Ice Cream, the Supreme Court Ruling, and the Love of God

Photography by LV

My daughter is addicted to ice cream. I mean totally addicted. I can’t drive past an ice cream shop without her begging for a treat. And I have no one to blame but myself because I passed on this addiction. You see, since birth, ice cream has been our mother-daughter thing.

After doctor visits – ice cream

After bad days at school – ice cream

After good days at school – ice cream

Disappointments – ice cream

Celebrations – ice cream

Now it’s a struggle to get her to eat vegetables because her taste buds crave sugar. Oh, she’ll eat broccoli but it has to be drenched with Ranch Dressing.

Now, you’re probably wondering what ice cream has to do with the recent Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. I'll tell you. This ice cream analogy came to me as I started seeing some of my Christian friends on social media praising the court’s ruling and changing their profile pictures to rainbow flags. These friends often post inspirational Christian phrases and were now using social media to express how “love won the day”. I wept tears of sorrow because these Christian friends are unknowingly breaking God’s heart more than any atheist or agnostic person ever could. You’re probably thinking, “How can you say that? They’re being loving and tolerant.” Because these friends, who out of their mouths say they love Jesus, don’t really know His Word. How do I know that? Because, for too many years, that was me. I could quote you John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave his only son…” but I never opened up my Bible past that. I accepted Jesus into my heart as Lord and Savior in my 20s, attended church like any good Christian, listened to Christian radio but I never took the time to get to know God’s heart by reading His Word daily nor had I experienced the life changing power of the baptism of Holy Spirit.

You see, once you read God’s Word you find that Jesus did say “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But He also said, “Go and sin no more.” And if you keep reading The Gospels concerning His 3-year ministry, you’ll find that He had a particular problem with a group of people. Not sinners. His issue was with the religious leaders. He actually spent most of His ministry hanging out with sinners, teaching, healing, loving and comforting them. He avoided the religious leaders, not only because they were trying to kill Him, but because it bothered Him that they read and quoted God’s Law but they never took it to heart.

Matthew 15:7-9 (NLT)

[Jesus said] You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”

Throughout the Old Testament, God’s heart was repeatedly broken by the Israelites. They would call on Him for help, promise to follow His Law, praise Him for his deliverance and mercy, and then they would cave to the customs of the surrounding people and worship their idols, doing evil in God’s sight. Soon their praises and worship would stop, they’d forget God and reject His law.

Isaiah 63:8-10 (NLT)

He said, “They are my very own people. Surely they will not betray me again.”
And He became their Savior. In all their suffering He also suffered, and He personally rescued them.
In his love and mercy He redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.
But they rebelled against Him and grieved His Holy Spirit. And He became their enemy and fought against them.

  

That is why Christians who profess to love Jesus but are caving to society’s customs and standards are breaking God’s heart and grieving His Holy Spirit. Agnostics and atheist do not break God’s heart. He loves them and longs for them to come to Him but He understands that they are lost without His Word. We, Christians, break His heart when we claim to accept Jesus Christ, take on His Name, and then turn around and reject His Holy Word leading his lost sheep astray. We are supposed to be God’s Light in the darkness. We are not supposed to cover our light because we are afraid to offend. We are loving our friends and family, who are ignorant of God’s Word, right into Hell and eternal separation from God in the name of political correctness.

Jesus said, “For I have come to call NOT to those who THINK they are righteous, but those who KNOW they are sinners.” (Matthew 9:13) How can our unsaved friends know they are sinning if we lie to them, condone and even applaud their actions, and let them stay ignorant of their sin?

Many Christians today have family members, friends, children, and grandchildren who are living in some form of sexual sin. They are addicted to pornography, they are having an affair on their spouse, they are lusting after a celebrity, they are having sex outside of marriage, and, if we are honest, most of us have struggled in our own way with sexual sin. We are human, living in human sexual bodies. Read this scripture:

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (CEV)

Don’t you know that evil people won’t have a share in the blessings of God’s kingdom? Don’t fool yourselves! No one who is immoral or worships idols or is unfaithful in marriage or is a pervert or behaves like a homosexual will share in God’s kingdom. Neither will any thief or greedy person or drunkard or anyone who curses and cheats others. Some of you used to be like that. But now the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of God’s Spirit have washed you and made you holy and acceptable to God.

You may think, “That’s so judgmental and mean!” But remember those are not my words but God’s Words. You see why we memorize John 3:16 and not 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. This scripture pierces the heart and it should. I’ll confess to you that out of sins listed above, I have committed most of them, whether in deed or thought. When Jesus taught on the subject of adultery He said, “Who ever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28) Jesus was warning us that sin is a heart issue. OK, that’s the bad news. If you keep reading the scripture verse above, God gives us the Good News. “Some of you used to be like that. But now the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of God’s Spirit have washed you and made you holy and acceptable to God.”

