Interestingly, in living for Jesus, I have found many professing Christians who oppose the constant and all-out preaching of Christ and the righteousness that comes by faith in Him. I find this opposition from fellow Christians a bit hard to believe given the fact that I’ve never encountered someone who has NOT been deeply wounded in his or her lifetime. Everyone I know has at one point or another been abused, molested, cheated on, lied to, stolen from, and/or hurt by other people. And though many have survived these experiences, they’ve almost always walked away with “scar tissue” and been changed for the rest of their lives. I’m certain that if it was up to the person who was negatively impacted, he or she would’ve rather been spared a very painful wound in life.
Question: Does all the hurting that goes on in the world come out of thin air?
Answer: Of course not!
In the New Testament of the Bible, James 4:1 & 2 reads:
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.”
Earlier in this same book (James 1:13-15), the author wrote:
“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be
tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted
when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire
has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
As pointed out earlier, wickedness in the earth does not come out of thin air. Rather, it comes from the inordinate desires and lusts within the hearts of men and women going unchecked (Matthew 15:19). This is done in two forms: 1) by individual sinners NOT resisting evils and practicing restraint and 2) by professing Christians failing to live out God’s standards in the earth while preaching His Truth unashamedly.
Question: Will a person’s individual sins merely affect that person alone?
Answer: Hardly ever! For example: adultery involves the hurting of a spouse; molestation involves the theft of a child’s innocence; fornication (i.e. sex outside of a marital/lifelong committed relationship) involves the degrading of one’s purity and contributes to the epidemic of unwanted pregnancies and fatherless children; and this list could go on and on.
There is great POWER in God's Word and every minister and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ is charged with proclaiming His love and His righteousness in the earth. The blood of sinners will be on his hands otherwise (Ezekiel 3:18). On the positive side, “he who turns a sinner from his ways will save a soul from death and cover a number of sins” (James 5:20).
Questions: How many murders have NOT taken place in the world because of someone hearing the Gospel, gaining the fear of the LORD and turning from his or her hate? How many children have NOT been molested because of the blood of Jesus cleansing a perverted mind? How many abortions and diseases have been prevented because someone was warned by Truth and there forth stopped having premarital sex? How many marriages have been saved because of someone denying his or her sinful desires, receiving the Holy Spirit and thus not committing adultery? How many suicides have NOT taken place because of someone learning of the overwhelming love of God? Again, we could go on.
Conclusion: Without a proper focus and orientation, we can be led to call left right and right left; up down and down up. Likewise, as the Bible states...we can call good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20).
If you are a Christian/saint, please be rooted and grounded in THE LORD and encourage others to do so. Preach and share the Gospel unashamedly (Romans 1:16) and support those who do the same. Help gather and do not scatter (Luke 11:23). And if, by chance, you are NOT yet a believer and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ but have read all of this...then hold on, things are about to get interesting...very interesting!
- Clay Vessel (CV)
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