I’ve been away for two days traveling.  It’s Friday.  The week was LONG.  I feel tired.  Physically and mentally spent.  It’s just been one of those weeks.  I have two appointments today and decided to kill some time in-between at a local coffee shop.  Hoping for two hours of reprieve.  A hot coffee and some catching up on undone items from the week.  

As I waited at the counter for my coffee, I couldn’t help but overhear one of the baristas talking to the girl in line ahead of me.   It went sort of like this.  “Yea, my partner and I just went home to visit her parents.  They were fine.  But, ya know, they are devout Christians and even though they don’t say it to us, I know they don’t approve of my relationship with my girlfriend.  It just sort of sucks that Christians have no perspective and are such homophobes.”  

I’d like to say I was shocked, but I wasn’t. This certainly has been the narrative when you hold to a traditional definition of gender and marriage.  For me, it is always an immediate sense of offense, and then sadness over such a distorted statement.  I mulled over in my mind whether I should speak up and defend the faith that I hold so dearly.  I quickly decided against that considering how drained I felt at that very moment.  After all, I was there to try and refill and refocus.  But it bothered me.  In fact, for years this has bothered me.  And, it will continue to bother me in a world that is quickly redefining the identity of male, female and the beautiful union of the two.  

For years, those struggling with an identity that correctly matched their biological body sat at around 3% of the population.  This number is quickly on the rise with the push to embrace what’s being dubbed as an “enlightened” view on gender and marriage. Don’t believe me? Click on the TV or take a step into any public school across the US. It’s nauseating. I have four teenagers; all of whom attend the same high school in a rural district.  They talk almost daily about the fluid and trendy nature of fellow students’ identity.  Male, female, non-binary, transgender, bi-sexual, asexual, otherkin, and the list goes on and on.  Whatever you want to be, just name it. As a parent it’s mind boggling. We teach science to our students right alongside identity affirmations that contradict biological science. 

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27

This is such a touchy subject.  I hesitate to even broach it for fear of being labeled something I’m not.  However, leaving it untouched is a grave mistake. Truth is necessary on this subject. In the words of Jesus himself, “they know not what they do.” (Luke 23: 34)  We are not fighting people, but rather a counterfeit from behind the scenes, Satan. Satan has weaponized this trend; normalizing identities that are detached from our Creator. Contemporary thought has redefined the intrinsic and sacred characteristics of our male or female makeup; made it fashionable.  Social media, entertainment, public education…..all pathways into the hearts and minds of humanity that now tell you that your sexuality is something you can select. 

Even worse is the progressive church, a post-liberal movement within Christianity that seeks to reform biblical truths of the faith. Yes, even portions of the church are embracing this trend and placing it under the banner of love. THIS, my beloved friends, is not truth. It’s the ultimate deception from the author of deception, Satan. Satan disguises deception as truth under the name of Christ. Instead of the gospel of Christ, we end up with a gospel of the individual. As Alisa Childers wrote, “When love is plucked from its biblical context, and morality defined by personal desire, one is left with a gospel made in our own image.” And there you have it. A gospel that reflects the image of an increasingly Godless society. 

It’s time for Christians to stand on the rock of biblical truth with a voice. We need to repent and ask for clarity from the Lord in a disoriented culture. We need to stand firm in a world where Christians are now the minority. We need to reclaim a biblical worldview in the face of cancel culture. We need to faithfully commit to speaking truth with a spirit of discernment. We need to lovingly engage a lost society in the place we are planted. I urge you to pick up that cross and walk it out. When we speak and act with biblical clarity, it is then that we can be the salt and light within our communities.