I was browsing YouTube watching Christian Lifehouse dramas last night, and I was reminded of a noteworthy topic to reflect upon. One skit was about life’s trials and the tempting of the enemy. The actors were dramatizing being drawn away from God and into sin; a husband and wife were fighting, two girls were arguing, and God was peering behind the lines as the spirit of the enemy worked within the lives of the disobedient actors. God eventually stepped forward and fiercely freed the characters in the skit from their temptations. What was noteworthy was not just the drama which was performed by a talented youth group, but a woman’s YouTube comment. I noticed a conception that many people have about God. The YouTube commenter was responding to someone else’s comment that the main actress in the skit was wearing a mini-skirt which was inappropriate to wear in church. She replied in rebuttal to the mini-skirt comment that God accepts everyone for who they are, hence the girl in the skit could wear a mini-skirt in church and still honor God. I’m not blogging about the mini-skirt, but rather the idea that God accepts everyone for who they are. Where do Christians derive the idea that no matter what, God will continually accept us? The Bible does not teach this.
Scripture says, “And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me” (KJV Mt. 10:38).
We cannot have a dual life, a split heart. We have to be fully committed and devout. Can our heart be in two places at once, half on the world, and half on the Lord? Perhaps it can, but it will not please God.
Scripture says, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other” (KJV Mt. 6:24).
One cannot serve one’s appetite and God at the same time. Paul warned that those who live in the ways of the flesh, their old-self, will not inherit the kingdom of God, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (KJV Gal. 5:19).
I can understand the YouTube commenters rationale for the comment, because God is known as being merciful, forgiving, and slow to anger, however I challenge those who think they can remain how they are before Christ to consider what they are going to do if Christ unexpectedly returns today? When He returns it is in righteous judgment against the rebellious and wicked, those who sin and do not repent. Those who remained as they were will have done little to make themselves ready for His return. The situation is worse than it appears, in part due to the way Christ is going to judge and because of the severity of sin. For instance, those who hate their brother are guilty of murder (1Jn. 3:15). Those who look at a woman lustfully commit adultery in their heart (Mt. 5:28). It is our responsibility to be prepared for Christ, or we will be caught red-handed and filthy.
“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (KJV Rev. 22:11).
The belief that God accepts everyone as they are is a misconception. He may initially welcome us through grace, but would we want to have the same initial relationship with God our whole lives? Christians need always progress to full maturity. Christians obey the commandments and proceed in obedience, true repentance. Granted our salvation is not based on our repentant deeds, however faith without works is dead (James 2:20). Without a doubt the YouTube commenter had faith in God and she cannot really be criticized for it, yet examination of our lives is acutely crucial to our relationship with Christ.
In Christ,
Erik
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