Jesus loved to make His point by telling stories. He used one very short story to describe the “kingdom of heaven”: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” (Matthew 13:44).
What if the man had decided instead that he could not part
with what he already had, and was therefore unable to raise the money to
purchase the field? He would have forfeited
the treasure because of his unwillingness to let go of what he already had.
If the God’s kingdom is like a great treasure, wouldn’t we
be foolish to exchange it for anything else?
They say that “Love Won” in the Supreme Court ruling on
Friday. I disagree.
True Love is still standing beside us, waiting for us to release our
grip on what seems “good” to us so that He can replace it with something far
better.
As parents, we view life from a better vantage point than do
our children. The child sees the bag of
cookies. The parent sees the nutritious
dinner just ahead. The child sees the
drudgery of homework. The parent sees
the rewarding career in the future. The
child sees the cute doggie. The parent
sees the nervous dog ready to protect itself from harm.
From the child’s viewpoint, he thinks he knows what will
make him happy. The loving parent knows
that there are better things available and restricts these “good” things in
order to ensure the best for their child.
In much the same way, there is a Heavenly Father that has a
better vantage point than we do. Some
of us have disowned Him, and refuse to even acknowledge Him. Others of us know we are His children, but we
get too caught up in what we see as “good” and don’t allow Him to replace it
with what He knows is best. We do this
in a myriad of ways, and it is nothing new.
Just as our children sometimes ignore our
instructions and our advice, so we ignore the guidance of our Heavenly
Father.
Just as I would not celebrate watching a child choose to “learn
the hard way”, so I cannot celebrate watching those around me setting
themselves up for less than God’s best. The overwhelming emotion I have felt since
Friday’s announcement can best be described as sadness. One
side fights for their “rights” at the expense of an even greater treasure. The other side fights for righteousness at
the expense of grace. The result is
dissension and division.
I firmly stand by the definition of marriage as laid out in
Genesis. I will not celebrate something
that goes against God’s standard of holiness.
However, heaven forbid that I should sit in smug superiority because I
understand something others don’t, or because I am pursuing something of
greater value than they. Instead, I pray
that I will find a way to reach out and grab them all by the hand and carry
them with me. Only then does Love win.
