God Motivation and the Love of Self

I read an article several days ago that saddened me. Perhaps some of you have heard the news, but the popular Christian music artist Ray Boltz has revealed the fact that he is gay and is now living a gay lifestyle. For those who are fans as well as those who hardly recognize his name, mentioning songs like "Thank-you" ("for giving to the Lord...") quickly give many the connection. I fall mainly into the latter category, but the above song was indeed one that I was very familiar with. Not only was it on the radio constantly when I was growing up, but my little sister and one of her friends had an obsession with the tune that might have caused some big brothers to be a fairly annoyed at it's repetition (not me, of course). But those are warm memories now of a cute little girl and a simple, yet meaningful song; hence my sadness.

The news also left me frustrated. The conclusion to the article was as follows: “This is what it really comes down to,” he says. “If this is the way God made me, then this is the way I’m going to live. It’s not like God made me this way and he’ll send me to hell if I am who he created me to be … I really feel closer to God because I no longer hate myself.” My feelings after reading this were not about the "ickiness" of homosexuality that many who oppose the lifestyle speak of. My frustration was in Mr. Botz's reasoning. From his statement, it seems he apparently believes that people are created perfect (at least in their sexuality) and that God only sees as sinful the performance of those things which are against our nature. Now I do believe that there are a number of reasons that might contribute to someone having gay tendencies, some of which are probably genetic, but does that mean that one is warranted in acting out on such tendencies? What about those who have a tendency toward theft? What about lying? Pedophilia? "Well, those are different!" people might say. Their reasoning is probably two-fold. 1. Being gay is who you are inside. 2. Living a gay life doesn't hurt anyone.

Dealing with the first, we must understand that in our time sexuality has become much more of an identity link than it should be. We are all about sex appeal, sexy, sexual freedom, and sex entertainment. As important as sexuality is, we need to face the fact that we're obsessed as a society and assume that our obsession somehow translates into a permit for sexual freedom. The reality is that someone who is a liar may really get a thrill out of lying or a thief from wrongfully aquiring. But we generally don't have a problem with saying that such things are wrong.

Concerning the second, well, it's just not true. What of Mr. Botz's wife of over thirty years, his children, the church? Whether or not you agree with the positions of those he has affected doesn't nullify the fact that he has done them harm. And to the response "they only feel harmed" I would pose another scenario. What if a pedophile is careful not to physically harm those that he acts out with? Does that matter? Have the child and/or his parents only felt harmed? Such an example probably causes most people to shudder and perhaps even get flush with anger. And well it should, but this is the logic that we're dealing with if we really want to be honest.

No, this is not about homophobia. This is about confronting the reasoning of a man who claims Christ as his Savior, a reasoning that more and more people herald as something wonderful. To respond directly to the quote (see above) from Mr. Boltz, I would say the following: "Yes, God has made you, knit you together in your mother's womb as a matter of fact. He has designed you with tendencies as well, unique from every other person ever made. But no, being born into a sinful world where our inherent tendencies will constantly tend us toward sin against the One who made us, does not mean that we simply live out those tendencies. And then, yes, God does send us to hell for our unrepentant sin, homosexual acts being one of those sins (1 Corinthians 6:9). Concerning your previous hatred for yourself, that is indeed troubling, but might it be that some of that hatred you felt was for the sin that was within you, a hatred that we should all have as Christians? And finally, what god is it that you are actually feeling closer to now since we are told that our sin (as clearly defined by the Bible) separates us from the God of the Bible?"

The hard fact in this situation is not that Ray Boltz is now free because he feels his struggle is over but that he loved himself so much that he quit struggling against his sin. And lest we single him out any further at this point in our minds, every time we sin against our Lord, we are just like him. And if we make ourselves OK with our sin, we reason just like him as well and should fear punishment. God Motivation is what we all need to free us from the love of self that so impairs our judgment and understanding about justification before God. Such motivation will not necessarily free us from our struggle against sin, but we will constantly be reminded that He is what we need and will be satisfied with instead of the thing that our sinful nature is desiring.

Lord God, be my motivation in my struggle against sin. And dear Father, please give Mr. Boltz God Motivation that he might be freed from his sin and be refreshed in You.