No Asterisk
By Tracy Smith
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life.”
John
3:16 (NIV)
A couple of months ago, we had
someone speak to our staff, elders and other leaders at church regarding the
Christian’s response to homosexuality, a topic that is ever-increasingly
relevant to our church and our society today. [1]
I wish I could share all the amazing
things that this woman shared with us, but that would take more than the word
count allowed here! I will share a statement she made that profoundly
affected me. I wrote it down to ponder later and many weeks later, I’m still
thinking on it. She said, “There is no
asterisk to the gospel.”
She was speaking to us about a topic
that can bring about many emotions and many opinions. There are sin struggles that
seem to loom larger than others. There are sin struggles that sometimes are
judged (or seem to be judged) harsher than others. Because of this, sometimes
it seems that people do put an
asterisk on the gospel.
John 3:16 says, “For God so
loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life.” [emphasis mine] Whoever. No asterisk.
We have to be careful not to add - -
or subtract - - from the gospel. This does not mean that sins are just brushed
aside or minimalized. It does mean that we have to remember that all sin separates us from God and that
God sacrificed his Son for all of
us, not matter what the sin struggle.
I want to leave you with a final
quote from that morning, “You do not have to change your theology to love
well.”
GOING
DEEPER:
1. Is there a sin issue
that you may have been putting an asterisk on? What can you do to change your
thinking?
2. What does “you do not
have to change your theology to love well” mean to you?
FURTHER
READING:
Along with being a wife and mother
to two teenage boys, Tracy is a ministry assistant at Oakwood and works with a
great group of Junior High girls.
[1] Jill Rennick, Director of The
Grace Place
