My friend Billy works at a local business I frequent. He’s helped me there for years now, and I enjoy a good conversation cutting up with him every time I stop by. I make fun of how he hardly ever cracks a smile, and he makes fun of how gray I’m getting.
Billy’s a hard worker and always does a great job. But Billy and his new manager aren’t getting along these days and it’s causing him to worry.
You see, Billy is gay and his manager is a professing Christian.
Unfortunately there’s nothing that Billy can really do about it, since the manager hasn’t openly attacked him. It all started a while back when they had a conversation. Billy told me the manager went out of his way to say he doesn’t approve of Billy’s “lifestyle”.
“How did you respond?” I asked.
“I didn’t really know how to respond,” Billy answered me. “It just hurt and I’ve felt uncomfortable ever since”.
After that day, Billy would see the manager talking to other men out of the corner of his eye. They’d look Billy’s way, then they’d laugh. Billy could tell they were laughing about him, and this really hurt his feelings. One day it even happened when I was there. The manager was having a laugh with a local pastor and they seemed to be focused in Billy’s direction.
I was so frustrated and I didn’t know what to do. This may be the only time in my life I’ve wanted to beat up another pastor. Though I might have needed a little help to get the job done, I think Billy would have happily tag-teamed with me.
“Hold on there,” you may be thinking. “You’re a pastor too, Dave! Do you affirm Billy’s lifestyle?”
That’s a good question, actually. Because on one hand, I do believe the Bible. All of it. And I know it has some very specific things to say about how we live out our sexuality.
But because I do believe the Bible, there are a few verses that seemed to fit the moment even better…
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – Romans 3: 23
Go back a few verses earlier, and the Lord lays it on even tougher…
“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” – Romans 3:10-12
So according to the Word of God, we’re all in trouble over our heads. No one deserves to sit in judgment, least of all me!
Do I “affirm” Billy’s lifestyle? Heck, I don’t even affirm my own lifestyle. The only lifestyle I affirm is that of Jesus Himself. His was the only perfect life, and the only one worth following.
What that manager doesn’t realize is, in God’s eyes, we’re all a wreck. Me included! In fact if it weren’t for the sacrificial atonement of Jesus Christ, one day I’d be pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hell itself.
(You may not have realized Hell had a Baptist Church, but I’ve attended several I’m sure came straight from there…)
And here’s a little “inside baseball” for you about judging from a pastor whose witnessed a lot of it. Anytime you hear someone judging another person, you can take it to the bank that person is trying to hide something much worse of their own. The funny little secret I know is that manager who laughs about my friend Billy is the same man whose picture was in the paper a couple of years back for soliciting a prostitute!
That manager may be laughing at Billy, but right now all of hell is laughing at that manager.
When I led Bible study classes in the local jail, the prisoners had their own social caste system. They judged each other based on how heinous the crimes were they’d committed. I realized this when one day I noticed one group sitting together alone in one section of the room, no one talking to them. When I asked about it later, one of the inmates clued me in.
How ironic. Because from where I was sitting, it didn’t really matter what crime they’d committed. You see, they were all wearing orange. They were all criminals and behind bars. Creating a pecking order based on their crimes was a silly exercise in futility.
From where God is seated in heaven right now, we’re all wearing orange. If we’re wise we’ll stop trying to look better than the guy next to us. We’ll just do our best to lap up all the forgiveness we can find for ourselves at the feet of Jesus.
Today, that forgiveness pours down freely upon sinners like you and me from His glorious cross. I hope you’ll join me there at Jesus’ feet. Because the only stain that can truly cover up orange is red.
