Grace and Peace Be Unto You

I am still not ready to return to my Pagan Christianity critique, so I will instead give you a something a little on the lighter end. I was traveling in town the other day and saw a bumper sticker I had never seen before. It said, "It is better to be hated for who you are than loved for who you are not". I also noticed some of the other bumper stickers on the car and its occupants and understood the heart in which this bumper sticker was displayed. The riders were without question living an alternative lifestyle and this made the bumper sticker seem more angry than soulful as I had first read it. The reason that I say that is because most of the homosexual people that I know are deep down angry. I don't know a lot of homosexuals, but the one's that I know are this way. They seem to be angry at the lack of grace shone them by those who swear to be bringers of grace. I have been struggling with the concept of grace. How deep is mine? How deep is God's? My understanding of scripture tells me that I will be given grace in the measure by which it has been extended from me to others. In other words, if I am not willing to give grace, I will not be given grace from God. I am not building a defense for homosexuality nor do I wish to encourage it. I am simply saying that we as "Christ imitators" need to do just that, imitate Christ. When He was present here on earth, He was very clear on the supremacy of loving God and loving each other. He also said that people who don't know Him will know us as His when we obey Him. More to the point, when we obey Him, live as He lived, we are either going to be loved or hated. Liked or disliked. Befriended or shunned. This brings me full circle with the bumper sticker. Those of us who are Jesus' disciples have a decision to make. Will we choose to be loved for what we are not? Or will we choose to be hated for what we are?Let us not hide the facts. Lets be willing to give grace to those who need it, regardless of what they choose to do with their life. Let us love one another and let God bring salvation to them in His way in His time.
The SIM church planter