Now I must start this article with referring to 2 Timothy 4:1-5 (KJV)
“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
Now as can be seen, Christians are to use the Bible to reprove, rebuke, and exhort; at the very least our fellows, at the most everyone else.
Now why bring this up?
As I have mentioned in the past postings. I work with someone whose interpretation of the Bible is extremely questionable.
Well once again he came in late to work, and actually someone else pointed out that he was not being a good “Christian.” I couldn’t resist and confirmed. He asked where in the Bible does it state that to be late to work you are not being faithful to God. I told him:
Ephesians 6:5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. 6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.
This angered him. He questioned,
“Are you perfect?”
I had no choice but to reply, “No.”
“Then you worry about you and you let me worry about me.”
This is the lame excuse. Throwing our imperfections at us just so they can continue to live in sin. Only one person is perfect and at this time He is not in this temporal reality. So any with a real understanding of the Bible can only respond in one way. This leaves the door open to allow those that wish to live a sinful live to do so.
Choosing to live in sin is everyone choice as I covered in yesterday’s post. However, when we say to the world we are “Christian.” We must attempt to live our lives in a reflection of Jesus Christ. We must attempt not to sin and to overcome sin when we have fallen on our face in your effort.
As you can see from 2 Timothy. We are required to help our true brethren in Christ. That is why we are to fellowship. To encourage and help us when we are in need. Our lives once we accept Jesus as our Savior are no longer ours. They are God’s. We are His tools to use as He see fit, which is one reason we are to live in moderation and not excess. If we spend all our money on ourselves we are not following God but our own desires and lust. Living in moderation we have money left that allows us if need be to up root our lives in short notice so that we can go where the Lord commands us to go. Yet most do not, because they live in the lame excuse that their sins are their problem. When the Bible has shown that their sins is the problem of the entire Body of Christ. For we are to work together to seek after the perfection we shall truly never achieve until we meet Christ in heavens above when we are given our immortal bodies. However, we must strive to accomplish just that, perfection.
So if someone chooses to use the lame excuse, pity them. For they might not make it to the blessed moment of true and eternal perfection. Only time and God will tell for us all.