Sitting here tonight, pondering the greater meaning of life, I cannot get this statment out of my head. “There is no one good, no not even one.” Is there no one good in this world? At one point in my life I would have said yes there are people who are very good. Those people I can trust and count on at all times, but as time passes and the reality of other peoples lives cave in on the parade of happy thoughts that once roamed my head I don’t know that my answer would be as certain anymore. Most people are not what they claim to be, and yet they portray a role that you accept and believe until the mask has been lifted and the truth unveiled.
The world is full of preditors who hide under the mask of christianity. These people prey on others for their own needs and pleasures, never seeking the good of others but only the good of themselves and yet happily and whole heartedly call themselves followers of Christ. There are also people in the Church today who think they are saved and try to act like it but may one day wake up to the sad conclusion that what they thought was their salvation experience was infact their death warrent. It is not uncommon to find people who are truely saved, and yet engaging in sinful lifestyles with no regret nor remorse and claim to be enlightened and blessed by God for it. It makes me think of Jesus when he said, not everyone who comes to me and says Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven.
As I continue to receive e-mail after e-mail, phone call after phone call, and office visit after office visit I begin to realize that many people whom I have thought of their life as being a certain way, when in fact they are not at all what they claimed to be. Within seven months I have been confronted with the cold hard reality of the contradictory lives of over 7 different people 3 of those are my own flesh and blood. What causes such deceit? What makes people say they believe in the truth of the bible and then stomp all over it with the way they live? As I sit and ponder the absolute factor in each situation I come to the conclusion that there is something absolute in each persons life, sin. The reason there are none good is because there are none who do not sin.
Many people who are living sinful lifestyles with no thought of repentance are often confused, blind, and looking for someplace to stick the blame. Of course they will never place the blame on themselves or anyone else in the situation for that matter, but the blame is always placed on the innocent. “If my parents hadn’t raised me this way…, if so and so would not have pushed me to do this…, if whoever would not have snooped in others buisness…, if they were not so pushy this never would have happened…,” and so on. It is fine time that people started to take responsability for their own actions. The choices and decisions we make are no ones fault but our own, and if those choices cause pain and greif then people need to suck it up and take the blame for it instead of trying to pass it on to other people. Don’t blame your friends or your family or church members, or pastors, or teachers, for the consequences of sin, place the blame where it belongs, yourself!
For myself I have learned that faith and trust in man will sometimes fail, but I come to expect it because man is not perfect. Placing my trust in man will lead to nothing but failure at some point in life, but placing my trust in God has and will never fail. It is not man who created me, who gave me talent, and leads me to use it, it was God. May I never give man the glory for what God did in me!
Which brings me to the question what should I do? Do I continue to have a personal friendship with those who have chosen to live a lifestyle contrary to the word or do I not associate with such people. I believe the answer is found in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11. If it was the will of God that I not associate with anyone in the world who was immoral then I could not stay in this world, I would have to leave it. Becuase all the lost people and many saved people live immoral lives. When Paul says do not associate with the sexually immoral people in 1 Corinthians he isn’t talking about non-believers outside the church, he is only talking about those who you know are believers. It is the immoral beleiver in Christ that lives a life contrary to Christ that I am not to associate with.
1 Corn. 5:9-11 “I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people–Not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.”
Because I choose not to associate with those living immoral lives it does not make me a bad christian, nor does it mean I hate them, it is instead an act of obedience to God. It doesn’t mean I should shun them and never talk to them, but it does mean that I should approach them with caution and choose not to be associated with them as I was before. How can I claim to be a follower of Christ and support those things or people that stand contrary to the cross. You cannot serve two masters, you will love one and hate the other.
Pressed
The Bible says that the gate to Heaven is narrow and few find it. I believe that the church is full of people that think they are saved when they are not. Also putting your trust in man will get you hurt and burned ect. But, I don’t work or think like that. If someone is my friend I would do anything for them. So if I am going to die for someone I would hope that I could trust that person. I don’t have many friends and have not had a lot of friends in my life time so the ones I do have are close, sometimes too close. But I do not like superficial relationships or friendships. So I would hope I could trust my friends
I would agree that we should not associate with the people that have been spoken of. We must keep praying for them. Thanks for the WORD Craig!
This lesson is an important one but not the easiest one to learn. It involves pain, making it a sour pill to swallow. I believe that you are absolutely correct however.
HERE! HERE! Those are my convictions as well! Ignorance of God’s Word is no excuse.
Wow! You know, it never ceases to amaze me how God speaks through people just the time it is needed. *Which brings me into how awesome God’s timing is, which is a whole other thing!* What you’ve said is greatly appreciated, now it’s time for all of us to put it into practice.
I’d have to agree with Mr. (W)right. This is a tough one to swallow. Not only is the pain hard to take for the one who has given God the bird (figuratively) with everything they do to themselves and others, but it’s a bitter pill for others to swallow who have been closely associated with that particular person. We don’t sin in a vacuum. Our sin affects EVERYBODY and it makes Jesus look like a chump to those who are looking for an excuse to hate Him anyway. This is especially true when we have made a public stand for Christ and claim Christianity to our friends and the world. “With their mouths they honor Me, but their hearts are far from me.” Our personal choices don’t just affect us personally which is why i pray that those close to me will keep me accountable for the things i say and the choices i make and whip me back into shape if i ever decide that it’d be cute to go off the deep end. But hey, God gave us a free will, right? Why not use it to it’s fullest…….hmmmmm…..maybe not.