Chapter 10

30For we know the one who said, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will pay them back,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”,  31It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

Hebrews 10:40

Many times during my life God had tested me by allowing others to form distorted perceptions of me. Looking back I know He had been blessing me with a challenge I needed to overcome. There is one thing that I surely hate. The thing that frosts me the most is when I witness someone who clearly thinks and acting in a manner that demonstrates they feel they are better than someone else. 

I was a young boy with a speech impediment. Other children thought me to be an idiot at best. The annealing caused by the heckling combined with the example of Godly conviction I learned from my father’s example turn scorn and sweat that ran down my face to victory. I tenaciously forged myself into a wrestler to be reckoned with. I know that God had been carefully grooming me to be the person that I am. Everything that I am, or have, or ever will be is from God for His purpose. 

As I progressed as a wrestler the perceptions others had of me changed. I over came both physically and mentally. Their perception toward me changed in my favor. 

Perception is everything. People on this earth have a habit of adopting a false perception of others based on lies. False perception is deception. Things false and untrue are from the evil one. Many who profess to be Christians operate from a perspective of deception. This is a big problem with many who are what I call “better-then-you-Christians”. Inaccurate perception in the work place is an increasingly serious problem. 

My background is that of an electrical engineer. The issue of inaccurate perception or deception is no more evident than in the engineering profession. Few middle managers and less upper management understand what we do. Much of the deception is a result of how one plays the game. As a wise manager once had put it, “Unfortunately, and I don’t like it either, playing the game is part of your job.”

My immediate response was to reject his theory. As he explained it, the perception others have of you in the work place determines the destiny of your career. I knew inside he was right. There were many times throughout my career when behind closed doors a superior would take the credit for what I had done. There were many shady deals that would have been sabotaged if upper management would have known that I already had a solution that required no additional expense. Therefore, for that and other dubious reasons, the perception the unscrupulous were able to project to the VP was that of intentional deceit. 

In cases where negative perceptions are accurate, it is important to point out that in God’s eyes, we are still the apple of His eye. God hates the sin within. He loves us all unconditionally. He asks us to do the same.

I met a man when I was working out of town that I came to know quite well. This man proclaimed himself to be a homosexual. We broke bread together, exercised together, and shared our thoughts on the deepest of issues. I was unable to bring him to know Christ. However, I have hope. I pray for him often. 

In the time that I knew him, he was not living in immorality of any kind. He often talked about a former partner who had died. I could tell he was sincere. Understanding him was and is a challenge to me. Being brutally honest here, I struggled not to think that I was more righteous than him. I came to understand that his sins or any sin that he may have committed in the past were no worse than my sins, or anyone else’s sins for that matter. 

God loves homosexuals as he loves us all. God does not loathe the homosexual. He hates the sins of a homosexual as he hates all sin including ours. Whether he was born a homosexual or decided to become one is immaterial. We are all separated from God by sin whether we are homosexual or heterosexual. 

The fallacy with the homosexual community is the lie that they need to be proud of their sin. Sodomy and fornication is nothing for anyone to be proud of. In God’s eyes the sins of a frat boy who had what he may considers a “successful” night with a sorority sister is no better than the sins of a homosexual. It would be totally unacceptable for the two to parade down the street with banners proclaiming the pride they hold for their act of fornication. 

The homosexual’s sin is no worse than a liar’s sin. For that matter, the sin of another is no worse than the sins of our own. No one is worthy of heaven. We all deserve death. Faith in Jesus Christ and accepting His death on the cross as a ransom for our salvation is the only way to Heaven. In that one event, Jesus Christ paid in full for the sin of all mankind. We can not add to that which Jesus has already done. It is finished. 

Our sins are no better than those of others. God is the omnipotent creator of the Universe. He is perfect love, pure white light. Nothing that is came to be without Him. All sins are equally detestable to God.

The good news is God can change the homosexual. He and only He can change us all. The hard part is coming to the understanding that we need to surrender our lives to His kingship and ask for God’s free blessing of salvation.

10for those involved in sexual immorality, for homosexuals, for kidnappers, for liars, for false witnesses, and for whatever else goes against the healthy teaching 11that agrees with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, can live sensible, honest, and godly lives in the present world 13as we wait for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 14He gave himself for us to set us free from every wrong and to cleanse us so that we could be his special people who are enthusiastic about good works15These are the things you should say. Encourage and refute with full authority. Don’t let anyone look down on you. .

1 Timothy 1:10