On this eve of our nation’s great holiday, my heart is so heavy.
Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful I was born here. I am grateful for our “independence.”
But I don’t feel like waving an American flag right now.
There are other flags waving too.
I’ve been on a social media fast for awhile now, but I know the rainbow flags are flying, by many who consider themselves followers of Christ. I’m not angry at them, or angry at those who practice homosexuality, or at those who have worked tirelessly to bring this new ruling to pass.
I’m just sad. And it’s not really about this new ruling, it’s that this has revealed that throngs of “Christians” do not believe the love of God as revealed in His perfect, precious Word.
It’s so much bigger than gay marriage. It’s that we believe we can live independent from our Creator, our Dada God and His Word and His truth, and can make up our own way, live our own way, have our own way.
It’s that we wave our SELF flags all day long, every single day.
The SELF flag only leads to death.
And the only flag that can free from the SELF flag, is the Gospel flag.
It is the soul’s white flag of surrender.
It is the flag that says,
“I surrender to You, Jesus. To Your Word, Your authority, and Your loving rule in my life. I give all to know You and make You known. Take my life.”
I don’t wish to debate here. I don’t think these issues are best settled online. Jesus confronted people eye-to-eye, with gentle words that sliced through self and cut straight to the core. I do think these two articles by Jonathan Parnell (Why Homosexuality is not like other sins) and Kevin DeYoung (40 Questions for Christians Now Waving Rainbow Flags) are incredibly helpful in helping Christians navigate these waters. I encourage you to read both.
But above all, I plead with you, wave the white flag of surrender to Jesus Christ. He is full of grace and truth. Surrender to His Word, His lordship …
His love.
{Thank you for reading.}
13 thoughts on “What flag will we fly this weekend?”
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I appreciate your willingness to honestly and gently share. My husband and I helped start a church in Spokane WA and whenever people talk to us their first question is: “What kind of church?” My answer is “Christian.” They usually say, “yeah, but what branch?” My answer is to smile and say, “We strive to wave the Jesus flag highest always, but we are affiliated with…..”
Amen! The banner of Jesus! Jehovah Nissi — the LORD our banner!
God bless you for this courageous post. Submission to God’s will for us and the way He created us (male and female) is the only way to true happiness. I pray for everyone who struggles with these truths that they can encounter God’s perfect truth and unconditional grace in their own lives.
Thanks, Mara. Yes, His love and amazing grace!
But where is the kingdom of God, other than in your own heart? What makes ME ‘sad’ is to see such an intelligent woman, a slave to a mindset that will inevitably cut the string that binds you to thousands of others who you could have potentially reached, because you CHOSE to not accept them, to call them sinners, to say that their path is ‘selfish’ and in contradiction to this silly idea of ‘perfection’.
How dare you, a mother to children who are not at will to become you think they should be, nor are they obligated to follow your flawed jurisdiction of ‘right and wrong’, speak up on such a matter that could possibly affect their own lives as they grow older.
I devote my life to God, but I am never to proud to admit that I am a human being and compassion is the way of the cross not condemnation for who someone else chooses to love.
I admire someone who stands by what they believe but I do not have time to listen to the reason of someone who has already made their mind up.
Sinners don’t surrender to the love of God desiring to be ‘fixed’ but rather to be accepted.
If you take a look at some actual scientific behavioral studies of adults who engage in criminal activity, you would see that ‘shame’ and ‘guilt’ and the feeling of ‘not being accepted’ are the strongest indicators for children who grow up to do drugs, commit crimes, etc.
i wish you the best of luck in your shallow attempts to ‘rid’ the world of the rainbow flags, to trade the beautiful colors of diversity for the color of conformity.
I think you may have posted this comment on the wrong blog. There are a lot of quotation marks in it that don’t correspond to anything written here.
Paulee, I’m so sorry you found this (and me) so offensive. I find myself offensive too (!) 🙂 so I’m grateful for how Jesus Christ has not only accepted me but changed me and continues to change me more and more into His image as I submit to His Word and work in my life. Without His transforming work in our lives we are lost! Jesus loves us way too much to only “accept” us and not also free us. Praying God’s very best for your life, Paulee! Thank you for reading.
These days too make me terribly sad… I am blessed to call you a sister in Christ, keep standing tall, you are not standing alone. “As for God, his way is perfect:” even when the world says otherwise.
Oh, thank you Dawn. I’m grateful you took the time to write a comment. Thank you!
Beautifully said. The one thing that helps is for me to remember that Jesus is coming back, and He never said it would get easier- only harder.
Yes He is! Bless you, Shelly, as we keep our eyes on Him!
Thanks so much for this post, as well as all your posts. People always seem to jump on the political debate and forget about the love part! http://www.extraordinarylivingblog.wordpress.com
Thank you, Brynn! I so appreciate you taking the time to comment. I’m so glad you are here!