Acceptance...

Can you love someone without accepting their lifestyle?

My Facebook life has become a little hectic lately. I posted something and it ruffled a few feathers.

The post said, "I have a level of compassion for people blindly living in sin because I used to be one. I used to think I was gay, I used to offer my body for sexual services, I used to believe in crystals and energies and sage. All that stuff that is actually evil and a sin. What’s beautiful about God, is once you repent and turn from those wicked things, He forgives you. But the work is turning from the wickedness. The work is remaining free from sin and not willingly returning to the bondage of that sin. I can say with love that the things happening in the world are the work of the devil. All the confusion about genders and the blatant sexual immorality the media keeps putting in our faces is nothing but prideful, obvious, and pretty sad. I feel bad for you because you don’t know who you are in Christ. Because you don’t know or want to know the truth of God’s word, then you’ll think I’m being anti-gay, or transphobic. I’m not, I used to be confused just like you. I let Satan deceive me into thinking what I was doing was okay with God. It’s not. Just to be clear having an attraction to someone of the same sex is not a sin, performing sexual acts with someone of the same sex is a sin (Leviticus 18:22 NLT). God intended for sex to be between a man and a woman (Matthew 19:4-6 NLT). I can’t help it if you don’t accept the truth God laid out for us. I can love you and not accept your lifestyle. Love is not the same of acceptance.

As a mother, I don’t accept everything my children do, but I discipline them accordingly and try to teach them what is right. I do this because I love them. God does the same thing, whom He loves, He disciplines (Proverbs 3:11-12 NIV).

God laid out a foundation of structure and obedience because He loves us. His love does not mean He will accept everything we do as His creation. You wouldn’t blindly accept everything your kids did, would you? Why do you expect God to do it then? Yes, Jesus loves you, but His love also has boundaries. Just like yours does."

So yes, naturally this was offensive. My intention was to speak the truth. Maybe I was insensitive in my delivery, I wasn't trying to be. I just have my own beliefs and I can back them up with Scripture. I don't think I'm better than anyone else, I'm not up on a high horse. I believe in what God's Word says, and if that makes me a bad person, so be it. I love everyone, just as Jesus did. I don't think he blindly accepted everyone's lifestyle. I believe He spoke God's truth and brought deliverance to those who needed to be set free from sin. God loves you, and He set His boundaries with love.

Another thing that I need to state is that my obedience to God does not come with my acceptance of the world or how the world operates. I love you as a human being created in the image of God.

Just know that you do not have to accept the ways of the world because you are in the world, not of it.