[------------------------------------------Most Welcoming------------------------------------------]
A friend of mine posted a great sermon on her profile, but it reminded me—evil is becoming more prevalent than ever. The world is persuasive, man! It does not want us to be Christians who follow the adage, "See something, say something!" Instead, it wants us to be quiet. And when we're quiet, it says, "Here, partake of this very minor sin, just so that your friends can feel comfortable around you. Don't be a prude. It'll be hard to bring Christ to them if you don't fit in a little better."
Maybe it's something small. We'll just go to the bar with them so they have someone responsible around. And then it's "just one beer since now we're at the bonfire and that's all there is—but I'll refocus the conversation spiritually." The more we engage in drinking, the more they laugh and seem to appreciate us, so we have more opportunities to talk about God, right? If we're not careful, we can keep going down that road, slowly adding on some more minor sins, slowly missing the mark more and more often, but it all seems so easy and good! CS Lewis wrote,
"Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts..."
Maybe we're taking that road. One beer with friends becomes two, two becomes four, and so on. Not really that bad. We have some nice weekend parties, but slowly it's less about Christ. Someone from the assembly of the saints maybe mentions noticing us drinking a lot in pictures, and we get our hair raised on our backs—they don't know us! They can't put us under Law! Suddenly, it seems the assemblies aren't a place where we can share our whole lives, because there's so much judgement. Instead, it's a little nicer to spend more time with those who aren't Christians, where we can let loose a little, where it's easy to fit in.
[------------------------------------------Later------------------------------------------]
Later on in our walk, we get very upset with people and don't want them prying into our business. Someone says, "I noticed you've been partying a lot, and just wanted to let you know that we have other activities you can join in! We love you and it'd be awesome to have you hanging out with us more. Really miss seeing your face! You're such an asset!" That incites us to anger! We launch a tirade explaining that a little partying isn't so bad, our friends are AWESOME and loving! "What we do is NONE of your business, leave us alone! The people I hang out with are so affectionate and accepting! You don't know about us!"
And so we have started the transformation away from an ambassador to the world, and into a member of it. Slowly we are becoming those who, "although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." (Romans 1:32)
That easy, downhill road is one that leads to a malignant spiritual transformation. When we are warned and launch into tirades against those who try and gently help us back onto the right path, it's a warning light on our spiritual dashboard. It says to us that we are starting to look like those Jesus discussed in John 3:19-21, where He said,
"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
The danger of keeping quiet is real. The less we're involved in the spiritual war, the less we care. The less we're helping others, the more we're focused on ourselves, which leads to selfishness and sin, and the more we sin, the more we want to keep our brothers and sisters out of our spiritual lives. It usually doesn't happen all at once, being just an incident here and there, but it almost always starts with a lack of action toward doing good, and thus not being those who "practice the truth and come to the light, so that our deeds can manifested as having been wrought in God."
[------------------------------------------Esther------------------------------------------]
Esther 4 presents an awesome lesson for us which doesn't seem related at first:
"Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
What can we learn from Esther?
1.) "Do NOT think...in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews”
I’M SAFE! We can't be complacent. This is not someone else's fight. We can't be complacent in our salvation. We have to keep engaged and not lose the picture.
2.) “Do NOT think...” “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish."
I’LL KEEP SILENT! If we see something, we need to say something. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mean we need to come down with the Hammer of Truth and smash people. If we see an opportunity, we need to speak love, reason, and victory in Jesus. But we CANNOT keep silent and say, "It's someone else's responsibility." And this goes among our brothers and sisters, too, if they are going astray. We need to gently help them overcome.
3.) “Do NOT think...” “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
IT’S SOMEBODY ELSE’S PROBLEM! No! It is OUR fight! Every time we have an opportunity is an opportunity for which we have personal responsibility to serve our Lord!
[------------------------------------------A Prayer to Pray------------------------------------------]
Overall, we can say that complacency kills. Giving in kills. Keeping silent kills. Every time we have an opportunity to help the Kingdom, we need to take it. It's not for someone else, and to refuse responsibility endangers us. We also have the responsibility to stop ourselves from silently slipping below the surface and succumbing. That responsibility is not just to ourselves, but to the entire Kingdom. The Kingdom is a family, and giving in to sin is spiritual suicide. Like suicide, it hurts the entire family. Worse, when we give in, we tend to lash out at our brothers and sisters when they notice, because we don't want the things we're hiding in the dark being exposed.
Let's pray ceaselessly that we always have boldness to take action and to be able to read John 3:21, which says, "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God,” and say,
"Yes, Father, that is who I am, in word and deed, in Spirit and in truth."
