a recollection...

So, I went to a Bible study type setting tonight involving a community of friends wanting nothing more than to share a bit of time together each week to try to be more of just that--a community. Someone shared this passage from Matthew 22:36,37: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with allyour heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'" This reflection, which I had never really pieced together, came flooding into my mind:

In high school, I remember overhearing a conversation between students in my photography class. One of the students was obviously a homosexual. He was also very open about his religion, Christianity. Another student, a conservative Christian, questioned the gay student's status of "being saved" since he was a homosexual. The homosexual responded confidently with something to the effect of, "I know I'm saved. The bible says, 'love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.' And I do that." I remember thinking, "If he only realized that he is not loving the Lord with all of these, since he is leading a homosexual lifestyle."

The implication of this statement was, "He doesn't love God like that, but I do." I had taken the commonly trodden path of focusing on certain sins in people (namely things like homosexuality or losing one's virginity or having an abortion) and taken myself out of the picture of sin as one a bit more "together" or one who didn't have these inhibitions to loving God. What I didn't take into account was my own sin of pride, as shown in this judgement against gays, my own lust, and my continual putting of idols in the place of a soul-satisfying God.

I didn't realize that, not only did this homosexual not measure up to God's standard of loving him, but neither did I. And not only did I not live up to that commandment/requirement of perfect love, but that that commandment is impossible to live up to! There, I said it. Christianity is impossible! Part of the beauty of the gospel is that it is impossible. You can't live up to what's required of you. The only person to ever live up to this requirement was completely God, namely Jesus. Thus, in the despair that we cannot live up to the most important commandment, and that we will further not be able to be saved in this manner, let us flee to Christ. We must stake everything on the one who did love perfectly. In this we will find humility. We will no longer condemn our neighbor the homosexual, but rather we will sypathize with him/her, knowing that their only hope is our only hope, that Christ save us based on his merit, not ours.