you don't need an answer...you just need to love."

I could close this post right there. Because that sums up the teachings of Jesus on the most important commandmants of them all...

Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40 NKJV

But God took me there...to bring me here...so this is where we are going...from the very beginning.

Ready?

I don't watch a lot of TV. I have "my shows" that I only miss for Jesus. Ask my kids. If I'm home...if I don't have to be somewhere for somebody...if there is no church service...I watch "my shows"...and you either sit down...shut up....watch with me...or get out. Friday nights...I have no shows. So the fact that I even watched 20/20 is something of a miracle.

But things fell into place that I was home...and in front of the TV at 9pm...and it fell into my spirit that I wanted to watch the Bruce Jenner interview. Please let the record show...that I do not keep up with ANY of the Kardashians. And the fact that I even know that one of them thinks she broke the internet and is married to that insufferable Kanye...don't even get me started. Anyway...I had no idea who Bruce Jenner actually was until I watched the interview.

So. I watched. And I wept. Like a baby. I was almost embarrassed I was crying so badly. I had no idea what was happening to me. All I knew was that his story just honestly broke my heart. And during a commercial break...I remember praying..."Jesus...what in the world is the matter with me? What in the world is going on?"

And at that point...I knew something bigger than me was happening because I could not take my eyes off the screen. And I was thinking...all these red flags...and you haven't posted anything on FaceBook in nearly 1.5 hours....whoa.

At 10:38pm I posted..."20/20...Bruce Jenner. No premarital sex. No extramarital affairs. No homosexual activities. No sexual attraction to the same sex. I'm not sure how to feel about transgenders. About people who suffer from gender identity crisis. Do I consider it a mental disorder? I honestly do not know. Gotta go to the Lord in prayer on this one..."

And then at 10:59pm I posted..."My heart breaks for him...being hard wired to feel like a her stuck inside of a him. If God knew "him" before he was created in his mother's womb...did He prepare a room for "her" in heaven?"

And that is when all hell broke loose. You can go back through the thread and read all the comments. Be forewarned...it's a lot. I mean an awful lot. But I think that was the whole point of my spending my Friday night in front of a TV watching a program I never watch.

First of all. That question..."If God knew "him" before he was created in his mother's womb...did He prepare a room for "her" in heaven?"...is profoundly deep. Apparently too deep for religious folks.

Put your spiritual glasses on and take a good look at that one.

No matter how badly someone's sin shocks or disturbs you or disgusts you...no matter how differently it looks from yours...it is no surprise to God. And saying that God won't save Bruce Jenner because he has sinned is like saying that God can't save you after you have sinned...that He can't save me after I have.

And if you agree that God can...and praise God...WILL...save Jenner...why take such a hard line over the way he sins. Is anything too hard for God?

My sin gave me my testimony. Yours should have given you yours. Why can't his sin give him his testimony?

If God hadn't reached way down and got me...I wouldn't be able to tell people how God will reach way down and get them.

Who are we to put people in hell that God plans to use for His glory. I don't know that using Bruce Jenner is part of God's plan. But I'm not willing to take the chance that He wants to use him and then be guilty of being the one who throws up a stumbling block against him.

Several people wanted to condemn him...but very few could tell me for what.

Being a homosexual...he is not. Being an adulterer...he is not. Being a transvestite...he is not. Misrepresenting himself to engage in sexual activities...he did not.

Changing his body? Taking hormone therapy. Shaving off his adam's apple. Considering gender reassignment surgery. Several folks said that Jenner was saying that God got it wrong by saying that he was born in the wrong body. Okay. Let's explore that.

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:27-28 NKJV

This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. Genesis 5:1-2 NKJV

Amen! and Hallelujah. God created Adam and Eve. Jesus...the one true Son of God...just IS...always has been and always will be...and thank God that He is!

But Adam and Eve fell...and then had fallen children...who had fallen children...who had more fallen children...so on and so forth...

On the fall...Genesis 3.

Since the fall...

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Psalms 51:5 NKJV

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— Romans 5:12 NKJV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23 NKJV

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:8, 10 NKJV

No. None of the things that we do as a fallen people are a part of God's original design. But we fell. And since the fall...NONE OF US HAVE BEEN BORN ACCORDING TO GOD'S DESIGN. All of us have been born into sin. A rainbow of sin. And just because my sin is yellow...Jenner's is black..and yours is green...and the next guys is purple...no matter the color of our sin...as pretty or as horrific...as light or as dark...we were all born into sin. None of us were cleansed until we were washed by the blood.

Are you telling me that Jesus can wash my yellow sin white as snow...but not Jenner's black sin?

And since we were all born into sin...why couldn't he be born with his? I don't know that he was...but I'm not willing to argue the point with anyone because it doesn't matter if he was born that way...turned that way...or went out and bought a do it yourself kit to be that way. Jesus can turn that thing around.

Jesus was teaching on celibacy...but this spiritual principle can be applied to any sin sickness...now look deeper than what this says. (And please don't assume that I am implying that Jenner's transition is for the "kingdom of heaven's sake"...I am declaring that I don't know what God's plans are for this man.)

But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given:  For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.” Matthew 19:11-12 NKJV

If you are not able to "accept it"....no worries....it wasn't meant for you to! There are clearly gray areas when it comes to certain actions as it pertains to whether they may or not be sins. We have the 10 commandments. Clear and to the point. But unless it is specifically stated as sin...that's in the gray.