God does not want us to stay in sin. That is why Jesus commanded, “Go and sin no more.” He did not die on the cross and shed His blood to give us license to sin. He died on the cross and shed His blood so that we could conquer sin by the power of His Blood and Spirit that washed us and made us holy.

If we never share the “broccoli” scriptures with our unsaved friends and we only share the “ice cream” scriptures than our silence is condoning their actions and they will die in the ignorance of their sin, unsaved and you will have their metaphorical blood on your hands. And when they are eternally separated from God, weeping in darkness, do you think they will thank you? Or will they weep and think, “Why didn’t my friends love me enough to share the Good News of Salvation with me. Why did they let me believe the world's lie?” What will be our excuse? I didn't want to offend you. I just wanted you to be happy. At least if we share the Good News with our friends and they reject God by their own educated choice than God will not hold it against us.    

Many of us want the love and grace of God and will share that message with our unsaved friends but we’ll ignore and omit what the scriptures teach about God’s Holiness. Those scriptures are harder and they require something from us. We tend to like the scriptures where God blesses us but we never think about God commanding us to bless Him. Did you know that God desires us to live a holy life?

1 Peter 1:13-16 (CEV)

Chosen To Live a Holy Life

Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how kind God will be to you when Jesus Christ appears. Behave like obedient children. Don’t let your lives be controlled by your desires, as they used to be. Always live as God’s holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy. That’s why the Scriptures say, “I am the holy God, and you must be holy too.”

So, in conclusion, do my daughter and I still have the occasional ice cream? Yep. But by practicing self-control myself, I'm trying to teach my daughter that we do not have to be controlled by ice cream. We resist temptation because we know it’s best for our health. That is God’s heart put in very simple mom terms. He wants us to stop sinning for our own spiritual health. Those sins listed above cause us to be separated from God’s holiness. His Words. Not mine. He loves us more than we can ever imagine. He desires that all sinners come to repentance. Repentance means to acknowledge our sin but more importantly turning from it. God chose us because He loves us and cares for us. Our love for Him should cause us to strive, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to live holy lives. We can’t do it on our own but the more we know God, the more we read His word, the more we share His word, the more transformed we become into the image of Jesus.

So, my Christian brothers and sisters, I urge you to share all of the Good News of Jesus Christ with your friends and family, the broccoli and the ice cream. But learn from my mistakes. DO NOT take your Bible to the next family function and shove it in their face! I’ve done that before and very nearly lost a beloved friendship and pushed them farther from God in the process. This is what I have learned through trial and error and the mercy of the Holy Spirit:

1. Before every encounter with your unsaved friend, pray that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Pray that the Holy Spirit transforms you into the image of Jesus Christ. Pray that God’s love flows through you to them. Pray that you reflect Jesus in all you do and say. Pray that the Holy Spirit literally shuts your mouth from saying anything that will hurt them or push them away from God.
2. Then love them, right where they are at in life. Give them a Holy Hug, praying that the love of God flows through your arms to their hearts.
3. Ask about their lives with genuine interest. Laugh together. Enjoy their company and let them enjoy yours. I can imagine that Jesus was a joy to hang out with, that's why so many where drawn to him. Be a joy to hang out with.
4. If they have problems or a need, help if you can and offer to pray for them. Right then and there. Not promising to pray later but lay hands on them and pray in Jesus Name for their needs.
5. And when they see Jesus Christ in you, the Holy Spirit will draw them to Himself and may provide an opportunity to share with them the salvation message of Jesus Christ. So you better know God’s Word to answer their tough questions. You don’t have to water down the truth of God’s Word, because the whole truth of God has the power to save. Just share it like Christ did, in love.
6. Lastly, leave their life changing to the Holy Spirit. His ways are always gentle, loving, and uplifting.

Friends, when I first heard the news of the Supreme Court ruling, I felt devastated. I wept and literally wanted Jesus to take me to Heaven that day. I was also fearful of the judgment that will come now that our nation has chosen this path. But after prayer, I was reminded that God has not given me a spirit of fear and He has called me to share His salvation message with others. How selfish of me to want to escape a dying world when so many people need the love and hope of Jesus.

So Christians, our job is not done. It’s going to be hard, ugly, and we’ll be Daniels against many lions (Daniel 6) but remember greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. Daniel's unwavering faith in the God of Israel converted the pagan King Darius, causing him to declare, "For His is the living God, and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions." God is searching the hearts of His people and asking, "Will you be My Daniel?"  

Love,

Yolanda