Hating to Love

I read a news article this morning about a church in Kansas who went to a military funeral with anti-gay picket signs to tell everyone that our soldiers are dying because God is mad at America for tolerating homosexuality. The article had a picture of them holding signs that said things like “Not blessed just cursed” and “God hates you”.

Words can not begin to say how it saddens my heart to see stuff like this.

If you are reading this and are not a Christian, I want to assure you that these people do not represent what a Christ follower is. God does not “hate” anyone. I’m sure he is saddened by the conduct of his children, just as any father whose kids have gone astray would be. But He still loves us.

I believe in what the Bible says: God created a man and a woman to be with each other. But just because I don’t agree with the gay/lesbian lifestyle doesn’t mean I’m going to stand on a street corner with a sign spouting hate towards them because of their choice.

The only thing I’m interested in is their relationship with Christ. These people with their signs don’t seem to be interested in anything but creating an environment where Christians are given a bad name.

The enemy has a lot of tricks, and he uses people like this who can’t see past their hate to discredit the true followers of Jesus. It creates mistrust in people who may be searching for the truth.

Jesus spent his time here on earth hanging out with the people who needed him most: criminals, adulterers, liars, prostitutes, etc. He didn’t tell them they were going to hell; he didn’t even tell them they were bad. He concentrated on what was important, their salvation.

So on behalf of those who truly follow the teachings of Jesus, I’d like to tell the family who laid their soldier son to rest that I’m sorry for their loss and that they had such a solemn moment infected by the hate of those hypocrites who have probably made God sadder than the people they were protesting.

“God, why do people who should be spreading the love of Jesus spend their time spreading hate and lies? Lift my aching heart to see past this travesty and continue your work. Amen.”