You Give God A Bad Name
"...the Jews, in a fury of jealousy, got hold of some of the unprincipled loungers of the marketplace, gathered a crowd together and set the city in an uproar."[Unprincipled loungers - I love that.]
The NIV says "they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city."
This verse caught my attention because of something I read a few weeks ago that sounded awfully familiar:
While traveling in Iran, I learned that it's regular practice for propaganda buses, arranged for by the hard-liner Muslim press, to roll into small villages and round up the unemployed and pay them a day's wages to whip themselves up into an anti-American demonstration - beating their chests, waving their fists, and burning flags.Now don't get me wrong... I'm NOT saying that every unemployed person is a lounger to be avoided, but I think it's interesting that people DO this sort of thing!
Godly people.
[Note: this blog is not about politics or other religions - although I DID visit a Muslim mosque this week. Met a young man last summer who is Muslim and we've had chats about our faith(s), etc., over the past few months. He came for a tour of my church recently and I told him I would visit his mosque. It was a very interesting experience, especially because I was able to be a fly on the wall during his "washing" (preparation for prayers) and their sunset prayers.]
No, this blog is more about unprincipled people who claim to be Godly [no matter WHAT religion they are] who do unprincipled things that give their "God" a bad name.
For example: Many years ago I was part of a Christmas Cantata at the church I worked for. Five minutes before "opening night" there was a power outage. [Or was there?] We found out later that a disgruntled soundman from the church sabotaged the electrical panel and cut the power because he was mad that he wasn't part of the production.
Jealousy. It is a powerful thing. The Jews in Acts were jealous too. And it made them do an unprincipled thing that caused an unnecessary uproar.
Please don't force me to take a hard line when I'm present with you. Don't think that I'll hesitate a single minute to stand up to those who say I'm an unprincipled opportunist. Then they'll have to eat their words.
The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way - never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, February 18, 2006 at 11:47 AM.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
7:41 PM2 Corinthians 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
:-) Thanks Paul
Great admonition for all of us...
Fencing anyone?
On guard ..... LOL
11:33 PM
Sometimes I wish that more people would pull the plug on Christmas Cantata's! When will we let the Singing Christmas tree grow proud and free in it's natural habitat!!!
Born free... as free as the wind blows....
Dave Carrol
1:54 AM
the first is this. love god with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. the second is like it. love your neighbor as yourself. these sum up the law and the prophets.
hxigt
12:51 AM
"No, this blog is more about unprincipled people who claim to be Godly [no matter WHAT religion they are] who do unprincipled things that give their "God" a bad name."
Paul, when I read this it brought to mind the subject that you posted some time ago -- the use of the "F" word and how some "Christians" justified using it. Those who know we are Christians watch us closely to see if there really is any difference between us and them. When they do not see the difference we are written off as hypocrites.
10:24 AM
I heard someone explaining the origin of the word hypocrite this week. "Hypo" means under, and it was originally used to refer to actors wearing (or "under") a mask, who were pretending to be someone else.
You're right. We, as Christians, need to take OFF our masks and be real. And although we sometimes look like the world, there should still be an obvious difference between us and someone that has not been given the Holy Spirit as a deposit. [2 Corinthians 1:22]
11:22 AM
....And there is a difference ... it's called LOVE. Anyone can mechanically stop using a profane word, anyone can stop drinking, smoking etc. and "clean up" on the outside. Even the devil can show up as a decent looking dude.
Only the Lord can clean up the insides of a person and fill us with his unconditional love.
"They will know you are my disciples because you love one another" and that includes every sheep of every colour and nation, and someone we may not totally agree with in a cultural sense. And even murderers like the apostle Paul and King David.
11:01 PM
You are correct, Paul, there should be an obvious difference and when an obvious difference is not evident they will not desire to be like us. Moreover, Wendy is correct that they must see love (Christ likeness.)
However, a profane word is something that comes from the heart and speaks to the (inside) status of the heart.
David and Paul did not continue to kill people; rather, they repented of their sins and it was the repentent heart of David that caused God to call him a man after his own heart, even though he had murdered and committed adultery.
7:40 AM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
» Post a Comment