Garments of Grace
The bible says, “we were born into sin and shaped in iniquity.” If sin is like clothes then iniquity would be the person the clothes cover. Likewise if the grace of God is like clothes, underneath the those clothes is skin, a sinner. You cannot get rid of iniquity because we are born with it, just like you cannot get away from being a sinner. Inherently, from birth, I am a sinner, and I sin because I am a sinner, and the effects of sin are death (Romans 5:12).
Sin comes easy for us. Think about when you were a child or raising your own child. You have to teach or be taught to do what’s right or else you (or your child) lean toward doing what’s wrong. I see it in children all the time and I can remember things I had to be taught not to do because it was wrong, like taking something from the store without paying for it. If we are not taught right and wrong and are left to our own reasoning we grow up becoming dysfunctional members of society. Even the natural law of man, enforced by police, understands this. There would be no such thing as crime if mankind weren’t inclined or bent toward doing evil actions.
So we come into this world with a bent toward sin. Even after learning right and wrong, I still have a struggle with the nature of my humanness. I may want to steal when I don’t have money, or I want to fight and cuss when I don’t get my way. I may lust after a woman and want to commit fornication or adultery (if I were married). All these things rise up in me because my nature at its core is sinful.
Now there was I time I believed homosexuality was a choice and that no one was born with an inclination to be sexually attracted to the same-sex. But given what I just stated in the previous paragraphs that we were born with a bent toward sin, isn’t possible that a person could be born with a sexual attraction toward the same-sex? If engaging in homosexual acts is sin and we as human beings are born with an inclination to sin (thus all of us being sinners) then I find it very possible that some people are born with this sexual attraction for the same-sex just as I was born with a sexual attraction to the opposite sex. [Notice the sin is not in the attraction or desire. Those rise up in us because we are human. The sin happens when we act wrongly on those desires.] Sin is sin and as soon as we start ranking sins we fall into the trap of judging our fellow brothers and sisters and not looking at ourselves in the mirror. If I sleep around and have a bunch of premarital sex and that is my lifestyle, I am living a lifestyle of fornication. God sees that sin of fornication as an offense just like he sees a homosexual relationship as an offense. No greater, no less! Our souls will both be in hell for eternity if we don’t accept the gift of salvation and allow the grace of God to cover us, and work on that sin. If we believe God to be all-powerful and the God of miracles, we should believe he can give a gay man/woman an inclination toward the opposite sex if they both (God and said person) desire it to be so. If all sin is an offense to God then God’s grace is equally sufficient and powerful to cover a gay man/woman’s sin as it is to cover a straight man/woman’s sin. Simply put, to put the sins of a homosexual person above the sins of a heterosexual person is wrong and not supported in the Bible. (Read 1 John 1:8-10)
Back to our metaphor of clothes….just like sin can be put on so can the grace of God. The grace of God covers us and it hides our iniquity. You remember those signs on the outside of store buildings that said, “No shoes, no shirt, no business,” that’s how Heaven is. If you are not clothed with the grace of God, which is Jesus, you can’t get in. The clothes are just a covering but without the covering your nakedness is exposed to the public and nobody wants to see that!
I hope that my heart is heard in this post that we must continue to show love to those who haven’t yet been dressed with the garments of grace. I pray that my love for my friends and family is viewed by them as real and strong whether they are saved or unsaved, gay or straight, male or female. Spewing hateful messages doesn’t win people to the marvelous life in Christ. Love is not always the compassionate, soft, and delicate word but it sometimes comes as harsh and stern. But I guarantee if it is done in the spirit of true love the person(s) it is directed to will be able to tell the difference; even if they don’t accept it right away or ever at all. God’s word has a way of tearing us down and building us back up to a state better than we were before, and that’s what I love about it. This was a long post but, I am interested to hear your thoughts.
BBCOG. Peace.
