1 John 3:19-23: "This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us."
Oh how often we have condemned ourselves! How long did we (do we) tell ourselves that we can never be loved by God because we cannot be attracted to the opposite sex like we are "supposed to!" Oh we have tried, we have dated, we have tried to pray the gay away, but there it is...always reminding us that we are not worthy of God's love. But my friends, we are indeed welcomed into God's loving arms because we are certainly his beloved children. We are not asked to be straight in this verse (and MANY other verses) but we are called to LOVE one another. Jesus also calls us to LOVE ourselves in the verse 1 John is referring to: "Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.' " (Matthew 22:37-40, emphasis added). We must learn how to love ourselves again so we can freely love others. The cycle is this: God loves us, so we are free to love ourselves, so that we can love others. (1 John 4:19: "We love because he first loved us.") If we cannot trust our own love for ourselves, let us relearn to trust that God loves us. In trusting God's love, let us remember how to love ourselves, so we can complete the cycle and freely love others. You are not alone in this journey. There are many who are trying to embrace themselves as Lesbians and Christians, and many who are fighting for a world that will accept us happily in church. Until that world is realized, be comforted that God loves you and is always with you.
