Our Disorders DON’T Define Us
This is the perspective on Bruce Jenner (I can’t bring myself to call him Caitlyn and you’ll soon understand why) that I believe our world is in need of.
But let’s not just make this all about Bruce or transgenders, but instead about ALL of us. And so I’ll start with me, and then we’ll look at Bruce.
I prefer to not have muscular dystrophy, yet I have muscular dystrophy. Whether I believe I do not have muscular dystrophy, (and even claim Christ’s promise of healing as true) the fact is I have muscular dystrophy. I can lie myself into a delusion that I don’t have muscular dystrophy and in this current moment I would still have muscular dystrophy. Only a miracle of God could change those genetics, not any act of man’s pretense.
Bruce prefers to be a woman, yet he is a man. Whether he believes he is a woman, the fact is he’s a man. He can lie himself into a delusion that he is a woman and in this current moment he would still be a man. Only a miracle of God could change those genetics, not any act of man’s pretense.
Now there is a difference, a difference in what God’s first and final will was and is in each situation. God intended for me to not have muscular dystrophy, but I have muscular dystrophy. God intended for Bruce to be a man, but he feels like a woman. Or perhaps…
God intended for Bruce to not have gender dysphoria, but he has gender dysphoria…
hmm interesting.
I very well could sit here and let you know that what Bruce is doing is attempting to rewrite reality, which he is, and I’ve kinda made that point, but I won’t because you’ve already heard that from enough people in enough various arrangements of words. I agree with it, but that perspective has been adequately covered. I won’t beat that one in anymore because it’s so simple you either get it or you don’t. And forgive me if it irks, but you must be believing a lie if you can’t understand that argument; we can save that for another day though.
So, hey… let’s revamp this!
I prefer to not have muscular dystrophy, yet I have muscular dystrophy. Whether I believe I do not have muscular dystrophy, (and even claim Christ’s promise of healing as true) the fact is I have muscular dystrophy. I can lie myself into a delusion that I don’t have muscular dystrophy and in this current moment I would still have muscular dystrophy. Only a miracle of God could change those genetics, not any act of man’s pretense.
Bruce may prefer to not have gender dysphoria, yet he would still have gender dysphoria. Whether he believes he does not have gender dysphoria, (and even claims Christ’s promise of healing as true) the fact is he would still have gender dysphoria. He can lie himself into a delusion that he doesn’t have gender dysphoria and in this current moment he would still have gender dysphoria. Only a miracle of God could change those genetics, not any act of man’s pretense.
Don’t you see? Bruce and I both have our disorders, but God didn’t purpose that either of us would. That’s how far the fall of man beginning with Adam and Eve reaches. It resulted in us all having the spiritual disorder of sin, but it also resulted in death and every single genetic, physical, mental, and emotional disorder we are witness to as well.
(Sidebar: there are some forms of spiritual disorder that closely resemble some “physical” disorders. For example, the mental disorder of depression is separate from the sin of depression. You can behave depressed and still not be diagnosed with clinical depression. Likewise you can participate in homosexual activity and still not have gender dysphoria. Just a thing to consider.)
Got it? Our sins, mutations, and disorders all spring from our original disobedience toward God. None of that junk is of Him and His will! In fact that is entirely the evil, destructive will of Satan, Prince of Lies. Get that up outta here!
When you believe in Jesus as the Son of God and claim His shed blood for the forgiveness of your sins, no longer are you defined by your sins. Really you aren’t defined at all by your sins unless you choose to be, because, again, it never was God’s will for you to even know sin.
In just the same way, knowing the rest of the Messiah’s gracious promises, claiming Christ’s wounds as your source of physical, mental, and emotional healing leaves you no longer defined by your disorders and diseases. And as to ensure I’ve been clear enough, you were never really defined at all by those disorders, unless you choose to be, because His plan for you is and has been apart from them.
