Activist Or Evangelist?

My most recent blog post was quite controversial, to say the least, so I thought it would be a good idea to shift gears a bit.  One does not take a position on the subject of same sex marriage, and the response of the church, as I recently did, without the awareness that your iPhone battery will not last through the day of posting!  I have heard anything from "Attaboy!  Couldn't have said it better" to "God has turned you over to a reprobate mind, son!" 

As a result, I have been searching my motives, my dreams, and my opinions regarding social issues over the past few days.  The problem with me is: I know me all too well.

I know me...

I know God...

I also know the vast difference between the two.  When I feel the extended hand of God inviting me to be used to bless His kingdom in some small way, I often hesitate.  Why?  Glad you asked.  Because I know me.

When others comment on my 'gift' of communication, I smile inwardly, because I know me.

What do I know?  I know my inconsistencies. I know my faults.  I know how easy it is for me to seclude myself from the very people to whom I am called to communicate.

I know my heart.  I know the weak areas of my relationship with God.  I know the weak areas in my Biblical knowledge.  I know me...

I know my potential.  I also know my lack of achievement.  I know...

Yet, this morning, the Spirit of God awaited me.  As the sun began its ascent above the horizon, and as the wheels of my vehicle began to roll toward the church, God waited...  Patiently...

He has waited on me all of my life.  He has waited on me to lay aside my dreams to follow His will.  He has waited on me to break free from the peer pressure and demands for success placed upon me by society.  He waited on my surrender.

That is all He wants from us!  

With the first words of my prayer this morning, His Spirit overwhelmed me, and reminded me, not only do I know me, but I know Him. 

The God whom I know is patient, kind, faithful, forgiving, merciful, just, and loving...

His love knows no limits...

His grace, with which he lifts me from sin, has no maximum capacity, and could never be overwhelmed...

And, in prayer, He reminded me, "I know you."  Not only does he know me, but He knows us all.  Sinner, saint, white, black, straight, gay, or whatever other societal title we choose to label each other with, God knows us...

Just as I know Him by His name, Jesus, He knows me by mine.  So, just as God does not communicate with the heterosexual, traditional marriage supporting crowd as a whole, neither does He think of the homosexual, same-sex marriage community as a whole. 

He knows them as individuals.  Rick, Karen, Sandra, Alex, or Dan...  Gay or straight...  God knows us all by our names. 

Regardless of the nature of our sin, God not only knows us as individuals, but desires to communicate with us on an individual basis. 

In our efforts to stand for what we believe, we must be careful to avoid alienating those with whom God has called us to share His love.  

I can already here the cracking of knuckles as individuals stretch their fingers in preparation to type out a response to the effect of, "Someone has to stand for what is right!  Someone stand up for what you believe!  That's why there's no revival in the land and also why the world is in the shape it's in!"

Respectfully, this is not our world to fix. It is our world to reach.  Jesus has not called us to ACTIVISM. He has called us to EVANGELISM!

Or, in the words of a song we sang when I was a kid, "This world is not my home...."  How many of us repair a home which belongs to someone else?

If we reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we will change lives. When we change lives, we will change our world.