Pride Month: A Battle Cry for Prayer
Pride Month:
A Battle Cry for Prayer
I understand the desire to preserve the morality of our society and protect the future of our children and grandchildren, but if we want to preserve anything for future generations, we need to double-down on preserving the power and purity of the gospel. Before we make a spectacle of the sin of others, let’s repent of our own depravity and elevate the miracle of our redemption.
The month of June is upon us and Pride Month and all that it entails is dominating our news and social media feeds. We are currently witnessing a collision between major retailers and the consumers they serve. As companies and brands proffer pride themed merchandise to children and even infants, their Christian consumers are choosing to take their business elsewhere. While I firmly believe that we as Christians should follow our convictions about where we spend our hard earned money, I fear that our boycott backlash will only affect a temporary illusion of change. The mighty dollar has a loud voice, but it doesn't have the power to change a heart. The war we are fighting is a spiritual one and it cannot be waged with worldly means.
The evil that was once done in secret is now invading our sacred spaces. Our libraries, schools, stores, movies, shows, and social media feeds have all been infiltrated. This strange new post-modern world is no longer hospitable to the Judeo-Christian ethic. Like many faithful Christians who have gone before us, the hostility we are now facing is nothing new under the sun. While the presence of evil could once be easily dismissed, it can no longer be avoided or ignored. As the LGBTQ+ agenda bombards us from every direction, we are not only pressured to embrace its ideologies, but in the month of June we are expected to celebrate them. I believe how we respond as Christ followers to this cultural moment will have lasting implications for us and the future of the Church.
It grieves my heart that I cannot scroll through my Instagram or Facebook feed without being confronted by the day’s most shocking display of depravity. Sadly, most of the posts I view are being shared by platforms of popular Christian influencers. While I can appreciate their concern and the awareness they feel called to raise on these issues, I find myself feeling conflicted. I’m not sure that the best way to push back against this darkness is to elevate it by putting the sins of others on display. The people who are being made an exhibition of are lost souls trapped in the domain of darkness as we all once were. These images do not provoke me to fear, anger, or activism. They break my heart, and I hope that they break yours too. I understand the desire to preserve the morality of our society and protect the future of our children and grandchildren, but if we want to preserve anything for future generations, we need to double-down on preserving the power and purity of the gospel. Before we make a spectacle of the sin of others, let's repent of our own depravity and elevate the miracle of our redemption.
I agree that we should all be alarmed by a society that embraces drag queen story hour and puts laws in place that prevent parents from protecting their gender confused children from permanently altering their still developing bodies. Please hear me say that I am grateful for the people who are fighting against this, I just think we need to be careful that we don’t allow our activism to turn us into modern day pharisees. It’s our human nature to let compassion slip between our fingers as we clinch fists of indignation. While we are undoubtedly living in a Romans 1 world, we must keep in mind the warning of Romans 2. Before we are revolted by the depravity in someone else’s life, we must remember the offensiveness of our own sin before a holy God. I must recall the state I was in when God rescued me. No matter how pious of a life we have lived, Ephesians 2 is the biography of every redeemed believer,
“And you were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” - Ephesians 2:1-3
This depiction of our hopeless state is followed by two of the most powerful words in the Bible, “But God”...
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” - Ephesians 2:4-7
How can we who have been shown such kindness and mercy be so quick to forget the miracle of our own salvation?
When my food order is being rung up by a bearded man with blue eyeshadow, lipstick, and fishnet gloves on I must push back against my instinct to pull away from this person. In my flesh I have a tendency to distance myself from someone whose life is so different from my own. Yet when I do that I am only widening the chasm between light and darkness; between his brokenness and the hope I hold of the gospel. In these moments, I am trying to learn to lean in; I make eye contact, smile, ask his name, inquire how his day is going. This isn’t the same as sharing the gospel with him, but I hope it will build a bridge and give me the opportunity to do so. I will be the first to confess that evangelism is not my strong suit, but I want to challenge myself and others to remember the power of the gospel. I can think of no greater tactic of the enemy than forgetfulness in the believer. If he can lull us into an amnesic slumber we will live as if the gospel is powerless to save. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I am not against the recent boycotts of companies and entities that have embraced and promoted the evils of pride month, however, I wonder what would happen if our first battle cry as Christians was a call to prayer.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” - Ephesians 6:12
As Christians, we must wage spiritual battles with spiritual weapons. So let’s put on the full armor of God, and like the Apostle Paul requested, let's pray for one another that words may be given to us to boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel. (Ephesians 6:19)
