In city after city, proclamations are being made in affirmation of “Pride Month.” There are people I’ve talked with in the last several days who say things like “What is going to happen now? How do we respond?” Well here is what I think should be done.
1. Don’t freak out. God’s not freaking out, so we should not either. This may have caught us off guard, but God was not shocked by what happened. Our sin is not surprising God. He saw this coming thousands of years ago. This is all under the sovereign control of our King. Don’t worry about it. He’s got this!
2. Clean up your house. Start today by looking at your own life, and repent of the sins that are going on in your heart and life. We are quick to rip apart homosexuality as an awful sin (which it is), but so is your angry bitter heart. So is your unforgiving attitude. Your sin is just as awful as their sin. It all needs to be redeemed. We start by leading out in the area of repentance. We bow our knee to the King of the universe and repent of our sins. “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (Rev. 2:5).
3. We pray. The reason we have such horrible things going on in our nation is because the Church has not been on its knees praying the way it should. Yes that even includes me. I’m guilty of a lack of prayer. Revival starts in the House of God, not in the halls of congress. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6).
4. Stay focused on sharing the Gospel. The only thing that changes people is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not pushing them to try to live out some type of moral standard. Because, in all reality, we can’t live out that moral standard. We’ve all fallen short (Rom. 3:23). Jesus has to live this thing out for us. The Gospel has the power to transform (Rom. 1:16). Proclaim the Gospel boldly in the cities and towns you are in.
I know it’s easy to jump onto the worry train and start saying everything is lost, but this is when the Gospel can and will shine the brightest and best. The Gospel invades dark spaces and brings light. What we need to be focused on is not the issue itself. We need to be focused on Jesus, and as a result of being focused on Him, we become salt and light to a dark and dying culture.
Go and show off Jesus to the world!