Perhaps nothing paralyzes us more than the false charge that we are motivated by “hate.” We may picture someone clad in white sheets, silhouetted by burning crosses, or hailing Hitler. We say to ourselves, “That’s not me!” God is love and, as Jesus’ disciples, we want to be known as a deep lovers of other people.
But it is what happens next that is truly tragic and demonic. Once defamed as bigots, rather than resisting the charge, we disengage and become strangely silent. Bullied into submission, we hide the light. But this is how truth dies. This is how love dies. This is how the light flickers and fades. This is how bullies win. We fear other people and desperately want their approval more than we fear God or desire His approval. Compromise, capitulation, and assimilation result. Increasingly it appears that, unless we rediscover the power of love, this may be how America ends as a once-free republic. Evil prevails when good people are afraid and do nothing.
Take, for example, the new faux “civil rights” causes of the day—gender identity and transgenderism. Is transgenderism actually a good idea based in facts, truth, or science? Does it serve the common good? Will it lead to human flourishing? Not at all. But in today’s PC gender-blender, facts must submit to feelings. Reality cedes to fantasy. Biology bows to psychology. Sanity to insanity.
So, what’s a good Christian to do when cultural propaganda redefines the insane as sane? When abnormative becomes normative? When everyone else seems to be worshipping the latest false idol of androgyny? It is simple. Love demands that we stand firm on objective reality and continue to declare truth without wavering. Because God baked maleness and femaleness into the “cake” of the moral universe (Genesis 1:27), if we truly love people we will not passively stand by and let the culture commit social suicide by obliterating this fundamental, beautiful, and profound truth.
Indeed, it is love, a deep love for God and for people created in His Image, that compels us to stand for biblical truth. Authentic God-inspired love is not weak and passive. Biblical love, the kind of love Jesus demonstrated was active, engaged, and sacrificial. Greater love has no man that this, that he lays his life down for his friends (John 15:13).
Perhaps we suffer not just from a failure of love but also a failure of faith. If we really believed what we say that we believe is really real, wouldn’t we live very differently? If we really believe we are created in God’s image and adopted members of His family? That He is a good father who sets healthy boundaries for our good? That He sent His son to redeem us from sin? That obedience is required? That obedience is blessed? That He wins in the end and we win with Him—so that we actually are on the right side of history?
Yes, if we really truly have faith and love people, including our children and grandchildren, in addition to sharing the good news of the gospel, we will desire that human flourishing continue and the common good is preserved. This means that, empowered by love, we will fight the good fight of faith, standing boldly, courageously, and alone against the darkness, if necessary, and continue to bear witness to the truth, speaking up for what is good, and right, and true. This means we will, in love, sacrificially oppose lies and everything that exalts itself against God’s truth. Not out of hate but, with our eyes fixed on Jesus, overwhelmed by a profound love that first loved us and motivates us to love others. We will endure hardships and faithfully persevere in doing this for an audience of One, looking forward to the day when He makes all things new and love finally overcomes fear.
— by Dean R. Broyles, Esq.
Broyles is a constitutional attorney serving as the President of The National Center For Law & Policy (NCLP), an organization fighting to promote and defend religious freedom. Copyright© The National Center For Law & Policy. Reprinted with permission.