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Sunday, August 6, 2023

June Again

By Adam Faughn

 
    It is June again. June is a fantastic month! June brings along summer weather, delicious fruits, the end of the school year, family vacations, exciting church events, and so many other wonderful things! It is a month full of warmth, happiness, joy, and fun. I am a summer guy. I love to be on/in the water, to go on hikes, and to be out in God’s creation, so June is a wonderful month for me.
   Unfortunately, many Christians have come to dread the month of June for one particular reason: Pride Month. In recent years, the start of June invariably brings with it rainbows, logo changes, festivals, and more as our society seeks to celebrate sin. You cannot live in the USA in the month of June and not hear or see something about Pride Month, LGBTQ+ rights, or letting love win. Many Christians are saddened and frustrated by the glorification of sin in our society, especially in the month of June, and rightly so. Sin is absolutely wrong. God hates it. God’s heart hurts when people sin and celebrate sin, and so should ours. There isnever an acceptable reason to celebrate or glorify sin. But here is my problem: too many Christians let the world’s glorification of sin dim the glory of God.
    What do I mean by that? While June brings with it the celebration of Pride Month, it also often brings with it these kinds of statements by Christians. “The world is worse than ever before.” “Our country is in the most sinful state it has ever been.” “There is so much more sin today than when I was a kid.” “People are more evil and twisted than they used to be.” “Our kids face so much more sin than previous generations.” Statements like these sadden me for three big reasons: 1) they are depressing, 2) they are not theologically consistent with God’s Word, and 3) they dim the glory of God.    I don’t think I have to explain why those statements are depressing. All I’ll say about that is don’t be so quick to abandon the abundant joy found in Christ.
    Those statements are also not theologically consistent with God’s Word. 1 John 2:17 says, “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” The world, its sin, and its glorification of sin are passing away. This morning, the world and its sin are closer to their end than ever before. We have never been closer to the end of sin than at this present moment. The world is not more sinful than ever before. In reality, the world has never been closer to eternity and the end of sin. More than that, Christians have never been closer to forever after with God than at this present moment. Those are two beautiful and joyful things to think about!
    Finally, those statements dim the glory of God. When sin is magnified by the world around us, so many Christians actually help magnify it even more by focusing on how bad things are. When we only focus on the sadness and evil of a world that glorifies sin, we often forget to glorify our great God. We know that sin is wrong, but let’s not forget that God is good. Our hyperfocus on sin can dim the glory of God in our lives by preventing us from doing what we are really supposed to be spending our time doing: glorifying our mighty God who has defeated Satan and sin, who has washed us clean from sins, and who has promised us that sin has never been closer to its end and we have never been closer to our eternity.
    So, yes, it's June again. And praise God that it is! It is another month of beauty, another month closer to the end of sin, another month closer to the realization of eternity, and another month to rejoice in the glory of our great God.

- Adam Faughn preaches for the Central Church of Christ in Paducah KY. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.centralchurchofchrist.org Visit the Faughn Family blog, A Legacy of Faith



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