While You Were.......

A few weeks ago, I wrote this poem and put it up on my Facebook wall. Today, I thought it was a good idea to share it here, on my blog. With all the tragedy our nation is facing and all the uncertainty we face as a nation, perhaps this will help us focus on what's really important.

While You Were.....

While you were fighting for your rights,

Your neighbor up and died.

He did not hear you tell him,

Of your Jesus crucified.

Instead he heard your latest call

For things you would not buy.

He didn't really have a clue

What price he'd pay for that lie.

The lie is very clear now,

As plain as it can be.

The lie is known to all who dwell

Without Christ for eternity.

The lie is simple to believe

And sounds so true and right.

The lie so sorely tempts us

To fight for a human plight.

But, alas, the lie is just that

A lie, no more, no less

The lie distracts us all

From His righteousness.

For what difference will it make

In your neighbor's eternity

If he enters it while living right,

While Hell remains his destiny?

He can wear a tie

And be straight as he can be

And still face the plight

Of a Christ-less eternity.

We're better off to fight

for the Gospel every day,

A fight that we are sure to win

For the price that Jesus paid

All man's pride, gay or straight

Will be brought down one day

By the One Who conquered sin

By the One Who lights the way.

So,  tell those neighbors yet today

The joy that waits for them,

When they put their faith in the Savior

Who can save them from their sin.

This Savior will save them

As only He can,

And create in them

A completely new man!

A man who does no longer need

To lean upon his sin:

A man who surely will not stay,

In the path of his own whim.

A changed man your neighbor can be

If he will trust Christ for his eternity.

The Gospel makes the difference

In the lives of all people today,

Not a boycott or a protest;

Not a petition about being gay.

The Gospel takes a man

And makes him new inside;

So his sin no longer rules his life

And he looks to the Crucified.

Even you, all taut with pride

Can find eternal rest with the crucified,

So, please do tell me,

Why do you protest?

He died for you, too

To light and show the way,

To His eternal peace and rest,

You can know Him today.

~Tricia

Why I Don't - and Won't - Boycott

There seems to always be a call for fundamental Christians to boycott this or that in this world.  Recently, there's a call to boycott JC Penney because they hired Ellen DeGeneres to promote their stores.  There's been a call to boycott Starbucks because they support gay marriage rights.  The list goes on.  People who claim to be fundamental conservatives are calling for the boycotts, hoping to change the companies' minds so they can continue to consume their products.  Home Depot was recently targeted for a boycott for one reason or another.

Quite frankly, choose your sin.  These so-called fundamental Christian conservatives have chosen which sins they will "tolerate" and which ones they won't.  What is the overall goal?  To change the companies' behavior so the consumer can feel more comfortable?  Ridiculous.  To enact legislation that will force a retailer to donate and support only those causes we agree with?  Ludicrous.  Look at any retailer and you will likely find something you deem "wrong" about their lifestyle, what they do with their money, etc.  Do we boycott every retailer who does not meet the standard of living we have determined is acceptable?  Do we boycott those who support a gay lifestyle but support the retail giant whose CEO drives while drinking?  Or is into child porn?  How do we decide?   Which sin is worse?

The focus is off in my opinion. I don't boycott. I won't boycott.  Legislation has never won a soul to Christ. Boycotting might work - it might force a retailer to stop (openly) supporting a cause the protesters have deemed inappropriate.  But, they will be legislated straight to Hell because legislation does not win souls.

Jesus Christ, not boycotting, is the Answer to the world's issues.  Jesus did not ask the boy with the fishes where he got them or how his mother paid for them. She may have bought those fish with money she earned through prostitution.  They boy, himself, may have stolen them.  His father may have gotten them by cheating someone or by trading a sex act.  Jesus didn't care. He took the fish and He made them what He wanted them to be. He fed the people.  Their source was irrelevant.

If even half the people took the energy they put into promoting boycotting into sharing the Gospel instead, the world would be transformed and the behavior issues so many Christians are hung up on would no longer be an issue.  We would see revival like has never before been known.  It's the Gospel. It, alone, changes lives. And God has chosen to manifest His Word through preaching (Titus 1:3) - something the world deems foolish. We are the fools if we neglect this great calling to go and preach the Gospel to every creature.  He never told us to go and protest the world's laws.

~Tricia