The
crux of the matter is perhaps some people are NOT accepting there is indeed a
creator, omnipotent and holy God. When
one is NOT accepting there is that God, then quite obviously, the focus is then
shifted to ourselves, men. But when that
happens, this creeps in – “each to his own” (if possible).
When
men look at other men or themselves, soon enough they realise there are so much
inadequacy with men. And so, submission
to another or even to the authority is often something we do NOT want to
accept. “Why must I?” is almost always
asked. Often, without God in the
picture, it all comes down to these:
1.
If I cannot fight it and win, I will submit; otherwise, why submit?;
2.
If I can get away with it, I will NOT submit; and
3.
If I believe life is just scores of years, at best, why NOT live and let live.
Righteousness
often, then gets defined with the above in mind, although as Christians or
believers, we know of righteousness as righteousness of God. Instead of looking at the angle of what God
considers as right or wrong, men come up with their own versions of
righteousness. If I cannot fight you and
win, then what you say counts-lo; I will do as you say! In such a case, one’s righteousness is the
righteousness of the men in control over him.
For example, if the men in control, and so, is his authority, say, “if
you kill someone, you just need to pay a fine of $10K”, he takes that as
righteousness, and he would go kill someone, and then pays up the fine, and
walks away.
Then,
many subscribe to “if I can get away with it”, then it is NOT wrong-lo. And so, such a person’s righteousness is like
shifting sand or shadow; depends-lo!
The
live and let live people, in the extreme, don’t give a damn about
righteousness; do whatever you want to do, only that you don’t impact me,
negatively, please; myopic, for sooner or later, they will be impacted by the
actions of others. Perhaps, they accepted
this, “If die, die-lo!”
But
is it really possible for someone to kill another, and then pays up the
miniscule fine, and walks away as if he has just killed a chicken? I don’t think so, at least NOT at the first
time he did it. The same can be said of
the person cheating in an examination but is NOT caught. Also, for the person who just does whatever
his carnal flesh tells him.
It
was NOT meant to be, but Man had partaken of the Fruit of the knowledge of good
and evil, and so, is with sense of good and evil, even though he is
“ill-equipped” to handle it. Knowledge of good and evil, in and of itself is
NOT, not good; it was just that Man was then inadequate to handle it (and so,
God told Man NOT to eat from the Tree).
It, the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, nonetheless did something
to Man. Man’s “eyes” were open (Adam's and
Eve's eyes, from the Fall, were opened, to shame).
In
a sense, Satan or the ancient serpent gave Man (opened up Man to) that
knowledge of good and evil, but because he (Satan) has also, at the same time, worked
an agency in us all, down the lineage of Man, and this agency, I call Iniquity,
it (the agency) often voices to us, “It is alright NOT to be good all the
time”. If you and I listen to it, it
ensnares us; and over time, our conscience becomes seared, and “black and
white” gets all mixed up, so to speak.
We then find it difficult to stick to good; and when we do evil often
enough, we become “comfortable” in it, but the knowledge of good and evil still
stares at us; only that many of us, look the other way, to avoid the rising up
of internal turmoil. Adam and Eve had
nakedness (shame from it) staring at them (after they fell), and what they did
to “look the other way” was to cover it up!
[As a side, this is something to
think about:
Adam and Eve used leaves to cover up;
most temporal indeed, soon enough, they would have to face that which gave rise
to internal turmoil. God then provided a
less temporal covering; He made animal skin as covering. This veiling that we see it recorded in
Genesis was foreshadowing the veiling of what was holy from the unholy or what
is righteous from the unrighteous. Man
was holy and righteous until he fell;
Man got increasingly worse, although at the beginning after the Fall,
Man was still “NOT that bad”, so much so that Scripture still recorded God
coming to Man, and helped Man, even with the birth of the first sons of Man (Cain
and Abel, and Seth). The leaves or
animal skin was a veil, and it foreshadowed the veil God also put, subsequently
between Him (holiness) and the fallen people (unholy). This veil was represented by the veil in the
temple, separating the Holy of Holy (where God was) from the rest of the outer
area of the Temple; and Jesus’ works on the cross, was what removed that veil.
