Ez. 20-21
God is God. We cannot make Him what we want Him to be. We can’t expect Him to be there for us when things aren’t going our way and to leave us alone when we are doing what we want. Either we serve Him or we don’t. The house of Israel rejected their God, but when His promised wrath came down on them, they went to Him for help. God knew their hearts, though. He knew they weren’t seeking Him but were merely looking for a way out of their trouble. And if what He had to say to them didn’t suit them, they wouldn’t listen to it.
God is God. Thankfully He always dealt with His people based on this fact and not based on their behavior. Several times throughout Israel’s story, God said that He acted for the sake of His name. And He promised to do so again. “And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I deal with you for my name’s sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt deeds.” (Ez 20:44a). There is so much in that statement!
For one, God does what He does for us because of who He is, not because of what we do. Also, it is fair to say that Jesus is God’s namesake, and so God deals with us according to Jesus’ life and not according to our own. Lastly, as believers in Christ, we are children of God. As His children, we take on His name. And so He acts out of mercy for our sake, that we might not be condemned by our own sins. Why would we not want to fully serve such a God?
2 Tim. 4
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Tim 4:3-4). Yeah…I’d say we’re there. Though there are many examples of this out there, nothing says it more clearly to me than this whole gender identity issue. The fact that people are so willing to toss aside irrefutable biology in order to ‘justify’ the desires of their own flesh and will take that one step further to say that this is not only acceptable but pleasing to God and that any who refute it are evil, harmful, hateful people who break God’s heart is just incredulous to me.
If I have to be viewed as evil, harmful, and hateful in order to cling to sound doctrine and stay faithful to God’s truth, then so be it. As long as I know in my heart that I am striving to please God alone and that I am not behaving in an evil, harmful, or hateful way then I am confident in my hope, which is in Christ Jesus. Engaging with this mess is tricky, but Paul gave Timothy some good advice. We are to patiently live and teach the truth, encouraging others toward God as far as they will listen. Let us, like Paul, fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith.