Unimaginable - My journey of repentance from Pride and Prejudice.

un·im·ag·i·na·ble

ˌənəˈmaj(ə)nəbəl/ 

adjective

1. 1.

   difficult or impossible to imagine or comprehend.

   
   

"Unimaginable, unthinkable, there is no way on God's green earth that I would every do that!"

Have you ever told yourself anything like that? Certainly, each one of us has a list of things, people groups, or places that we are prejudice against. If we are honest with ourselves, we all our prejudice to a degree.

 For you it may be against a certain people group. For others it may be against a certain person or family. Some people are prejudice against other skin tones, or nationalities. Others have prejudices based on religious or ethical differences. I know some people who would not as much speak to a homosexual man or woman, would not even acknowledge the presence of a prostitute. Many I've spoken to in this area are prejudice against Hispanics or those who are not from your neck of the woods or culture.

Whatever the hangup, we must let it go. we cannot claim to be a legitimate follower of Christ and hang on to such short-sided, idiotic, bigoted pride and prejudice. We are called to be counter-cultural. We should be on the front lines reaching out to our gay neighbors, serve as a place of refuge for the outcasts, seek to share the love of Christ with those who this society has rejected.

We are called to be on the front lines defending the freedom of all people! Although it is biblicaly wrong: people have a freedom to live a life contrary to Scripture. The standards of Christianity are not for the unbeliever but for those who are being saved. Therefore, we must uphold a persons choice to live outside of those standards that govern our lives. God deals with each one according to their own ways.

We are all in need of forgiveness and God's grace. Those outside of a covenant relationship with god are free to live in their bondage and sin. Homosexuals are free to live as if they were married. I would say that it is worse for a christian to live in sin than it is for the homosexual outside of the covenant of grace. The Christian refusing to show mercy and grace toward the outsider is far worse than someone living in ignorance.

We as Christians ought to be the loudest proponents of religious liberty.

We are called to call the world to repentance yet how will we do that if we isolate ourselves from the?

 You say, "Unimaginable, unthinkable, there is no way on God's green earth that I would ever accept a gay, a Muslim  (fill in the blank) into my home, to eat at my table, to sit with my family." 

Scripture say: "Unimaginable, unthinkable, there is no way on God's green earth that I you could every not do that!" 

We all have to face those things that we are prejudice about at some point in our lives. Peter in Acts 9-10 had to overcome some major prejudice. He had to overcome cultural, ethical, religious, and racial prejudice. God asked him to rethink everything he had grown up believing. 

"He was religious indeed ---------------- religiously wrong!"

Myself I have had to walk down a road of encountering my prejudices and discovering how wrong I have been. I grew up in a small country town in the bible belt. Nearly everyone went to church on Sundays, work on Mondays-Friday, partied all weekend (I opted out of that scene) then showed up in church to repeat the process.

It was as country as country gets. Like most country towns, faith, family, and hunting is what made the town tick. If you weren't from around there everyone knew it. Unless you were part a family you were treated as an outcast, but once you became one of the locals you were treated like family and they would give you the shirt of your back.

The churches in my town were predominantly Pentecostal and Baptist. On Sunday afternoon, it only mattered who got to the restaurant on-time. Believe me, there were plenty to choose from. We attended one of the main Pentecostal churches in town. I grew up going to Sunday School, attending bible studies and youth meetings. I enjoyed the enthusiasm. After visiting some of the local Baptist churches I determined to never join a Baptist Church.

I was fairly prejudice against Baptists. I thought baptist were dry, boring, and believed in fire insurance. As the years went on I discovered numerous doctrinal areas I disagreed with within the Pentecostal circle. I found hope in the Baptist church. I found that the very thing that I was prejudice of was the very thing I needed. I found the doctrinal things I thought I disagreed with that I agreed more strongly than I knew.

As I left the bible belt, I discovered that outside of the "churchy" culture of the Midwest people think differently. They have the freedom to do so. I can't expect people who do not believe as I do to live as I do. I must see all people as fallen and in need of a Savior! I remember a conversation I had with  my wife, when we were dating, over my unwillingness to allow a guy I thought was gay to cut my hair. I had allot of excuses but no real reasons. I had strong prejudice against such a lifestyle because of the way I was raised. I was wrong. He did not know Christ as his Savior and the only message I was sending was that I was too good to share the same room as him.

Although the sin is wrong and such a lifestyle is incompatible with being a christian, we are called to show love to them. We are called to be a safe place for the weak, the hurting and a source of love of grace for the outcasts. It may make you uncomfortable but I challenge you to befriend someone who lives a lifestyle far from what you are comfortable with.

Peter befriended a centurion. A Roman official who could have arrested him and a gentile on top of that. Jews were not to associate with such people. Jesus made friends of tax-collectors, prostitutes, scumbags, and the diseased. What about you? Who your friends are speak of who you are. if you only surround yourself with like minded people you will become narrow minded and short-sided. Hard to help those who have no need. Hard to save those who are already saved.

Jesus said his mission was not to save the righteous but the sinner. That same mission applies to us, His followers! So lets make friend s of people who are needing Jesus!