You’ve probably seen or heard something disheartening about pride month every day of June. Maybe one of your favorite brands disappointed you with an endorsement. Maybe a friend posted support for an LGBTQ behavior, ideology, or worldview on a social media site. Perhaps a friend or family member has chosen June as the time to announce an LGBTQ+ identity. For Christians trying to share the love and compassion of Jesus with a world in need, June can be a tough month to navigate. We don’t want to be unnecessarily confrontational. That never helps. At the same time, silence often feels like compliance. We know that our family, friends, and neighbors are receiving constant messages supporting an unbiblical worldview. Does our silence allow those messages to spread even faster?
There is no easy path through these issues for biblically faithful Christians. There are, however, great reasons to celebrate. We don’t have to spend June of each year depressed or outraged. We can live each day of June (and every other month) filled with the joy God has given us through His Spirit. Regardless of what you might hear or think this month, you have (at least) five reasons to celebrate:
1. Every day of June is God’s day, and nothing can change that.
No matter what someone puts on a calendar or declares in a proclamation, every day belongs to the Lord. It is His from beginning to end. Our good days, our bad days, December 25th, October 31st, the second Saturday after the fourth blood moon of the 6th decade—every day belongs to the Lord, and He will accomplish His purposes every day from now until eternity. That is true of every day of June. Not only is that a reason to celebrate, but we are also commanded to celebrate every day as God’s day.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24
2. The rainbow stands for God’s covenant faithfulness; nothing can change that.
God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 9:12-14
God made a covenant with Noah; the rainbow is a sign of His faithfulness to keep that covenant. God’s faithfulness is essential for our faith because it reminds us that God keeps His word! God does what He says He will do, and the rainbow is a reminder of that.
In the 21st-century western world, we can choose to look at the rainbow in one of two ways. First, we can lament the LGBTQ+ movement’s hijacking of the rainbow to represent sexual immorality and get angry every time we see one. The other option is to celebrate God’s covenant faithfulness each time we see a rainbow.
God’s covenant faithfulness is the foundation of our salvation. In Jesus, God established a covenant of grace. By grace, through faith, God saves us from our sins and bring us into His family forever. Has the LGBTQ+ movement stolen the rainbow, or has Satan’s attempt to dishonor God given us abundant opportunities to share about God’s covenant faithfulness in the month of June? Or, to ask the question another way, when is the last time we’ve seen the entire culture talking so much about a sign of God’s covenant faithfulness?
3. Humility and sexual fidelity are still right and righteous, and nothing can change that.
Scripture is clear. Sexual activity outside of marriage between a man and a woman is sinful. Christians are called to teach and live by God’s moral standards in every area of life, including sex and marriage.
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Hebrews 13:4
Rather than being outraged at the sexual sin around us, we can focus our hearts and minds on God’s beautiful gifts of sex and marriage. We can celebrate the beauty of God’s design and experience joy in our own sexual fidelity.
We can also reject the idea of proudly celebrating sexual sin by humbling ourselves before the Lord in personal confession and repentance. When we are angered by the flaunting of sexual immortality in the culture, we should begin with an honest and in-depth examination of our own sexual immorality. True joy can only be found in humble submission to God’s plan for our lives. That means repenting of all sexual sin.
For most of us, our sexual sin is heterosexual sin. Some Christians may still struggle with homosexual thoughts and actions. Wherever your sexual temptations lie, ask the Lord to search your heart and life for sinful sexual thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. Confess sexual sin, repent of sexual sin, and submit to God’s standard for sexual morality. Then celebrate the grace, mercy, and forgiveness of God. There is joy in God’s design for sex and marriage!
4. God’s creation order is a good gift to humanity, and nothing can change that.
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply.” Genesis 1:27-28
God established an order in creation. Males and females were designed to be distinct sexes/genders (the distinction between sex and gender is a mythical creation of modern psychology). Males and females were also designed to be sexually compatible with the opposite sex, not the same sex. For a more in-depth study of the distinctions God included in creation, see the Distinctions Bible study.
God’s creation order was given to us for our good and His glory. And no matter how much the culture around us rejects and rebels against God’s created order, the culture is no threat to the goodness and glory of God. It is the culture that is in danger, not God’s creation order. While we dare not take joy in the rebellion around us or in the inevitable demise of any culture that rejects God’s creation order, we can take joy in the good gifts God has given us in our creation as male and female.
5. The truth is evident to those who have the courage to see it, and nothing can change that.
One of the aspects we (Christians) most often overlook in the current cultural conversation is that God’s truth is superior to all other truth claims. In June, the ideology of the sexual revolution is on full display. The unbridled exposure of the LGBTQ+ worldview removes the illusions of civility that often mask what Paul says are the evident works of the flesh.
The works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21
There’s no need for us to be afraid, panic, or respond with “fits of anger” when we see unbiblical ideologies. Righteous indignation is certainly warranted in some situations, but “fits of anger” makes the list right along with the other works of the flesh. In many cases, the most appropriate response is compassion and pity.
We must guard ourselves against unrighteous anger and bitterness while consistently proclaiming God’s truth in a compelling and compassionate manner.
Even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 1 Peter 3:14-16
We can trust that God’s truth will rise above all other truth claims.
The sad reality, which should lead us to compassion, is that our culture will continue to decay in proportion to its rebellion against God’s creation order. As the culture falls apart, people will look for those who are not falling apart. If we are faithful to God’s truth, we will be those people.
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