I apologize in advance for the length of this post, BUT I feel it is important because the subject I discuss is hurting the church.
I had no more pressed send for Words for the Day one day than I immediately received a nasty e-mail about me that some guy had sent to a friend about a previous post. In that post I had recounted how I was informed that someone had stolen my brand new $15,000 lawnmower and trailer the previous night. When I discovered it, I got angry and suddenly used profanity. In the post I mentioned that afterwards I felt bad about falling captive to Satan with anger and profanity and prayed to God to forgive me.
I will not bore you with the entire email, but he ended his rant about me as follows:
“Summary & Conclusion:
He is either lost, very immature, or very confused about the whole idea of “death to self”. Those who are dead to selfish motives have no reason to get angry, spew vulgar words or condemn others. Methinks this person is confused about truth and faith in general. I am sure to him I’m a hypocrite and Pharisee. Methinks he might want to stop blogging and spend that time in prayer. Apparently, he thinks he is above most of the rest of us and yet can do as he pleases.”
Really??? I tell you I get so sick of this type of “Christian” I could vomit, (preferably in his face). It’s not enough that I accepted Christ as my Savior and confessed my dark sins and surrendered my life to Jesus, kicked meth and heroin addiction cold turkey, overcame alcoholism, stopped being a criminal, a warlock, etc.; oh no I have to be PERFECT in order to be a “real Christian” according to his pious mindset. He is right about one thing; I do think he is a judgmental hypocrite.
I waited a day and then reluctantly wrote him and gently reminded him that Jesus was the only perfect man that ever walked this earth. I mentioned to this fellow that albeit he might not use profanity himself, as sure as the sun comes up, he commits sins just like every other poor slob on the face of this earth and according to Jesus he shouldn’t be talking about the “speck in my eye” while he has a rather large 2X12 board stuck in his own eye. According to the Bible that I read daily, his sins will convict him just like mine will me, and that is why we both need the blood of Christ. If we could be perfect and sin free why would Jesus have had to come die for our sins.
I agree that we should make every effort to eradicate sin from our lives and I try awfully hard to do so, but the Bible tells us that no one will ever be 100% successful; faithful Noah wasn’t, righteous Abraham wasn’t, venerable Moses wasn’t, the Apostle Paul in his own words was not, doubting Peter and Thomas weren’t, anointed King David, whom the Bible states was a man after God’s own heart wasn’t; NO ONE other than Jesus was capable of living a perfect sin-free life!
David was a man after God’s own heart because like many other of God’s warriors demonstrated his faith and was committed to following the Lord. Yes, his faith was tested on a grand scale, and he failed at times. But after his sin he always sought and received the Lord’s forgiveness. In the final analysis, David loved God’s Law and sought to follow it exactly. As a man after God’s own heart, David is a role model for all of us.
I tried explaining this in a nice way and that he does not know my mind or heart and should not be questioning my faith, or judging me, or insulting me by saying I am either lost, immature, or confused because I committed the sin of profanity or that I think I’m better than others.
He wrote back in part: “It is certain that we do not know each other, and it is equally as certain that Jesus desired that we walk in truth, love, and grace ever ready to forgive and accept the weaknesses of others. It is equally true that not one word will fall to the ground from all of scripture. I did not intend to judge either your character or your person as I do not know you at all. What we are strongly admonished to do throughout the New Testament epistles is to learn to discern which seems at times like judging, but it has a completely different motive. Our motive in correcting, exhorting, admonishing and on rare occasions rebuking is the uplifting and restoring of a right walk (righteous living).”
It that was this fellow’s true intent the Bible prescribes the procedure for confronting a sinning brother or sister in an extensive passage on church discipline: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector” (Matthew 18:15-17). I will note that this is the procedure for confronting a sinning brother, not someone whose behavior you feel needs modifying in some way or someone who merely irritates or annoys you.
I responded I don’t understand your thinking and insults towards me, but I do forgive you. I live for the Lord every day as best I know how. He has forgiven my dark sins and evil days and I love Him more than I can describe with mere words. In spite of my weaknesses, He has blessed me enormously . . . I have been on the wrong side of God, and I suffered mightily for my sins. I suggest that if you can stomach it that you read my book, “Miracle on Luckie Street”; it’s full of curse words, violence, sex, mayhem, drugs, alcoholism, witchcraft, prison, sadism, and other evil committed by me. That was the summation of my homeless, penniless, lonely, life of fear and rage and sets the stage for what a remarkable thing God did when He transformed me into a new creature.
When I was 24 years old, I miraculously came to know the love of Jesus Christ and God lovingly changed my life forever and for the last half century I have tried to be a better person, the kind of person God wants me to be. I’m still not where I desire to be and won’t be until Christ returns. I have struggled with sin all my life right up unto this very moment. Maybe you are convinced that you do not sin and are righteous but the Bible states in Romans 3:28 that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And in Romans 3:10 “There is no one righteous, not even one” . . . Spiritual warfare is being waged every day against all of us, especially against those who stick their head above the clover for God, and sometimes we stumble. But Jesus understands and forgives us.
I think this gentleman’s thinking will do more to harm the message of Christ of loving compassion and forgiveness than anything else a professed Christian could do.
Don’t be a hypocrite or listen to hypocrites folks; instead, pray for them. The bible should be read in context and not by cherry picking one verse. Jesus said we should forgive those who sin against us, and I try but perhaps am not always successful at that. I am comforted in knowing that God understands that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak . . . Remember Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Summary and conclusion:
“Methinks” Jesus loves us despite ourselves . . . Paul put this entire issue to rest in an elegant way.
Stop and rest for a moment and meditate on the passage below – Selah . . .
Romans 7:14
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!