The SCOTUS decision to legalize gay marriage has left a wake that has churned up a host of emotions, ranging from ecstasy to  fear. But the emotion I am most burdened by is one I have been wary of, in general, for some time: Apathy.

Too many of us approach the world as though it is a comfortable nest, we settle in as longtime residents with a nonchalant motto that asserts, “I’m not concerned, it doesn’t affect me”. This is the same attitude that allowed the brutal enslavement of Africans to continue long after its ugliness was revealed to the public, it is the same attitude that allowed the persecution of the Jews to escalate to a massacre, it is the same attitude that has allowed 57 million babies to be murdered since 1973, it is the same attitude that allows sexual exploitation to be an international profit success, and it is the same attitude that has allowed the conversation about marriage, equality, and sexuality to be weighed down with politically gentle prose that is so convoluted and afraid of offense it renders itself useless.

But God is not apathetic, about anything. And silence is not an option for Christians. That which affects our fellow humanity affects us, because we are called to bring truth into whatever cultures we inhabit. We are aliens here, this broken world is not where we claim citizenship, so whatever comforts we have (including a reputation for being non-confrontational) ought to be held so loosely that any moral issue is worth our (loving) engagement.

Engage, dear Christian. Have the messy difficult conversations. Challenge one another. Listen. And preach the Gospel at every opportunity until you sweat with urgency. 

We are bought at a great cost. Bled for, given life in crimson. Let us act as though we believe that claim.

Please, stop the pandering,”feel good” messages that offer nothing more than crumbs to the starving. May we proclaim Jesus for who he is, what he offers, and what he demands. Do not settle for the trivial conversations that pass over pain and truth and the mess of life.

Engage. Not out of indignation, not out of fear, but out of love for the humanity Jesus came to save.

There are those who perish. We cannot afford to wait because our comfort has netted us into being nominal Christians.

Be willing to offend with the Gospel, be gracious to those who offend you. May we be quick to listen and slow to speak; but may we still speak with fervency.

We have nothing to fear in cultural shifts, we fear God, not man, but we cannot sit back with hands in surrender as we watch people rush headlong into a pit of their own making. We must enter the table of the sinners as those who once wore the chains of sin too, we who were rescued from our own wretchedness must proclaim the same life-giving word to those who do not know that the very things they are clinging to are the chains that hold them fast. We must enter as those who bring the light of Christ, who dispels all darkness.

We must engage. We must listen. And we must speak.

Those who seek to adapt their theology based on cultural definitions will find the sand beneath them will give way with the next tidal shift of culture. Jesus is a rock, a foundation we can have full confidence in, and as people wrestle with the confusion and pain that will inevitably be the fall-out of the cultural acceptance and institutionalization of sin, we must be willing to love so fiercely that we can speak graciously and firmly from that Rock who is Truth, and we must accept the reality that we may be hated for it.

It is worth reading those who have dedicated their time to this issue, who’s theology is based in the timelessness of absolute truth. Below are some of the more compelling articles I have read regarding the SCOTUS decision, they are worth your time, and they will certainly aid in conversations.

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2015/07/01/40-questions-for-christians-now-waving-rainbow-flags/

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/something-greater-than-marriage

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/06/26/why-the-church-should-neither-cave-nor-panic-about-the-decision-on-gay-marriage/

http://www.christianpost.com/news/40-answers-and-2-questions-for-matthew-vines-141292/pageall.html

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/so-called-same-sex-marriage

http://www.raanetwork.org/black-christian-leaders-respond-to-scotus-ruling-on-same-sex-unions/