Peace to Those Who Have No Peace

“I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” (Isa 57:19-21 AV)

I life changing experience happened to me this morning.  A fella I know who is an outstanding soul-winner encouraged me in the arena of reaching those who are in desperate need of the truth stated above.  God desires to bring peace to those who are in turmoil over their sin.  Which is most people.  Far more than we consider it to be.  We assume that most who flaunt their sin are at peace with it.  Few truly are.  In particular, as believers we can fall victim to the turtle syndrome.  The syndrome that causes us to avoid those who would abuse us and our beliefs, thinking they are beyond redemption.  There is misinformation that has allowed us to believe certain facts that are not true.  Let me give you an example.

According to a study done by UCLA, approximately 3.8% of the US population identifies with the LGBTQ community or has identified themselves as gay.  As we know, June is gay pride month.  My initial response is to strap on the turtle shell and retreat into the safety of my church building because I assumed that as the media portrayed the LGBTQ population as exhibited in these gay pride events must be how all gay people are.  If so, can they really be reached with the love and acceptance they seek that can only come from forgiveness in unconditional love in Christ?  Let me give you some numbers and then something that was shared with me by way of encouragement.  According to a recent news article, roughly 45,000 attended the gay pride event held in my home city.  That may seem like a large number, but when one crunches the numbers, the reality of it is actually revealing.  In my little area of the woods, the population of my county and all contiguous counties is roughly 2.25 million.  If 3.8% of the nation’s population is gay, that means there is a gay population of 95,000 in our small percentage of the US population.  If the 45,000 who attended were all gay, and that number represented a one-time attendance to the event, that means only half of the gay population attended.  More likely, the 45,000 attendance was not all gay and many attended on multiple days.  In other words, attendance to this event was rather small compared to the overall population of professed gay citizens of our community.  Which begs a question.  If those who profess this lifestyle were completely comfortable in it, then why not attend.  Which brings me to a life changing statement which a soul-winner shared.

It is his experience when working events and speaking with those in the gay community, there are those who want to come out but never thought it possible.  This is not any different from any other lifestyle choice.  There are those who are caught up in the drug or alcohol community who are told they are born with a personality or predisposition towards chemical abuse.  This is the flaw of the AA movement.  They are told “once and alcoholic, always and alcoholic.”  The point is this, we cannot take for granted the idea there are those who are unreachable.  It doesn’t matter if it is the LGBTQ community, the drug abuse community, or the religious community.  There are those who are looking for an answer and are not as content as the world wants us to believe.  God says “Peace” to those who are looking for it.  We have the answer and we are obligated to share it with those who desire it.