on chicken sandwiches, free speech, and Christianity

making you hungry? {me too!}

Understanding and realizing the reasoning behind this past Wednesday's Chick-fil-a Appreciation Day, I have a few thoughts weighing on my heart. My husband guest posted yesterday about it from a slightly different angle.

But today my thoughts are centered around the "christian culture" I grew up in. The one that says, if you do this you must be a good person and if you do THAT you can't possibly be used by God. Now, to disclaim here, not everyone I grew up around had that attitude! But my entire family were babes in Christ when I was a small child, so my parents learned what was accepted in the church who reached them. They embraced and studied the Bible, but were also influenced by this philosophy. Today, they are different people.

They are different and so am I because the Christian life is NOT a list of rules. It is not "do’s and don’t’s." But all life IS a daily struggle against sin. And having rules and guidelines can help us stay in line (indeed, they are necessary for teaching and learning), but "living by the rules" is not the  goal. And that is where so many get off track.

I did not go to Chik-fil-a on the "Appreciation Day" -partly because I did not have 2 hours to wait in line with 4 children and partly because I did not have $20+ in my budget to buy their food (no matter how much I like it!) But as I watched the facebook statuses and pictures from my friends who did go grow in number, I got to wondering if it was all really such a good idea. It was almost as if people got the idea that getting a meal from that particular restaurant on that particular day meant something to the lost world out there- like seeing those lines around the buildings told them something important. Because it didn’t.

When Christian values are attacked, it is no longer just a matter of "free speech" or the definition of marriage. It becomes a matter of showing the Love of Christ.

Yes, our freedoms are in jeopardy. The sanctity of marriage, the symbol of Christ's love for His church, is being marred by sinners. But it is because we are ALL sinners.

I do not personally know many people who claim the gay lifestyle, but I do know some. I am even related to one (gasp)- and I can’t change them.

shocker: They cannot change themselves! No one is born a homosexual (a sodomite). It is not an illness. It is not "who they are." It is a sin. [Mathew 19:4-6; Romans 1:20-32; I Corinthians 6:9-1; I Timothy 1:5-11 {and Jude 4-7 tells us in this Age of Grace we still can look to Sodom Gomorha as an example of wickedness and God’s judgment of it}] Satan has duped them into thinking it is what will make them happy. Because--"for a season"--it does. [Hebrews 11:24-30]

The only way anyone can change from that thinking is with the help of the Almighty God who made them, the only one who loves them with a love so pure He DIED for their freedom.

And the only way most of them will know of His love is if they SEE it in a Christian (you and me).

Many, strikingly many, who live a life of sodomy KNOW of Jesus. they have been preached at- both before and after making their "preferences" known. But preaching AT someone does not show love.

Eating a chicken sandwich on August 1 did nothing to tell anyone that Jesus loves them. There was likely no one there to witness to. I am quite sure most anyone asked would have said they are a Christian. That's why they were supporting a company whose founder has Biblical moral principles and is not ashamed to say so.

So, while I will eat at Chik-fil-a on occasion, when my pocketbook allows (I can make a good chicken sandwich right home!), more than anything else, I need to remember to pray for those lost souls. I need to spend time weeping over them before the one who loves them so purely. I need to LIVE my life to SHOW them that pure love that ONLY He can pour through me. Yes, what they do is wrong. Yes, we must give the gospel-to any who will listen and even when unsolicited. But just telling people of any lifestyle that what they are doing is wrong and telling them Jesus died to take their sins away does NOTHING until they realize they are missing something.   

Why would a happy male "couple" listen to a man tell them they a living wickedly when just yesterday he was mad at his wife and listing the ills of his married life? Why would a female couple want to have what YOU have with your husband? If you are constantly despondent over this or that or belittling your husband for not taking out the garbage (or whatever), I would’t want what you had either. 

Some people are searching for God, and are ready and willing to repent when confronted with the gospel. And I rejoice and praise the Lord when those times occur! But most are not there. And if they do not see a difference (as in A BETTER WAY) in the manner in which WE live, why would they even care that we want to share it with them?

"free speech" requires SPEAKING!

Oh! that Christians would be as fired up about attending and supporting their local churches as they were about supporting a company who has a moral stance. 

Oh! that we would be as ready to share the gospel of Jesus with LOVE FLOWING so that it is evident as we are to eat a chicken sandwich in the name of "free speech."

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Be sure to read my husband's post on the same topic. We have the same view but he approaches it from a slightly different angle.