How can you believe in a
God when there is so
much?
God when there is so
much?
"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried."
G.K. Chesterton
Many years ago, when I was working in the youth department at my church, an angry young man confronted me with the problem of evil. this was the mid 90's and he asked, "Why didn't God stop Ted Kazcynski, the Unibomber sooner?" When he asked the question I knew, in that moment, God had a plan which would have put people in the right place at the right time. The problem was those people, Christians, had not been where God wanted them to be.
Jesus, in his prayer, in John 17:18, says this,
"As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world."
We are told by the Holy Spirit through St. Paul, in Ephesians 2:10,
"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Jesus also says something very interesting to his disciples when he gives them what we call "The Great Commission"...
"Jesus approached and, breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me."
Matthew 28:18 (AMP)
I've seen Christians taking stands against sinners and their sins, with nothing of value to show for decades of effort. What I haven't seen much of is what the Scriptures teach in the New Testament:
Romans 12:21
" Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
1 John 5:4
"for everyone born of God overcomes the world."
(All bold print in Scripture verses are my addition)
There is a vast difference between "standing against" sin and "overcoming" sin. Overcoming sin is to utterly and absolutely defeat; destroy; completely remove sin. All of the measures of Christians working politically, standing in picket lines, and decrying sin on FaceBook isn't what the Scriptures teach about overcoming sin.
God sent his law through Moses, but when telling us what to do failed to make us righteous and failed to empower us to overcome, he came down bodily to accomplish his ends for himself. When Jesus came then "overcoming" sin and the world's ways came in him.
It's time to learn from God: Do not stand apart from sinners, but go to them physically and bring the solution of the "good news" directly to them. And not only do we bring the gospel of Jesus, but we bring the Holy Spirit, who indwells us, directly in contact with broken sinners. This is how Jesus Christ taught us to carry out the business of his kingdom.
It's time to stop worrying about the evil in the world, and time to begin BEING God's servant delivering, up close and personal, the gospel of Jesus Christ. In other words you're gonna have to stop shouting and complaining about gay marriage and start getting into the lives of gay and lesbian people, to show them the difference of God's love. And that's one little example of doing what Jesus taught. Lots and lots to do, so if you've got something to say about sin, then you've got a lot of repenting to start doing, and a lot of action to start taking. If you truly want to see God overcome evil, then find a mirror and you'll find God's first real problem to overcome.
Just Some Thoughts,
Lonnie
Good post, agree with it completely. We should go into the world, teach them the Word since Faith comes by hearing the Word. The biggest problem I've seen with Christians in general is the lack of knowledge of the Bible and no desire to remedy that problem. So if/when they go out, they wouldn't know what to do.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I agree with you. That's why the next post I've written is about discipleship. But even discipleship isn't the start, fixing what's broken in us is actually the first step we need to start making. That too is a future post.
Delete