An Idea Borrowed

Years ago on a radio program someone shared that they read a chapter in Proverbs every day. Since there are 31 chapters and the longest month has 31 days it allows you to read through Proverbs on a regular basis. I use it as the launch pad for my personal worship time and branch out from there. On this blog I will try to share some of the insights I have in the Word. I will try to organize them in the archive by reference.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

The Sin of Acceptance

(Proverbs 18:5 KJV)  It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.

The behavior that is being condemned here is not passive.  It is not accidental.  It could be translated as “lift up the face” of the “wicked” (7563).  To me that means to advocate for them.  This would have an obvious application for lawyers.  A Christian lawyer should not hide behind the smoke screen of “everyone deserves justice”.  That is only true if you understand that justice means that the guilty is to be judged guilty.  A Christian working in education cannot advocate the party line of secular humanism that denies the carnal nature of mankind and undermines the family.  At times I wonder if remaining in public education has been a compromise that shows lifting up the wicked.

So?  The decisions are not easy.  Sometimes they are not clear.  We cannot be supportive of evil people.  What does that mean when you only have the choice of a lesser evil?  I guess you choose the lesser and make it clear that you are not on board with their agenda.  Remember that Jesus paid the Roman tax. 

2 comments:

buddeshepherd said...

I have to deal with this issue myself. It is not like they warned us about in Church. You have good people who just want to be relatively happy in their short time on earth. It is impossible not to have empathy for them.

Pumice said...

I know of what you speak. I also struggle with the way in which the Bible seems to call us to engaging our total being, (mind, soul, heart, strength) and the way in which walking in righteousness requires me to engage my mind. I generally question whether I am on fire enough rather than getting too judgemental of others. It may come down to whether the personality God gave them is passive or whether they are choosing to ignore what they know to do.

Grace and peace.