Morning by Morning, March 10 - “Speaking the Truth in Love” is Growing in Spiritual Maturity Good morning, Lord Jesus. I call on Your name and listen for Your leading, as I seek to begin this day and every day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit. ... “We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ” (Ephesians 4:14-17). Part of growing up into spiritual maturity, which is growing up into the image of Christ, is learning to speak the truth in love. Not just speaking truth, but also speaking it in love. Not just loving, but also speaking the truth. And part of that growing up is also getting the courage to speak up and stand up, even when it costs you something. That’s how I felt this past Wednesday evening in my little community of Fredericksburg, Texas, when I felt compelled to attend the School Health Advisory Committee meeting for our Fredericksburg Independent School District. A group from the organization Community in Schools was there to answer questions because there had been discussion about contracting with them in our schools. Especially on my heart was the question of how they would counsel our children on questions of their gender identity. In my understanding of Your Word and Your heart for Your children, we are created by God as male or female (Genesis 5:2). Our gender identity is at the heart of our humanity. Our gender identity is at the foundation of our sense of security, self-image, and true identity. And of course, there is a spiritual onslaught against our true sense of identity, at the heart of our humanity. “The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10), and this is one of the primary targets of the enemy of our soul. And that attack is the most vicious against our most vulnerable -- our children. And that attack is most destructive when they are at their most vulnerable time during the formation of their understanding of their identity, especially in their school age years. The leaders of this group denied that they would be bringing into our community and our schools and into the minds and hearts of our children the dangerous and destructive principles and philosophies of what is masked in terms of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” -- which actually advocates for just the opposite. They admitted these initiatives are considered the “north star” of their national organization, but denied it is their own, as merely a local affiliate of the national organization. In contradiction to what they represented, their own words on their own local, affiliate website say just the opposite. Their own words boldly declare their true intention of their “Commitment to Diversity Equity and Inclusion” which includes “gender expression” under what they call “diversity” (ciscentraltexas.org / cissctalumni.com). In fact, “gender expression” means gender confusion. “Gender expression” means blurring the lines of our children’s true gender identity, when our children desperately need to know in the security of their true identity that they are created by God as either male or female, as either boys or girls. And that’s just one of the important issues involved and only one of the reasons why the initiatives of DEI are declared illegal in the State of Texas, as well as dangerous and divisive in identity of our nation. Children’s brains are far from fully developed when they are in their school age years, needing security and stability, rather than confusion and subjection to dangerous agendas and ideologies. As parents and communities of the Christian faith, we are called and commanded to train up our children in the way they should go, according to the Word and Heart of God for them (Proverbs 22:6). So if we are to trust a partnership with our schools to help do that, we must express our voices, despite the outcry that our voices be silenced if they are contrary to the voice of this age. I’m thankful for the hard-working teachers and administrators of our community who love our children and desire God’s best for them. But I am honestly concerned about hidden agendas of groups that say they want to help but their help comes at a great cost. To say that our voices being expressed in questions and concerns for the protection and security and identity of our children are the voices of “a fringe group” would be dishonest. To say that our voices are an expression of merely a loud and scarry minority with extreme views would be spreading misinformation. To say that God-fearing, God-loving parents and community members expressing their God-given, constitutional, inalienable rights should just sit back and shut up for fear of retaliation and cancellation would be malicious intimidation. These are not political issues; these are moral issues. These are not nonessential matters; these are matters at the heart and souls of the lives of our children. Some of our Christian examples of speaking the truth in love fearlessly in the face of the voice of the age are Rev. Martin Luther King, William Wilberforce and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And our greatest example of all, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And I believe Your Holy Spirit is giving me a growing conviction in my own conscience to follow their example to stand up and speak out -- “speaking the truth in love” -- as part of my personal spiritual journey of growing up in the spiritual maturity of Christ. Your Example is to be both as self-sacrificing as a Lamb and as bold as a Lion at the same time, as the Holy Spirit leads, according to the will and heart of the Father. No doubt, it will cost me something. But I put my trust in the One who has already paid the price. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the love of Jesus, Tommy Hays My friend, may you keep growing in spiritual maturity, speaking the truth in love by the Character and Example of Jesus, in Jesus' name. God bless you! Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries Mailing Address: 412 S. Adams Street #148 Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
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