Throwing down my stone.

Last week I took a sabbatical from blogging. Mostly unintentionally. My husband spent the week on mission in Costa Rica and I cherished some quality time with friends and family. When I made the occasional dips online to check social media, I just felt my heart becoming more and more distant from it. It was a much needed break. But I won't lie, one of the main reasons I decided to disconnect from this blog was because I was afraid of what I might say.

Early in the week, during one of my "check-ins" on Facebook, I noticed a string of friends posting a picture with a red equal sign. It didn't take long for me to catch what was going on, and I immediately went into defense mode. How could that person be supportive of gay marriage? The Bible is clear this is unnatural and sinful. (In case you missed it, read here)

Not surprisingly, many of my non-Christian friends were standing strong in their support. What actually surprised me, was how many Christians were supportive or silent on the matter at all. Where was the accountability? The truth? I hear Christians stand loud and proud in the fight against sex-trafficking, almost daily, but when it comes to standing against a sexually perverted lifestyle - silence.

Why? Fear. We are crippled with fear of offending someone who may disagree with us.

Well let me tell you what I'm afraid of... I'm afraid our culture is going to become numb to the gospel of Jesus Christ. His love, forgiveness and sacrifice for our sins.

Now is it my job to take a tally of a person's sins? No way. But friends, the gospel of Jesus cannot be preached if we are unaware of our need for a Savior!

The Gospel Coalition put it perfectly, "You do not love your neighbor by encouraging them to engage in actions that invoke God's wrath (Psalm 5:4-5; Romans 1:18). As Christians we may be required to tolerate ungodly behavior, but the moment we begin to endorse the same then we too have become suppressers of the truth. You cannot love your neighbor and want to see them excluded from the kingdom of Christ."

When Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees regarding the woman caught in adultery, he asked for the person who had not sinned to cast the first stone. Everyone walked away. They all recognized their sin. Even the woman caught in adultery knew she was about to get what she deserved. But even though Jesus could have condemned her right there - he didn't. Instead he called her to "go and sin no more."

The gospel has always been centered around our need for Jesus. We can't lose sight of that. And we can't lose sight of preaching that.

And at the end of the day, I care more about what a person believes about Jesus than whether they support gay marriage or not.