The veil has been removed indeed; a
“through Christ Jesus” way has been opened whereby we can come before His
Holiness, and whereby we can, NOT look the other way or hide, but can live out
the truths and ways of God, the righteousness of God. The victory has indeed been won, yet the
“through Christ Jesus” way is “we enforcing that victory of Christ Jesus”; that
we, men, believers, fighting “violently” (Matt 11:12), the resistance still
being put up by the dark principality of Satan who still roams the earth where
we, mortal men, are, presently. And so,
as a gospel message, men can only begin [our] victorious life, by coming into
salvation offered by Christ Jesus, the Son of God.]
That
is what most people do, they look the other way or refuse to confront the
unrighteousness that they are in, or that they are outside of truth. Truth sets
us free, said Scripture, yet often truth can have a way of making one
uncomfortable first (like godly sorrow), before the person acknowledges the
unrighteousness in question, and wants to do something about it.
Ps
Prentis, my long-distance pastor friend, in his blog entry (“They know the truth”),
covered much reasons/excuses of people NOT walking in truth. Perhaps, needing to be stressed is the
issue of one needing to develop self-control, and perseverance (in
righteousness). This is still so,
that we need to develop self-control, and perseverance (in righteousness),
after we have become a Christian or believer.
To know the truth is one thing, to walk in the truth is another. Although, Scripture said that truth sets you
free, it really is truth lived out that set you free (the Hebrews
understood it that way – got to live it out).
To murder is wrong; that is a truth, and you can know the truth, but if
you still kill anyway, the truth has NOT set you free; in fact, it condemns
you.
How
is the truth of ‘murder is wrong’ sets one free? When lived (truth of ‘murder is wrong’
lived), the person just won’t be double-minded about it anymore (already
decided, die, die won’t kill); he does NOT expense energy on it anymore, or let
turmoil to rise in him, concerning it; he is free, in that sense, isn’t it
NOT! On the other hand, another who is
NOT living the truth (of murder is wrong), he is NOT free, for the Iniquity
agency voice of “It is alright NOT to be good all the time”, still hits him
often, “disturbing” (one who is no longer double-minded, is NOT
“disturbed”/moved by such); and it is often, for he is still double-minded about
the matter. Resolve or self-control and
perseverance are therefore very important in the life of a Christian or
believer; and Gal 5 gives us that self-control is one of the fruit of the
Spirit to be developed by the believer.
Self-control
means there is a battle going on; the self or the flesh (or fallen flesh or
carnal flesh; the Iniquity agency is in the flesh) desires something, something
which is self-gratifying; and the control is to put a lid on self’s desire, so
to speak – have it denied or have a control of it. Jesus in Luke 9:23 said that we are to deny
ourSELVES, and take up daily, our cross and follow Him.
For
a matter of righteousness or unrighteousness or truth or untruth, there is a
fight or “violence” until won! Matt 5:29
painted the picture – “If your right eye causes you
to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one
part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”
If
your right eye is won over, gouge it out and throw it away! It is when self-control is had (has won),
that you are free; you are free to look at anything, but will automatically
turn from that which would contaminate your soul. The Apostle Paul said this in 1 Cor 10:23, “…. I have the right to do anything"--but not everything
is constructive {edifying}.”
What
is behind these words of Jesus: Matt 11:12, "The
kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force."? It is first of all NOT suggesting we take up
arms and fight other men. Well, on a
personal level, we are to win over every area of unrighteousness that still
shames us; remember, we cannot just cover it up or look the other way. And on a corporate level, the Church must
fight against unrighteousness within herself, in order that she can be the
unblemished Bride. Is it NOT true; on a
personal level, there are areas we know what the truths of God are, yet we have
NOT won the fight (some NOT even fight it); we know the truth but we are still
NOT free, yet. Fight the self-control
fight, we must. The same goes for the
corporate Church. Don’t give up,
persevere.
Anthony Chia,
high.expressions
