Abigail, Benjamin, and Elizabeth~
Because sooner than later you will be challenged concerning your faith in Christ and because we want you to understand God according to His Word in oppose to the god of popular opinion.
This is the why for me.
Because I have put my faith in Christ and believe that my body is now the temple of His Holy Spirit I cannot justify any lifestyle that is contrary to His purpose for me.
Homosexuality is just one of many contrary purposes He has prepared for my redeemed life.
According to Paul the Apostle the "contrary purposes" for my redeemed life in Christ do not stop there; he includes all sexual immorality, idolatry, stealing, greed, substance abuse, verbal abuse, and hypocrisy in his first letter to the church in Corinth. "And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God."
So now, as a washed, sanctified, and justified child of God I except His prepared purpose for my life. My body is now for the Lord and the Lord is for my body.
Everything contrary to Him is now contrary to me.
The purpose He has given me now is to glorify Him with my life as a whole.
I cannot expect any person who has not received Christ Jesus into their hearts and lives to live the way I now live.
The fact is that I cannot live this way without faith in "the way, the truth, and the life" John 14:6.
I do not expect the world, my country, or my neighbor to understand this without a knowledge of Christ.
As a new creation in Christ I cannot glorify God if I begin adopting purposes contrary to His Word.
So, according to the Word of God that I now carry in my hand and my heart and because my body is His holy sanctuary, I live for Him.
Everything I do, I join Him to.
I stumble and fall and fail and struggle, but,by grace, I will not stay in a place that does not glorify Him.
The world will continue to comfortably conform and even some of my brothers and my sisters in Christ will re-write His Word and ride the waves of popular opinion and governmental freedoms all in the name of tolerance to excuse lifestyles that cannot glorify their Creator but,
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" Hebrews 13:8...
and no amount of marching or flag waving is going to change that or for that matter change His mind about His purpose for me.
"Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone-except God." Billy Graham
1 Corinthians 6:9-20 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
9 Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or anyone practicing homosexuality,[a]10 no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. 11 And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Glorifying God in Body and Spirit
12 “Everything is permissible for me,”[b] but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be brought under the control of anything. 13 “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will do away with both of them.[c] The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. 15 Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh.[d] 17 But anyone joinedto the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Run from sexual immorality! “Every sin a person can commit is outside the body.”[e] On the contrary, the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. 19 Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.[f]
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10
Where is the "like" button!
ReplyDeleteYes! I was sharing these truths with my children yesterday. They are going to grow up with a greater persecution that we've had to face. They need to hold fast to these truths. THanks for sharing Jen. ox
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