And They Shall Know Us By Our Pronouns?
A while back a friend told me about sending her teenage daughter to a local church youth group. She was excited for her daughter to have a great experience. When her daughter came home her mom was full of questions about her daughter's experience. Her daughter said something that sucked all the air out of the room. She said “mom, the first question some of the students asked me is how do I identify?” My heart went out to my friend and her daughter. These are interesting times we live in. It seems there is an identity crisis happening in our country.
I was reading Luke 14 this morning. Jesus is talking about the cost of being his disciple. He basically says it will cost you everything. Being a disciple of Jesus means our allegiance is to him and even more importantly our identity is found in him. We can celebrate our diversity, our gender, our ethnicity, and other characteristics that distinguish us from each other but our primary identity is found in our relationship with Jesus.
I understand the direction our culture is going with all these identity issues and it makes me sad. Kids are more confused than ever and unfortunately many parents are as well. Culture wars are at an all time high. I don’t like what I’m seeing but I’m particularly bothered that culture wars and identity issues have made their way into the church. In the church there will be issues we don’t see eye to eye on. We may disagree with each other politically, culturally, and even theologically but we are to love each other unconditionally. There is no wiggle room for divisiveness. If I’m going to be persecuted or put down I want to make it count.
In Matthew 5:10-12 (NLT) Jesus says, “God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it. Be glad because a great reward awaits you in heaven."
If we experience persecution or rejection for our faith in Jesus that’s actually a good thing. However if we experience persecution or rejection over our politics, or if we start fighting over pronouns or left versus right, liberal versus conservative, we may be persecuted but it will not be for the purposes of the kingdom of God. I’m not saying we shouldn't take up causes to make our schools better or to protect children or other worthy causes like that. I’m talking about attaching our identity to a political party, or a cultural issue, or even a sexual identity that supersedes our identity in Christ. Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. When Jesus was tempted by the devil after fasting in the wilderness for forty days the devil offered him the kingdoms of the world but Jesus turned it down. Why? Because Jesus knew he was going to establish a kingdom that was far superior to any earthly kingdom. If you are a disciple of Jesus you are a part of the kingdom of God.
In the coming days and weeks we are all going to be tempted to argue over politics, pick sides, trash the other person's candidate, and get sucked into heated debates that have the potential to divide friends, family, and even churches. Don’t fall for it.
Let me finish with the words of Jesus. Matthew 5:14 & 16 (NLT) You are the light of the world–like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
Stay close to Jesus,
Steve