A gay Charlotte, North Carolina waitress was dismayed this week when a woman customer scribbled Leviticus 20:13 on the ticket where the tip should be. At the bottom of the ticket the woman wrote, “Praying for you.” The customer’s actions were, to me, hypocritical, mean and judgmental.
The Old Testament verse declares, “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”Â
First, the verse is part of the law, which God’s people lived under in the Old Testament.
But because of Jesus Christ neither the waitress nor her customer live under the law any more. We live under grace.
Second, God lavishes his love and mercy on that gay waitress just as much as He does the woman customer who stiffed the waitress.
Third, the customer’s sin was no worse than the sin she implied the waitress was committing by her lifestyle. That customer was not witnessing. She was not encouraging. She was not accepting. She was judging. That was no way to treat a gay waitress. Several verses come to mind for the customer (and for anyone who would judge another’s life or lifestyle):
Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:1-5
Here’s another verse I believe the customer (and all of us) could benefit from remembering:
“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:32.Â
We don’t have to embrace the gay lifestyle, or those whose beliefs or religious convictions are different from ours; but Christ commands us that we must embrace them. To love them with the same love Christ loves us.
God is the one and only true Judge.
For His Glory 
Thanks for sharing this. It is an eye opener.
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I will never understand the level of have people have in their hearts and am even more appalled when it is espoused by someone who clings to their faith as a sort of sick sense of righteous ‘passage’ to do so. What did the diner hope to accomplish, surely not to bring another to Jesus in such a manner? If anything the opposite may have occurred Unless the waitress knows God loves her already. I want to kick that diner right in the chins for this. If one is a true Christian who studies your Bible and speaks with God through prayer you should know their sin is no greater than your sin, and mine no less that yours either. I pray every day I am teaching my children the path to God is to walk in His image as He dies for us on the cross, with love and compassion and acceptance. “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do”. Prayers for them both for different reasons but both with love.
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Steve, you are spot-on with today’s devotional message. I’m surprised you haven’t received other comments by this time, either pro or con.
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You are spot-on with today’s devotional, Steve. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t received other comments pro or con about it by now.
~Ronn~
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Thanks Steven for your approach to this. I am saddened that the “Praying for you” is attached to the Leviticus reference; I’m not sure how genuine this “tip” was. It seems to be more as giving a hammer than lending a hand. But as you aptly point out, it is so easy to go to “judgment.” I’m no different. I tried writing to this sort of thing in this: https://moreenigma.wordpress.com/2015/07/20/defy-the-cultural-trends/
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