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Key Bible Verse: Do you think, asks the Sovereign Lord, that I like to see wicked people die? (Ezekiel 18:23). Bonus Reading:I Corinthians 5:9-13

July 28, 1995, was "Until There's a Cure" Day at Candlestick Park. The pregame ceremony displayed the San Francisco Giants' solidarity with AIDS volunteers. But relief pitcher Mark Dewey refused to join in. Instead, he wore his looped ribbon sideways, making it resemble a Christian icthus, or fish symbol.

In an open letter to area newspapers, Mark explained: "Everything I have done and said has been to express love and compassion for all people with AIDS, their friends and families, and those who have lost loved ones to the disease without compromising the teaching of the Scriptures. I have no hatred or ill will toward homosexuals. I have concern for all who have AIDS, and I'm not opposed to the search for a cure or action taken by people to raise money for research.

"I do, however, hate sin, and the Bible clearly teaches that sexual immorality (fornication, adultery, homosexuality, etc.) is sin. I could not be involved with the ceremonies because sexual immorality was condoned and in some cases encouraged…. The deadly disease we are battling is sin (it kills body and spirit). All have sinned. There is a cure—the shed blood of Jesus Christ."

—Steve Riach in Heart of a Champion

My Response: What did Mark do right?

Thought to Apply: Jesus didn't condemn bad people. He condemned "stiff" people. We condemn the bad ones and affirm the stiff ones.

—Steve Brown (broadcaster)

Adapted from Heart of a Champion (Broadman & Holman, 2001) by permission.

Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Thank you, God, that Your purity never blocked Your mercy. Show me how to model Your compassion for the hurting.

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