We must be careful in all our interactions with other people to remember who we are, and what is most important about us.
The most important thing about me is NOT that I am conservative, or straight, or married, or 47; it is certainly not that I am white, or American, or a father (although that is close).
The most important thing about me is that God's grace has found me. That the good news of Jesus Christ having died on a cross for my sins, and then He came back to life, has taken up residence as the central point of my thinking and life. Nothing else comes close, really, to this. This defines who I am.
If I forget this in my dealing with other people, I risk alienating them over matters that are secondary or tertiary or even less important. When a pastor makes a distinction between himself and some of his listeners on the basis of their political views, he has declared THAT to be more important than the good news. Why do I say this? Because that distinction has suddenly told them that they aren't in the in group he values, and they will probably no longer listen to him. And he then just lost the opportunity to bring them the message he probably REALLY values most. The reality is that anyone can receive the grace of God as long as they are still breathing, and that is the only thing that matters, not any of those other things. So I don't want to declare that what is most important is my Americanism; because it isn't. I am glad to be an American, but I would rather be from the farthest place from here and have the gospel than to be an American and not know Jesus. You can say that about anything else you value, and I hope you will see that all that really matters, the thing most important, is that God has had mercy on me, and I am glad.
So the next time you are tempted to categorize yourself in any way to others that will push them away, other than by the reality that you know Jesus, don't do it. Those things don't matter, but if they miss the grace of God because you felt it was more important to emphasize the fact that you aren't gay like "some" people, or that your aren't liberal, or you aren't an old earther, or your aren't... you get the point. If they miss the grace of God because we did this, we should be ashamed and weep til our hearts are broken.
The most important thing about me is that Jesus found me; thank you Jesus for your mercy and grace.