I believe God that for myself and Bruce (and the rest of the world) Jesus Christ died for and covers our sins if only we trust and believe. I also entirely believe that in God’s timing and power, through faith in Messiah, both of us can and will be fully healed by His wounds and are intrinsically what He purposed us to be.
We are not defined by our disorders and we never will be! That is what the voice of truth is crying out to all of us. Don’t believe the lie, don’t become and call yourself what you never were meant for!
Is not, perhaps, that far more courageous?! It’s always been courageous to choose the truth, not to choose a lie!
If anyone ever congratulated me on my muscular dystrophy and assured me that I am what it says I am I would stay far away from them and never listen to any of their advice. And that’s just what the majority of the media and world is doing to Bruce Jenner. They are congratulating him on his gender dysphoria and assuring him that he is indeed what it says he is.
Now before I get accused of comparing apples to oranges, let me say this: By no means are Bruce and my, or anyone else’s for that matter, situations exactly the same. They are actually far more different than I could ever describe or imagine, but the truth to be applied is still the same. I feel for Bruce as I feel for myself and anyone else dealing with any genetic disorder. None of us are the same, but we can’t afford to lie to each other. Those who believe a lie will lie until everyone else believes it.
OUR DISORDERS DON’T DEFINE US!
OUR FLAWS DON’T DEFINE US!
OUR SINS DON’T DEFINE US!
There are no amount of measly words I could share here with you that would sum it all up, and neither could you. So just open your eyes and look at it all! Seek and enjoy all that He has put together! What else can we want? What else do we need?! We are all art among the rest of His art! There is so much to see, experience, and learn from all He has crafted from His paintings to His pottery, from His stone-work to His wood-work, from His fabrications to His architecture! The creation is both meant to be enjoyable and inspiring. We get to admire His work and follow suit by making our own, whatever that may be! Yeah I’m not gonna lie, said a lot more there than I planned to, but hey that’s how awesome of an artist He is!
Then there’s all the designs God laid out for Noah’s Ark in Genesis 6. There we see only a few verses about the broad design but it is clear that God provides him with even more detailed personal instruction on it. It was God’s design that He employed Noah to build. And this massive functioning ship was not only a seafaring vessel, but a piece of wooden art! There’s no way around that.
And when you go on to chapter 30 He even shows off the art of a perfumer with the scents and oils He tells them to make for what goes on within. Plus each specific piece of art included in His instructions serve a symbolic function of the Lord and His Kingdom, which is pretty cool considering the message is always as important as the art itself! God then goes on in chapters 31 and 36-40 to employ the ones He had gifted with artistic ability, wisdom, and craftsmanship to complete His grand design, with Bezalel and Aholiab in charge as the chief artists. They obey the call and fabricate everything exactly as God commanded, a picture of God’s choice to partner with us and use us for His glory if we’re willing! Much of the exact same artistic process went on in the building of the permanent Temple in Jerusalem with David compiling all the necessary materials for the project in 1 Chronicles 22 and Solomon receiving all the instructions and completing it in 1 Kings 5-7/2 Chronicles 2-7 with Huram-abi as the lead artist… Only this time it was even more extravagant and intricate because of its permanency and the great resources Solomon was blessed with.
I think those examples cover as much as I’m able to for this post, obviously there’s so much more that could be said about God’s creativity though. But I wanna focus for a second on the fact that men were employed by God to be partner artists in many of His works. Isn’t that exciting to know?! He literally imparted a level of His own creative ability and nature to each and every one of us! Because of that we are free to fashion art just like He has done; And better yet we can do it with His direction and for His glory if we so choose to! That’s what He wants from us! That’s what He created us for! I don’t know about you, but I think we ought to take advantage of that and go out creating in His name! I have so many friends that follow after the Lord Jesus that do just that and in their pieces of art I can see God at work just as much as in anything else! Whether your art is in painting, architecture, decorating, fashion designing, or whatever else, you can use it for the bigger picture of His Kingdom!