It's easy to find fault. And the greater the fault in the "faultee" the easier it becomes. I sit at my computer almost every day and find fault with the government and governors of North Korea. It's SO easy. It's become second nature. But a Christian who practices this activity for very long will sooner or later be asked to deal with his own faults. His wretched condition minus Christ.
Who was the greatest sinner who ever lived? Nero, Hitler, Kim Jong Il? The Bible's answer is the apostle Paul. Paul said he himself was the chief of sinners. The worst. He killed and had killed a multitude of God's people. Not like the ignorant head of state who knew no better, but as a "good Jew" whose God was the same as the Christians' God. Paul never forgot who he was before Christ changed him.
Today I must answer a bit differently of course. Paul may have been the worst of his day, but I have moved into contention for the prize in our day. I who have known the Light streaming from the Word of God for over 50 years. I who have understood great portions of the Great Book. The same I who is still disobedient. Proud. Lazy. Fearful. And more. Kim doesn't know any better. He's not had an encounter with Christ, to our knowledge. Christians are a threat to him. So he tries to hurt them. He was raised to believe what he believes about life. Just as I was.
But I have no excuses. I have had everything life can offer. This life and the next. I am well aware of my culpability and cry out to God often for change, for renewal, for His fire.
Just so you know.
The North Korean government has adopted the "self-criticism" tactic, and used it, like the Roman Catholic "confessional" system of the Dark Ages (and oh they were dark!), to control its people. A man or woman or even child who is forced to stand in a public meeting or sit in a private box and confess faults of all kinds is controlled by that audience. Beaten down inwardly. Kept from advancement.
How different is confession of the Christians , from whom Rome and Pyongyang and all the others copied. For example, the confession I gave in the paragraphs above was not in any way coerced, yet from the inside I knew it was time to even the score, to place myself, but for the grace of God, in the same boat with Kim Jong Il. We Christ-followers don't look down at evil men. We recognize evil in us instinctively when the Spirit is in our lives. We confess it freely, and it is forgiven by Christ just as freely. We are well aware that evil is not just something "out there" but that it is lurking within each of us at any moment, ready to attack our new life in Him.
May all of our fault-finding start with the chief of sinners. Me. But may we never be afraid to speak the truth about evil in our world either.
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