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I'm a Tranny, ain't I! (Ephesians 1 & 2)
Chris is a personable chap who works in a local charity shop. Confident, upbeat, very helpful, he is one of that sort who is interested in people as he moves confidently through the store in his mini skirt and sling-backs. I had heard about Chris from a Christian friend and decided to go and meet him. He was easy to talk to and, looking him up and down, I asked, "So what are the women's clothes all about then?"
With a confident smile he looked me in the eye and declared, "I'm a tranny, ain't I?" For those who have led more sheltered lives I should explain he is a transvestite, a man who enjoys dressing up in women's clothes. Chris explained that he had, as long as he could remember, always wanted to dress up in this way and that seeing friends die never having lived their dreams had reasoned, "If I don't do it now I never will." Now I have to say that Chris is most certainly a man and seems to make no effort to disguise the fact. Nor does he hide his proclivity for dressing as a woman. Indeed, he strikes me as having blossomed, as it were, since "coming out".
I wonder if I am beginning to sound sympathetic? In a way I suppose I am. You see, I know Christians like Chris. Not Christians who cross-dress but Christians who are neither one thing nor the other. Being new creations they, nevertheless, live out their lives according to the instincts of their old selves. Witnessing is even more difficult because, "I never knew you were religious! You kept that quiet." Standing for something against the trend is uncomfortable because, "I never took you for a Christian! You always seemed one of the crowd." Inviting friends to a church event is a hurdle because, "Church! You go to church? I would never have…"
Someone once declared:
We are too Christian to enjoy sinning, and too fond
of sin to really enjoy being Christians.
I am sympathetic because of the conviction with which he looked me in the eye and declared, "I'm a tranny, ain't I?" What courage! Putting aside judgement for a moment you could say that he had "found" himself, faced up to what he was. He was happier than he had been for years and surprised that, while some people stare, others accept him as he is.
When was the last time you looked someone in the eye and declared, without apology, "I'm a Christian, ain't I"? I walked away from that first encounter with Chris thinking how much more forthright we Christians could be about our faith if we faced up to what we are in Christ and lived accordingly. I don't know a Christian who doesn't feel the need to do something about some aspect of their life, and who has felt they have compromised for too long. It might be tithing, it could be prayer and Bible study, or possibly some aspect of character, such as patience. In Ephesians 1 & 2 we find a wonderful description of who we are and what we have "in Christ". Spend some time reading these chapters this week, identify what it is you need to stop compromising over, and take it to God in prayer:
Lord, I resolve to be all that I am in Christ this
coming year. I am tired of compromise, sick of hesitation and want to
declare with my words and my life, "I am a Christian!" Help me to put
this thing right in my life and to realise all that I have and all that
I am in Jesus because of your great love. May I be truly your workmanship
in the coming year to the glory of your name.