This is clearly one of those areas. It is in the gray areas that I PERSONALLY prefer to throw up my hands and say...I don't know...but let's pray about it. Of course there is 1 Thessalonians 5:22 and Romans 14:16...but when it comes to gray areas...that's risky business because what's gray for me may be black and white for you...and vice versa.

My point is this...the bible doesn't explicitly say NOT to change your body. (Be careful here. Medically necessary or purely cosmetic procedures...also fall into the category of changing your body. And there is that pesky little ritual of circumcision...)

It does explicitly say...

On homosexuality...

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Leviticus 18:22 NKJV

On transvestites...

“A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God." Deuteronomy 22:5 NKJV

And moving right into those of you who said his sin was lying...Whose isn't? Lying? I'ma grab my mirror while you grab yours.

Now for those of you who are reading the word "abomination" and are gearing up to "argue" that his alleged sins are worse somehow because they are abominations...hold that thought...

These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19 NKJV

Now....You were saying about abominations....(thought so.....)

I don't want anyone to think that I am taking his sins lightly...or making light of them...or trying to say that they aren't sins...I am not. The thing is that I am too busy confessing and repenting of my own sins to hold his over his head.

Does that mean that I would be willing to let him continue in willful sin without calling him on it in love? No! Gender is God assigned and not self determined nor is it based on social standards or ideals. One's biology (male or female) is ultimately not separate from one's gender identity. And the fact that he thinks/feels that it is...whether from birth or as conditioned by things that happened around or to him...is an indication of his sin sickness.

This weekend has been a series of total aha conversations between God and I. Actually. After I had my meltdown yesterday...they've been pretty one sided. I knew that He would answer me. I knew that it would be crystal clear and undeniable. But today...WHOA!

Yesterday...he dropped in my spirit hammers and lighthouses. I was like...WHAT? What has either to do with what I asked You? Hammers? Lighthouses? Really, God?

So. First. The hammer revelation. (Which I wasn't too thrilled about in the end...but it did make sense.) A brother and I got into a very heated confrontation...you can read my posts from Saturday for the details. But IN MY OPINION...he was hiding behind Scripture...throwing rocks in so called love. Not cool with me. So. I picked up some rocks of my own. Apparently...not cool with God!

God showed me that if I went into battle with one hand on my heart...to remember the work He had done in there...and the other hand lifted in praise...I would remember to only lift my hammer against the sin...and never against the sinner. I would be more prone to tell my brother to watch himself while I took aim at the sin...instead of trying to take aim at my brother. OUCH.

Now. The lighthouse revelation. At first I thought the lighthouse was to be used to prepare the prezi for Pastor's sermon today. I couldn't make it work. So I went a different route. But this morning during church...God showed me that there are times when you can't see the light from the lighthouse. Though the light rotates...when the beam is at 12 and 6...you can't see it at 3 and 9.

When I am a lighthouse...in my flesh...when I am at 12 and 6...the people at 3 and 9 can't see my light. However...when I am a lighthouse...in Jesus...when Jesus is my light...when Christ is in me...and my light shines from the hope of glory...it shines all the time for all to see. Though the lighthouse is the landmark...Christ is the source of my light...that draws people to Him. Left to myself...I'll want to use my light to spotlight some one else's sins. A cold and accusing light. But my light should be warm and inviting...to draw people to the one that can wash all those sins away.

Which finally brings me to Christian bullies....

All believers are called to love our neighbor as ourself (Matthew 22:39), including those different from us. Christians are specifically called to be people known for their love: "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). You can't be a Christian bully and say that you love me. What?

We can't use the Word as a weapon. Not against saints. Not against sinners. I can't use my light to put the spotlight on you so that I can take a hammer to you. 1 Corinthians 13...the love chapter...says that our gifts are nothing without love. You can know the Word going and coming. You can have gone to the finest seminary and been preaching for 100 years. You can serve on the committee of the committees at your church. You can be the biggest tither and the most faithful member...but unless there is love...all you're doing is making noise.

No. Jesus didn't play when it came to sin. He had a zero tolerance policy. But He never did anything without love. Sometimes His love was tough. Sometimes His love was hard to hear...certainly hard to swallow...but it was love. Unadulterated love. Even to the cross...it was love. He didn't stand over people with a hammer in one hand and the Bible in another. No.

We have to very careful that we don't get that bullying spirit. People can't hear us if all we're making is noise. Even if it sounds really good to us...has some Scripture thrown in to cover our religious butts...even if we talk louder...or put it on repeat...without the love...it's just noise.

(How effective was noise in drawing you to salvation?)

So. I still don't know what to make of Bruce Jenner. But I am so glad that it is not my job to make anything of him. It is my job to show him the love that Christ has shown me. Whew! I can soooooo do that!

My prayer for Jenner is that instead of attempting to change his identity...that he realizes he needs to seek his true identity in Christ. My prayer is that someone has enough love when they speak that he is able to hear over the noise that Scripture teaches us that through Christ, we become His children (John 1:12), are adopted by Him (Ephesians 1:5), become one in spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17), and become part of a chosen generation, royal priesthood, and a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9).

That's my prayer for Jenner. And when God crosses my path with someone who is suffering from his brand of sin sickness...that's what I'll tell them.

Because I firmly believe that all of THIS is preparing ME for THAT...maybe not you...or you...because apparently...you can't handle it....

"You don't need an answer...you just need to love."

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please police yourself! Be mindful that this blog is available to my children..and possibly yours too..so please comment accordingly!

Blog Archive!