So many lives have been adversely affected by rampant homophobia.  It has been  fueled unfortunately by a very vocal misguided few, who seem intent on representing the Gospel of Grace with condemnation.  Parents have been separated from their children, brothers from their brothers, wives from husbands….and yet despite the tragedy of these broken relationships, broken hearts and sometimes the loss of life altogether, self-righteous hatred and disgust toward homosexuals continues.  Surely the healing of all this brokenness lies not in hatred, but in love.  “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.”  Jesus did not stop there, but went on to say, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned…” 

A myth has grown up around the issue of homosexuality that for centuries has kept God’s people in bondage to condemning and being condemned.  But the message of grace is clearly “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”  Those who believe in Jesus have been released from the continuous cycle of sin and its consequence, death.  Now, we are free to love one another with the love of Christ, no strings attached.  As Paul stated it, now we must “keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery……”  We have been set free to ”through love serve one another.”  Those who have understood this, regardless of which side of the issue they stand on, have taken an important step toward embracing the true meaning of “GRACE”, (God’s unmerited favor to all); freely receiving it themselves and sharing it with every person along the way.  Because of this, God causes them to “reign in life” through Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17).