“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6).
Probably one of my favorite verses in the New Testament.
It’s Andrew again. After my previous post, my mind has continued to conjure what I wanted to write about next and I couldn’t leave the Teamwork perspective of the 4T’s.
Giving it thought, I realize why I love the teamwork aspect so much. Teams are about relationships. A team is a group of people, unified together by one goal, persevering with each other to obtain that goal.
What better way for the church to operate!
We all are in this fight together. The fight to build the Kingdom of God. It’s definitely no easy task on our own, let alone the amount of opposition the enemy will always throw our way. But has anyone ever heard of friendly fire?
Friendly fire is a dangerous thing. And as a team of Christians, too often we can let off rounds of friendly fire and not even know it. What am I eluding to? You can probably guess… Christian men who have a hard time being on the same team as a Christian man who deals with homosexual desires.
It’s unfortunate. I’ve experienced it first hand. I sat down with a staff member of the ministry I was a part of my second year in college to come clean with him. I told him I can’t handle same sex attractions AND call myself a Christian. Unfortunately, that time I sat down and talked to him was the last time I ever talked to him. He avoided the topic and avoided me as an individual at future meetings.
Trust me, I’ve forgiven the guy. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t.
So what does God call us to do? “[show] tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace…” So good. So true.
As a team all going for the same goal (the Kingdom of God), it is all too helpful to make sure your teammates are OK. There is nothing taboo about them because of their background. There is never any reason to avoid them because of their sin.
Be diligent to love one another. Especially your Christian brothers. This takes conscious effort – it won’t come naturally. But for men coming from a homosexual background, this effort can produce fruit tenfold.
Please. If you’re reading this and your straight. Know you have so much power simply loving a guy as a fellow brother in Christ.
If you’re reading this and you struggle with homosexuality, you CAN love a Christian brother. Chances are, he will probably love you back.
As a church – the body of Christ – please, love your teammates. We don’t obtain the prize of Christ on our own. We must have people around us. Catching our blind spots. Going to bat for us. Loving us.
- Andrew
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