A recent novel by a Christian author provoked much debate and prompted some readers to ask, along with the protagonist, “Can someone who is gay also be a Christian?”
Well, I’d like to counter that by asking, “Can someone who gossips be a Christian? Or someone who steals? Or someone who is envious or jealous or an adulterer or a slanderer?”
According to Romans 1:18-32, all sin is equally abhorrent to God. All sin. The first chapter of Romans may not list every single sin, but it makes a clear point: NO SIN IS WORSE THAN ANY OTHER SIN. In God’s eyes, sin is sin is sin.
The first paragraphs explain how we arrive at the point where sin looks like the new normal.
Verses 21-27
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
“Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
“Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
“For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen.
“For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.”
Verses 28-32
“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”
Now see what Chapter 2 says:
“Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
So. If I speak ill of someone, I will displease God just as much as if I were to have sex with another woman. If I’m envious or covetous, if I deceive, if I am arrogant or boastful, if I am untrustworthy, then I am just as guilty in God’s eyes as I would be if I murdered. Why? Because God is a holy God, not to be mocked. His holiness is so absolute that we cannot stand before Him with sin in our heart or in our flesh.
How do we deal with that? By agreeing that God is either a liar or His Word speaks truth. Both cannot be simultaneously true.
If we say we love God, then we must love Him as He is, not as we imagine or wish Him to be. Either He is God—Who cannot and will not be mocked—or He is not God. If we accept that He Is, then we must accept that He has defined Himself, His characteristics, His nature, and His plan in His Word.
Of course, He told us in verse 22 of Romans 1 that we wouldn’t want to do that, that we would choose to go our own way. Pride has been our issue from the beginning, and pride is at the root of sin — now and forever. We want to be the god of our life. We want to do things our way. We want…. That’s it, isn’t it? We want.
Mostly, we want to be significant. And in our quest for significance, we look in all the wrong places. But the good news is that God already considers each one of us as worthy and significant. He chose us and breathed life into us because He loves us. Already. Now. In our fallen state. In our sin, whatever sin that is.
And HE HAS GIVEN US A WAY OUT.
No matter what our sin is, no matter if we think we’re born this way or trapped in some addiction, no matter if voices whisper that we deserve to be a certain way, that we’ve got right or might or whatever on our side: the Word would not declare something wrong and sinful if we had no choice in the matter.
We do. Always. We choose how we live. We choose what we do. And when we make the wrong choice, when our flesh wins out over our desire to live a righteous life, then we have a way out.
The Cross. 
The Blood of the Lamb, the sacrifice, once and for all, for us and for our sins. Whatever those sins are.
I’ve been stuck in the miry clay, in struggles that lasted for years. I’ve been to the pits. I’ve hated myself. I’ve wanted out. But God has been faithful, oh, so faithful, and has helped me climb free and into His glorious Light.
He’ll help you as He helped me. He wants only the very best for you. But first you’ve got to surrender to His truth and admit that sin is sin is sin. Anything that displeases God will get you in trouble and will try to keep you there. If you truly wish to be set free, the road may be hard, the temptation to fall into your old ways may pull at you and whisper seductive lies, but if you cry out to Him in your need, He’ll be there to help you climb to the other side. I promise.
And God does, too.
