Made This Way

     Yesterday I was looking through a copy of the Navy Times (trade magazine) and was troubled by the many changes that have taken place in my Navy/Marine Corps in the past five years alone.  By comparison, a less important issue to the non-sea service that weighs greatly with Navy Chief Petty Officers like myself, was the abolition of the time-honored tradition of Chief Petty Officer’s Initiation.  Over the past two decades it has become less of the fraternity/hazing ritual it once was, but after 120 years, this sacred Navy tradition has ended.
     Obviously, sequestration is a hot-button topic with many programs being cut which are important to recruiting, training, and retention of quality warriors.  One of the bigger issues is the proliferation of sexuality in what once was a military which focused on professional war-fighting.  In this particular Navy Times, I saw at least four articles focusing on some form of sexuality in the military work force.  If there was this much discussion of sexuality of any persuasion in the corporate world, somebody would be getting sued.
     I am a Christian.  I fear God because He is worthy of my respect and obedience.  I also love Him because He irresistibly compelled me to submit to and love Him.  Because I was conceived a sinner, I had no choice but to be a sinner.  In a nutshell, I was made this way.  Not made to be a sinner, but ended up that way because of original sin.  I was born a sinner and justly deserving of God’s wrath and displeasure.
     God created and commanded that sexuality be conducted and enjoyed within the institution of the marriage of a man and woman.  So, any form of sexual expression outside of those parameters, is contrary to God’s Word which He says is wrong, sin, a perversion, worthy of His wrath and displeasure.  I’m not talking about particular forms of sexual expression that don't meet biblical standards – all of them that don't.  You can hate me for what I believe, but your argument is not with me – it’s God.
     To concede to a sinful lifestyle because “I was made that way,” is not excusable by God.  The Bible says so.  We’re all conceived in sin and we all have our pet sins that we are comfortable with and cherish.  But the only way we learn to hate sin is to love Jesus.  “But I don’t love Jesus,” one might say.  That is a logical statement for someone who has not been changed forever by the Gospel.  Because God chose me particularly, despite my wickedness Jesus justified me on the cross.  Because He rose from the dead, my sin no longer has complete power over me.  Furthermore, because “I was born this way,” in sin, His Holy Spirit had to irresistibly change my love of even my pet sin, and make me want to forsake sin, love, and obey Him.  I didn’t choose Him; He chose me.  When He changed me, I had to and wanted to love Him.  Jesus saved me from all my sins.
     So just as, for example, a homosexual (or any other kind of sinner, for that matter) may claim that he or she was born that way, I have to say that I was irresistibly made to hate my sin (even though I still sin).  I once hated God.  But even though I was Jesus’s enemy, He still died for me.  His Holy Spirit made me love and obey Him.  Special interest groups may hate me because of it, but I can’t help it.  I’ve been made this way.