God Wants You

Yet even now, says the Lord,

Return to me with all your heart,

With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

Rend your hearts and not your clothing.

Return to the Lord, your God,

for he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,

and relents from punishing.

Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,

and leave a blessing behind him,

a grain-offering and a drink-offering

for the Lord, your God?

Joel 2:12-14

Which Comes First... Repentance or Forgiveness?

I've heard Christians say (or imply) that until we repent, God wants nothing to do with us. Is that true? Some verses in the Bible seem to back it up. John the Baptist said "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." Matthew 3:2

and "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'" John 1:23.

I think "Repent!" is a favorite word of many Christians. It keeps them comfortably on the "right" side of the sinner/Christian divide. Yes, it was a favorite of Jesus too. Jesus told sinners to repent. His disciples told sinners to repent. But repentance doesn't always cause the life-zapping change we we seem to expect. Repentance is admission of sin and willingness to change; no more. For most people, actual change takes time.

When Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:1-8, He told her He didn't condemn her before she had done a thing! She may have already repented in her heart (the bible doesn't say) but she hadn't even had a chance to talk to her latest "husband," and Jesus had already forgiven her!

Verse 10: Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

And why not? After all, don't some of us need God's help to repent? Yeah, I've heard marvelous stories of people who quit smoking and drinking on the day they prayed the "sinner's prayer," (and more power to them!) but that wasn't me. I didn't want to stop sinning; I just wanted God to love me! My conversion has taken years, has gone over many bumps and backtracked a few times, and is, in fact, still going on.

I have repented, I am repenting, and I have a lot of sin left to repent for. This isn't an excuse to sin. Looking back, I am a very different person from the selfish, immature, angst-imprisoned girl who asked for God's help several decades ago. (I wouldn't even want to do do some of the things I did back then!)

So... which came first? My belief is, forgiveness:

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Peace, Love, Forgiveness

I’m Here, I’m GREEDY, Get Used To It

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. 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. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

You may be familiar with this passage of the Bible and others like it. Pro-gay and anti-gay Christians alike use it to justify their positions on “the gay issue.” Either it means all gay behavior is wrong, or a certain kind of gay behavior is wrong. I’ve often seen the phrase “men who have sex with men” highlighted, boldfaced and/or translated into the original Greek: malakos and arsenokoitēs. Out of this whole long passage, these are the words that are picked apart and discussed ad infinitum.
Believe it or not, I’m not going to get into that here. There are books written by people who understand Greek far better than I do, and the internet is replete with opinions.

Here’s what I want to say: What about the other sins in this passage?
sexually immoral
idolaters
adulterers
men who have sex with men
thieves
greedy
drunkards
slanderers
swindlers

How many people who loudly express their opinions on “the gay issue” have committed one or more of these crimes? How many sit in pews, or even stand in pulpits, openly excusing themselves from the outcome of their unrepentant sins, “Neither … will inherit the kingdom of God.” I guess it’s pretty easy to spot a drunkard, but adulterers? The Bible says not to get divorced and remarried.
But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. Matthew 5:32
Again, I’m not going to comment. But there it is. How many unrepentant adulterers excuse themselves from this passage with statements such as “But God wouldn’t want me to be unhappy.” (God probably doesn’t want gay people to be unhappy either. But that must be different.)

And then there’s an issue that touches me personally: GREED. I don’t currently have any close gay friends, though I have in the past. No gay person has hurt me in a big way. But boy, greedy people have! And here’s the thing… I’m thinking of Christians. I’m thinking of unrepentant greedy Christians.

Are you sure you’re not greedy? Because if you are, or if you slander or swindle, you won’t inherit the kingdom of God either. Hmm… are there different kinds of greed? Different meanings of greed? Can there be greedy people in government, in business, on Wall Street? Are you raising your kids to be greedy? Does greed undermine our values? Can greed break up families?
I think we should be picking apart the Greek word for GREEDY and discussing what it means to be a GREEDY person and a GREEDY Christian. Here it is in the original Greek: pleonektēs. Think about it. If you’re greedy, you need to repent. You need to get straight with God. He'll forgive you. Because He loves you anyway.

The last part of this passage contains the really good news:
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.

This is for everyone. Even greedy people!

This verse sums up my feelings on "the gay issue" pretty well:

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3

Peace, Love, Repentance