JACKPOT!!

The furor over homosexuality has been sad, to say the least.  Nothing is getting resolved.  Neither side will budge.  Some are rude name callers, inciting their opposition to take the bait and argue back. I'm trying hard not to do that with some success, and I'm praying I'll improve.  Satan will always have something to get a rise out of people and cause division.  The Lord has provided a better way and that's what I"m writing about today.

First, I need to talk about a former teacher of mine and then get into God's Word, where the truth is. My teacher, along with another teacher and a banker, all males, bought a lovely two story colonial, white with black shutters on a large corner lot in my hometown.  They quickly turned it into a showplace, traveling the world, gathering artifacts to display.  A friend told me people would stop and ask to see the place and they would proudly give a tour to the person doing the asking.  I tried when I was home one summer, but caught them on their way out, so I only got to see the downstairs. It was beautiful

My point?  They were never picketed, reviled, gossiped about, or endangered their jobs.  No one tried to burn down their home.  In fact, my teacher won teacher of the year long after he took up residence with two other men.  But then, those three men were not activists or troublemakers.  In short, they were comfortable in their own skin. They lived their life exactly as they pleased, quietly, among their treasures and they were respected for it. It's obvious they weren't about to change their minds and weren't out to force their beliefs and lifestyle on anyone else. Those 3 men, by the way, lived many years before there was such a thing as gay pride.  In fact, homosexuals in that day and in that town were mocked and vilified.  Why not them?  They weren't trying to prove a point and people left them alone.

I am not saying I agree with their choice, but they lived so quietly, no one really knows for sure if they were homosexual.  Three men living together did cause assumptions, perhaps wrongly.  Who knows?

At the present time, I'm reading through Job.  The comments at the bottom of the page (Chapters 32-34) brought all this angry rhetoric into perspective.  Job's three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, quickly point fingers and accuse Job of sin, totally unaware that God called Job a righteous man.  For 28 long chapters, the back and forth between Job and his "friends" drags on and on.  In chapter 32, a young man named Elihu has finally had enough.  He steps in and informs them they have it all wrong.  He's been compared with Jesus by some, but the commentator of the ESV (English Standard Version) says he makes some of the same arguments the "friends" make.  However, he does get one thing very right.  He's chastising all 4 men for focusing on Job's problems instead of the Lord.

JACKPOT!!!!!

If we would all stop, take a breath, and focus our thoughts and conversation on Jesus, this bickering would go away.  It's not solving anything, anyway.  Having said that, I am NOT saying I agree with homosexuality.  There is too much Scripture that condemns it.  I'm not about to argue with God.  I'm lousy at arguing with people and I know I'd lose trying to convince God He's wrong.  I don't even want to.  I am saying Elihu got it so right when he turned the argument away from Job's troubles and toward the Lord.

The readers of the book know from Chapter 1 that God is testing satan and satan takes the bait, but Job and the others never know that.  When Elihu gets done correcting the words of the others, God steps in and Job quickly sees he had it all wrong.  He gets a new perspective on Who God really is and how little his complaints were. Beautiful.

Think about it.  When we focus on our troubles, what happens?  Does anything get better?  It doesn't for me, that's for sure.  Like Job, I begin to complain that I've been abused.  That's why I'm concerned about American Christians.  Will we be like Job or Paul if persecution gets as bad in this country as it is in other places?  However, when my thoughts focus on the Lord, my perspective changes, along with my attitude.  I have peace in spite of the fact the circumstances.  I'm learning I never have to let circumstances get the better of me. And that's beautiful.  Thank you, Elihu.

Most of all, I'm saying talking about Jesus and what He's done for us may open blinded eyes. Isn't that what we want and need?