Given the political uproar in our great nation of late, I thought I'd make use of a recurring term in all that din: "maverick". I laugh when I think about Tina Fey's Sarah Pallin on Saturday Night Live saying that she and McCain would get "all mavericky" once they made it to the White House. Often "rogue" is used in a similar context as maverick, but the words are quite different. A maverick is someone who doesn't conform to the standards around them. A rogue is someone who delights in evil, a villain. We live in a world gone rogue. Sin abounds, is overlooked, and sometimes--more often than not, in truth--is glamorized and glorified. Tolerance is the new buzz word. And people who care nothing for God's word or His ways will be the first to quote, "Judge not, lest you be judged. . ." (Matt 7:1ff) How those words have paralyzed God's people into ineffectiveness and apathy.
I was talking with a friend the other day about this very thing. Someone was doing wrong and someone else, fully aware of its utter inappropriateness said, "Well, I shouldn't judge . . . " My friend was incensed at this response. "People are so afraid of being 'judgmental'--wrong is wrong!" As God's people we are obligated to call wrong what it is. Even more than that we are obligated to call wrong what God calls it: sin. It should bother us as it bothers Him. Understand, though, that we are equally obligated to treat sinners as God does, as well, with love and grace. Anything God did in the Bible to bring sinners to repentance was done in love. Sometimes, especially in the Old Testament it is hard to comprehend how God's actions toward His Hebrews could be loving.
I've recently begun a study in Isaiah, an undertaking that daunts me. Isaiah is a challenging book to read and understand. I've avoided it for years because I didn't think I was smart enough on one hand and on the other hand, I was pretty sure it would not only confuse me but also scare the heck out of me. I know a lot of harrowing events were occurring in Israel during Isaiah's lifetime, so I wasn't sure that I wanted to really get up close and personal with those things. However, in my studies over the last year or so, I've come across many comforting, inspiring verses in Isaiah. My curiosity began to get the better of me as I learned more about the way God loves and has always loved His own. To help me in my endeavor, I've enlisted the help of Jim McGuiggan's The Book of Isaiah. So far, I have yet to get to the actual book of Isaiah part. McGuiggan lays out some important information necessary in understanding Isaiah in the beginning of the study.
He mentions God's response to sin saying, "In dealing with sin, God is not being loveless. Holiness is love refusing to live at peace with sin!"
Those words put God's love for Israel into a context that I had never grasped before. He loved them so much, but they continued to reject His love. He was going to save them in spite of themselves, so He spared a remnant from destruction and promised them a Savior who would free them from the oppression of sin for all time. Jesus showed them God's love in a way they could truly see. He healed their wounds, physical and spiritual, and gave Himself as the ultimate sin offering. In a world of spiritual apathy, Jesus was a maverick who inspired renewal. In a time of legalistic practice that could never save souls, Jesus restored humanity to its Creator.
We find ourselves in a similar situation today as God's people: A world of tolerance that confuses acceptance with approval. Paul admonishes us in Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world . . ." This world where political correctness is prized over truth and righteousness. We are the mavericks in this world of self-gratification. Called by God to call sin by its name and to teach His truth in love. It's time to get mavericky!
7 comments:
I like the quote about what holiness is. What would my life be like if I refused to live at peace with sin?
I have a hard time calling sin - sin. I grew up in a home of tolerance (on the outside) while inside we seemed to be intolerant of everything that wasn't just like us. It shaped things in me that are hard to understand much less change. I still struggle with being so tolerant that nothing is "sin" anymore.
I have a hard time knowing how to treat someone that is clearly sinning and doesn't care. I fall into that "who am I to judge?" category. I look at my past and think, "How can I say anyone is doing wrong?" But I'm not the one saying it ... God is.
I could go on and on typing circles of words trying to figure out what's in my head. But I'll stop and just say ... thanks.
Thanks for making me think, and challenging me to remember that being like God involves refusing to live at peace with sin.
