Christmas in July

The LORD put this on my heart on July 5...the day after America's birthday.

"It's Christmas in July"

Do you know how chaotic it gets during Christmas?
You start off really excited to celebrate Jesus' birthday.
But then you think about all the gifts you need to buy, the packages that need to be wrapped, the cookies to be baked, the tree needs to go up, oh yes and the lights inside and outside the home. The gift exchange at work (or with friends/family), the holiday meals to be prepared. You are exhausted just thinking about it...you forgot the true meaning of Christmas Charlie Brown!

What's Christmas really about? It's about Christ. (Isaiah 9:6, Luke 2:12)

So here we are in July. How is it Christmas in July?

My husband and I have talked and prayed and discussed so many times the recent Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage.

The headlines...The news coverage...the rainbows on Facebook. It's every where!

As Christians...let's be honest. We do not know how to move forward from this....
We may think---Do I update my facebook status and say boldly - I DO NOT SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE? What am I going to teach my children? How will this change TV? Will they make a Disney movie including two homosexuals that get married? Should I now homeschool my children? What do I do how do I react to people in public? Ahhh!!

Stop.

Just like during Christmas the enemy loves to distract us and get us "off topic" so to speak...the world and all the hype about gay marriage has gotten our eyes off the prize-
JESUS
And who is Jesus?
Alpha and Omega
Almighty God
Everlasting Father
Immanuel
Prince of Peace
Great I AM
Wonderful Counselor
Lord of All
El Elyon- God most High
Yahweh Nissi- Our Banner
Adonai-Lord and Master
and so much more. He is EVERYTHING.
The Everlasting God

Homosexuality is plain ole sin. Just like lying. Just like lust. Just like unforgiveness. The problem with gay marriage is how society views sin. (Romas 1:32- approval of sin is also sin)

We need to repent of it.
It's a heart issue...not a legal issue.

But do we have a 3 hour discussion about how the world views fornication as "OK" and in fact it is legal and living together man and woman has been "legal" for many years. No. Fornication is already acceptable in our culture. As believers, we choose to live set apart from the cultural norm and raise our children and practice purity until marriage- covenant Biblical marriage between man and woman. Yes we are living in a new normal but....

We need to put our focus on Jesus.
We need to keep Christ in Christmas and celebrate Christmas in July.
We need to pray for homosexual people and remember that Christ died for ALL sinners whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15 NIV- Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst)

The point God's Spirit reminded me is this- You can legalize sin. You can celebrate it. You can have a "pride parade" about it. But it's still sin and it's sin that Jesus died for. (Romans 5:8) The focus is NOT and shall not be the sin, or the sinner, the focus is JESUS, the healer and redeemer.

The focus, friends please...needs to be put back on Jesus!
Let's live for Jesus.
Let's be radical for Jesus.
Let's be so outrageously in love for Jesus that people gay, straight, young, old, blue, purple, illegal aliens, etc. will see Jesus in us and want HIM.
Don't you want others to want Him?
I do!
I want others to see Christ in me the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)
This world is dark and the days are evil.
We don't need to update our facebook status.
We don't need to put a bumper sticker and say "I'm mad about the SCOTUS ruling" No.
We do not need to do those things to show our loyalty to Christ and His Holy Word.

We need to show love. We need to live Biblically and radically.
Use EVERY opportunity to share the Gospel. The true unwatered down Gospel. (of course if we are approached we will openly say we accept the Bible's view of marriage man and woman only)

We need to live our witness and not compromise.
Our focus should not be on homosexual marriage, our focus should not even be on ourselves and how we think, the focus needs to be on JESUS!

Just like we need to remind ourselves in December to keep Christ in Christmas, we need to not grow weary in well doing, not faint, and keep Christ in July (and every month for that matter....)

Pray on.
Worship with all your heart.
Share your faith.
Be radical for Jesus.
It's HIS birthday we celebrate every day.