My thoughts for today’s editorial stem from some current, on-going news items and our study last Wednesday evening. In that study we talked about the "character" of a Christian and used these recent news events to illustrate that lesson. I’d like to continue on with another aspect of a Christian’s character and, still using the new items, I’ll sort of continue on with that lesson.
The news items I cited for my illustrations Wednesday were the scandals involving the disgraced former Congressman, Anthony Weiner, who is running for Mayor of New York City and the baseball player suspended for "substance abuse."
I’m not going to mention any details about these two cases, I’m only going to mention something I see consistent with both of our subjects here. When the news broke, when the scandal came to light, the first thing they (and just about all scandal-mongers do) - they lied about it. Of course, when the evidence was overwhelming they ‘fessed-up and began the second phase of a scandal - trying to work a deal.
But why lie? Well, there’s a very simple answer - to deceive people. So people won’t see the true them. They lie to pretend that "it" (whatever got you in trouble) didn’t really happen. That they’re not a sexual degenerate or a dope-using ball player. Then the evidence comes out and proves that, not only are they a "liar" but a "hypocrite" - an actor. They’re pretending to be something that they’re not. They’re not only speaking lies, they’re living a lie.
Part of the second phase of a scandal is the pleading for mercy and understanding. And, sad to say, they seem to receive quite a bit of this, don’t they? Why this is, in my humble opinion, is because many people don’t see lying as being a major problem or fault in a person anymore. Is it because we’ve been fed so many lies by our government that we’ve become immune, so to speak, to the effect that lying has on our lives? I don’t know, but I suspect that it does.
You know, one can have the reputation of being a liar and/or being proven to be a liar, and again sadly, a lot of people just don’t seem to be bothered by it. But what bothers me is, they separate the "liars" public life from their private life and say that one doesn’t affect the other. That’s like saying you can trust him to be honest and truthful at work, on duty, even though he’s a known liar off duty. How can that be?"
God doesn’t separate man’s life into public and private categories. With God, a liar is a liar is a liar! And, He tells us in His Word that liars will be dealt with "accordingly." Now, I said "accordingly." What do I mean by this? I mean a couple of things about God dealing "accordingly" with man in relation to man’s actions, his "deeds."
Nr. 1 - "According" to a person’s ways, or their manner of living because it’s our manner of living, our character, that determines our standing with God. Note in 1Tim. 1:10-11 that "liars" are lumped in with some other vile persons and we’re told there that these kinds of actions are "contrary to sound doctrine. According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God..."
If we turn to Gal. 2:14 we find that when we "walk uprightly" we’re walking "according to the truth of the gospel." So, what we’re seeing here is that our actions, our "deeds", our manner of life has to fit within certain parameters, IE: the gospel of Christ which is what determines our standing with God.
Here’s the other shoe, so to speak, on this point. 2Cor. 5:10 says that we’re going to answer for our actions, our deeds. It says there that "all will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." And then, Rom. 2:6 tells us that God’s judgment will be rendered to every man "according to his deeds."
Okay, now let’s look at point Nr. 2. God will judge man "according" to His Word. In other words, everybody gets judged by the same set of rules. The same standard. And we can see what that standard is by looking first at Rom 2:16 where we find these words: "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."
Another way of making this point is to look at Rom. 2:2 and see that we’ll be judged "according to truth...." John 17:17 defines for us what "truth" is: "Thy word is truth." And probably the best scripture we can look at to make this point understandable is the one found in John 12:48. "He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."
Now, did you notice anywhere in those scriptures, or any other passages in the Bible for that matter, anything about whether man’s "deeds" are separated into categories? As in the "public deeds" being judged differently from the "private deeds?" No, I didn’t either.
Here’s a little further thought about "lying." How does lying affect our lives? The answer: it is a destroyer of character. One doesn’t have to commit every sin to destroy one’s character. If a person’s character is destroyed in one category, one sin, and remains unrepented of, it’s destroyed in all aspects.
What I mean by that is, how can you believe what this person is saying "publicly" when you can’t trust what he says "privately?" I’ve heard of people having a mental disorder that causes them to have what’s referred to as "dual personalities" but, there cannot be "dual characters." I guess that what I’m getting at is, a Christian cannot be of a "dual character." As in being a "public Christian" and a "private infidel."
I repeat, there are no separate categories of Christians. You are either 100 percent Christian or you’re not one. Remember John’s talking about the letter to the church at Laodicea in Rev. 3? Where they were told that they couldn’t be "luke-warm" or else God would "spew them" out of His mouth? In other words, they couldn’t sit on the fence. They had to be either hot or cold. And, as touching this point, remember what Jesus said in Matt. 12:20 and Luke 11:23? He said, "He that is not with me is against me." Again, a Christian cannot have a "dual character."
In closing our lesson today, I’ll give you a couple of quotations that I used in the Wednesday night lesson that I feel is applicable to my thoughts here. In regards to our "lying, substance-abusing" ball player, the famous UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden, said this:
"Sports do not build character - they reveal it."
He also once spoke these words that I’ll close with.
"Material possessions, winning scores and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters."
Ron Covey
No comments:
Post a Comment