by Eddie Lyons
Many of us were deeply saddened to hear the recent Supreme Court ruling that redefined marriage. This is more evidence that our culture continues to untether itself from a biblical worldview of life. After a time of painful reflection I found myself searching for the way to move forward. I have read articles and blog posts and been in many conversations about this ruling. In this issue, Tribune Editor Keith Bassham has done a great job to help us as a Fellowship process this new reality. At the end of the day we have to move forward in the new culture and ministry environment in this country.
First, we still believe that God’s design for marriage is one man and one woman bound together for a lifetime. While a good marriage is certainly one of life’s greatest joys, it is far more than about just the happiness of two people. A good marriage blesses the couple, the children born to this union, the extended families, and their communities. I once had a meeting with our mayor where I asked him what the church could do for our city. He immediately said two things. First, help kids learn to read because we are building prisons based on the projections of how many kids won’t read when they get to be adults. Secondly, he said, do whatever you can do to keep families together. He said divorce and the broken family are the number one reasons for poverty in our city. Now more than ever we must continue to build healthy families according to God’s plan; which only works when God is a part of it. When we bring people to a healthy relationship with God through our churches, we do more to promote God’s plan for marriage and family than any political movement could do.
Second, we need to get off the cultural battlefield and remember that no one is our enemy. We are called to reach everyone with the good news of the Gospel. The bad news is that all of us are broken and in need of salvation. We cannot win to Christ those we do not love. We must find a way to stand by our convictions with firmness while loving those who do not agree with us. This is not easy and only with God’s leading will we succeed. But God is our great example of this and can show us how to do it. Paul says in Romans 5:6-11:
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly … For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
And so we must move forward and be about this ministry of reconciliation.