Courage of Convictions

The IMF (International Monetary Fund) has forecast a looming rain cloud laden with news of potential job losses numbering somewhere in the 10 million range worldwide.  President Obama has made a priority to close Guantanamo Bay and house terrorists on U.S. soil.  A record number of houses are set to go into foreclosure by June, and Chicken Little has declared that the sky is falling!  Our world is  a mess.  Yet— shimmering brightly amongst the rain and deprivation stands a young woman who lost it all in order to stay true to herself and her convictions.   

Carrie Prejean , Miss California 2009,had no idea of the outcome when she stepped onto the Miss USA stage on Sunday night.  What she didn’t expect was the question posed to her by pageant judge Perez Hilton about gay marriage.  During an interview on FOX news, Prejean said that her first thought was to answer the question in a non-descript way.  However, Prejean’s beliefs and convictions shouted through her thoughts and she knew she couldn’t answer in the gray.  Prejean had been taught that marriage is non-negotiable issue: it is set aside for a man and a woman ONLY.  Based on her conviction, Prejean looked across the precipice of political correctness and jumped….and landed as runner-up to the Miss USA title.

Did Carrie Prejean lose the Miss USA title because she leaped over political correctness and said that marriage should be between a man and a woman?  We will never know for sure.  The bigger story, however, is not that she lost the title, rather it is that a young woman stood up for her convictions and is winning on a larger world stage. 

 Revelation chapter three contrasts three churches: the Dead Church, the Faithful Church, and the Lukewarm Church. Of the three churches, the lukewarm church receives the most chastisement. “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I could wish you were cold or hot.  So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”  Revelation 3:15-16 (NKJV).  We learn in the next verse that the people in the lukewarm church stated that they are, “rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.”  Jesus, however, counters with telling them that they are “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”  Ouch, yet how like the United States of America in 2009. 

I have watched America grow wealthy.  I have also witnessed the decline of morality, absolute truth, and integrity.  I believe that we, America, have become the Lukewarm Church and it terrifies me.   Up until a few months ago, people really had no “need” of Jesus.  They were accumulating their dream homes,  cars, toys and accessories, but were they happy?  On the outside they would proclaim happiness, but underneath…I’m sure we could find some misery, wretchedness, and nakedness which fueled the purchase of the dream and the pursuit of wealth. 

Being lukewarm, or tepid, does not satisfy.  How many of you have taken a can of soda out of the fridge set it down and forgotten about it?  Come on- I know that there are a few of us out there!  Well, I have done it, and when I’ve remembered my soda and taken a sip, I wish that I had completely forgotten about it.  That is how Jesus feels about the lukewarm church!   Being lukewarm doesn’t fill the void.

Carrie Prejean thought about tasting the lukewarm soda when she was asked about gay marriage, but she chose instead to go to the fridge, pull out the cold soda and stand for her convictions by answering according to Biblical truth.  Miss California is not of the lukewarm church, she is faithful and living a full life. 

Though Chicken Little has pronounced that the sky is falling, we who hold to our convictions and faith know otherwise.   Wealth’s deception has been unveiled and people are faltering.  Political correctness has created a society that has no room for absolute truth, yet has created more confusion.  As you think about Miss California 2009 I challenge you to answer this question:   Will you stand against being lukewarm as Carrie Prejean did or will you continue living in a tepid lifestyle that neither condemns nor condones issues that do have an absolute answer?