It's a hard trying to live in the world and not be of it. Another lesson I remember on the Beattitudes with regard to "Blessed are the peacemakers . . . ", the teacher defined a peacemaker as a fighter against sin. I think it fits in nicely with McGuiggan's definition of holiness. We make peace by refusing to live in peace with sin. I struggle with sin as much as anyone, but I know that God desires me to be light and salt. Sometimes, that means standing against sin and calling it out when I see it. I struggle here, too, but I want to better at it.
This is a topic I find I am becoming more and more convicted of. I don't care about politically correctness, tolerance, or not being judgemental. What matters to me is that I am in agreement with God. If someone thinks I am being judgemental to call wrong wrong, then they can argue with God.
I get really fed up with this attitude that we should just accept everyone and everything they do. Since when is it not ok to call bad behavior out? The judge not lest you be judged command given to us is so often taken out of context.
Honestly, if I am sinning, then I should be judged. And whether or not you judge me, I will be judged by God.
I grew up in a home without a lot of tolerance for things and when that turned against me (even though I was doing wrong and it was RIGHTFULLY turned against me) I shot off in the other direction for awhile. I felt like they just needed to stop being so prejudiced and judgemental!!
So now, that I'm back to a place with God, I'm trying to find my place, place my thoughts, figure out what I'm supposed to feel if I want to be like Christ...if I want to agree with God.
We hear the phrase "hate the sin, love the sinner". How do we learn what that means? How do I learn how to do that? I think the only way I can learn...is to look at Jesus and see how He handled it. He told the woman caught in the act "neither do I condemn you" but He also told her "go and sin no more". So He recognized her sin, her guilt. But did not give her the death sentence right then and there.
I want to learn grace and mercy from Him. I have received it..so it shouldn't be that hard to know how to give it.
Wow, this is a tough one. I understand Sherry where you are coming from when you say you grew up in a home with very little tolerance.
And I too struggle to "hate the sin and love the sinner". I see it in someone I love dearly. I see how she continues to make poor choices. I have told her that God does not approve of her lifestyle. God did not create her to live this way, but she still does.
So, do I give up? Do I "wash my hands" because she won't turn? Sometimes my actions cause me to do just that.
I think of the prodigal son and how his father saw him when he was still a ways off. So I know that God looks for us too. I sometimes find that I am acting like the big brother in this story. I don't want to do that. I definitely think I need LOTS of growth and wisdom in this area.
BUT I love going around in my best Sarah Palin voice telling my family I'm about "to go mavericky on them!"
I think it's important to remember how God pursues people. He desires all men to be saved. Step away from the prodigal son, and consider the lost sheep. Did the shepherd not go after the sheep until he found it? Consider Saul of Tarsus who became Paul. I think of numerous people whom God pursued, who perhaps should have died in their sin and bad choices, but are alive and belong to Him today. It is hard to hate the sin and love the sinner. We know it all to well the way we end up hating ourselves when we sin. God doesn't hate us. He looks at us and sees Jesus and He runs to us when we come before Him. As Sherry says, we need only to look at how Jesus handled these things to learn how we should. And by His grace we will learn!
Another word that the world has appropriated for its own nefarious purposes: Hater. I'm not sure that was even a word before Hollywood got its hands on it.
I heard a young movie star on TV not long ago say about someone with whom she disagreed, "I hate that. I hate people who are haters." To which I can only answer, "Huh? YOU are the only one hating anyone in this conversation!"
Too bad it would be a waste of perfectly good oxygen.
At the risk of sounding like I am glorifying persecution, the early Christians were persecuted in part because they were different from the world around them. They caused businesses to lose money because they stopped buying idol merchandise (lack of better word), for instance. And yet, can I say that my life differs that much from those around me, who don't owe their allegiance to Jesus?
I'll have get back to you on that one. (Unless you'll let me use a lifeline.)
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