Mountains and Pits

Some of my readers will have lived during the hippie era of the 1960’s and 70’s. You may have even been a hippie. If you were you may well remember older folks in particular, who looked down on you for rejecting the mainstream American life. And, if you were an older person at the time, you may recall how this young group seemed beyond reach. They were like aliens on planet Earth. This brought a lot of advice from the older folks that the young ones didn’t ask for. “Get a haircut, wear normal clothes, and for Pete’s sake – quit ruining your mind with drugs.” Not all, but many of the partakers of the hippie culture came from troubled backgrounds. The movement was searching for meaning and hoping to find it buried somewhere in this new kind of culture. If you are acquainted with Pastor Greg Laurie and have seen the movie, “The Jesus Revolution” portraying his life, you would know this was true for him. His mother was a severe alcoholic that had been married seven times. The man he thought was his dad – was not. Greg had no stability in his home; just a lot of confusion and lack of direction; having no idea how to contend with either one.

Like Greg, I see a lot of parallels of these past times, with those of the present times. Are young people not facing mountains (heaps) and pits (deep despair) of confusion today? Some don’t even believe who their bodies tell them they are. The Enemy is telling them that God makes mistakes and they are believing it. Not only believing it, but acting on it. Young men think they surely are a woman caged in a man’s body and vice versa. Some are identifying as non binary, meaning they don’t have any one sole identity of either a male or female.

I can’t help but wonder if I had been bombarded by confusion from adults, society, and the media as a child or young adult if I would have questioned my identity as well. After all, I was much more into climbing trees and riding horses than playing with dolls and having tea parties. I was a tom boy for sure, but it never crossed my mind or anyone else’s that I was anything but a girl. God had made that plain with special embellishments that only girl’s receive.

As Christians can we strive to converse with those that identify as transgender or non binary through the lens of confusion rather than rebellion. Who would choose on their own to attempt to change their identity based on rebellion only?

If an open transgender or non binary person visits your church, how will you respond? Maybe Philippians 4:13 has been written for us – And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty. (TPT) I know that through their confusion, these folks (maybe more than some) need to hear the voice of God. Won’t their ears be more likely to hear it if surrounded by God’s love and not fleshy ridicule?

Until next time – keep on readin’ and I’ll keep on writin’.