I have a little challenge for you. Read the following (3) short passages of Scripture see if you can recognize what they have in common:
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” - Acts 7:51-53
"...save others by snatching them out of the fire" - Jude 1:23a
"Then Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” No one, Lord," she answered. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Now go and sin no more." - John 8:10-11
Stephen, Jude and Jesus, just as they were then, would have been hated by our society today. It seems that straightforwardness, truthfulness, clarity and decisiveness in speech are the worst "sins" that can be committed in today's culture. "Mean" words will get you "canceled" faster than actual destructive, immoral or even illegal actions. No one wants to hear the truth. Its like the Fleetwood Mac song says. Our world is saying, "Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies."
The evil one is hurriedly working to mold the people of this world into one mindless hoard of lemmings who will unquestionably follow the prevailing winds of culture, regardless of where those winds may take them.
The Word of God, without doubt, instructs God's people to live differently. If the people of God are to live according to His Book, then we cannot follow this ungodly pattern of the world. If we do, we are not of God but, as Jesus said, "are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies". - John 8:44
You and I must be LOUD and CLEAR about the reality of sin, the practice of sin, and the eternal effects of sin. "Nice" isn't going to cut it. We cannot obey God and be "nice" at the same time. It is not because God isn't "nice", willingly sacrificing yourself for the good of others is the "nicest" thing a person can do (John 15:13). It is because the world has a warped definition of what "nice" is. Anything that makes one feel uncomfortable, icky, angry, challenged or unfree to do whatever they wish is not "nice".
Actually, church, the kindest, "nicest" thing we can do for the people of this world is to speak what is true. We must. The loud and clear truth of the gospel of Jesus is the only hope this world has. If we withhold it in order to be "nice", we have withheld the only cure to their terminal disease. That certainly isn't "nice".
Let us resolve to speak the truth, motivated by a love for God and the ones He has created, and to not consider the social consequences for ourselves. We don't want to be accepted by this world anyway, we want to be accepted by the Merciful One.
Older
Top
