Reforming Our Way To Hell -- Part 1
I like this analogy from Mr. Durbin, because it highlights both how foolish we are and the futile nature of what we are doing. For Christians, we are faced with a bit of a conundrum. Obviously, we should not join in this madness with the mindset that a ‘solution’ without Jesus is the real answer to anything. (Be ‘in the world, but not of the world’) After all, any ‘solution’ without Jesus leaves a person’s soul in peril. Relying on that ‘solution’ says to people and God, ‘We don’t really need you, Jesus. This other thing will do.’ How does that do anybody any good? It doesn’t! However, if someone rejects Jesus, we can’t exactly say, ‘Alright, then you’re on your own.’ Ultimately, they will be on their own, uncovered by the blood and righteousness of Jesus, when they stand before God. We absolutely need to make this clear to them. But for now, we still exist in society. Armed with the knowledge that we are merely rearranging the furniture in a burning house (even more so in the case of those who have rejected Christ!), how should we approach things? We can’t say, ‘This isn’t my problem,’ because it IS still our problem as long as we live in the same society. Furthermore, God has called us to be good stewards of what He has given in the place He has put us. That said, we know this isn’t going to be utopia, so we can’t work with that goal in mind either. We also know hard times tend to lead people towards Christ and often precede revivals. But, praying for hardship or intentionally making the lives of others more difficult isn’t exactly loving our neighbor, especially since there is no guarantee these things will lead someone to Christ. We can’t just say, ‘Hey, I know you’re hungry and I do have some food that I COULD give you, but I’m not going to because I want you to feel more desperate for Christ.’ I’m pretty sure they’ll know us by our love, NOT by how we kick them while they're down. So, where does this leave us? Right back where we started. Our call is to obey the greatest commandment which is as follows —
Mat 22:37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the great and first commandment.
Mat 22:39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
—Matthew 22:37-40
This call, or more specifically ‘commandment’, is not dependent on time or place. There is an order to it both in sequence and importance. Greatest AND first is to love the Lord your God. That is Jesus Christ. The second is to love others as ourselves. It’s similar, because it also includes love, but it’s not the same. The second can’t replace the first, be considered more important than the first, or even be done without doing the first. In the next post, I’d like to go over some specifics in the area of reforming society. For now, I’d like us to consider how we are trying to reform things without Christ. In what areas is this our mindset? Maybe without realizing it we have reversed the order of these commandments from God. It’s not hard for this to happen. Let’s take some time to examine in what ways we first need to repent before the Lord. That’s all for now…