And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take oath in the name of God, saying, You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. -- Nehemiah 13:25
This is not advocacy for racism or tribalism. There is the aspect that Paul touches on when
he tells us not to be unequally yoked, though the passage in 2 Corinthians 6
goes beyond marriage in its implications:
Do not be unequally yoked with
unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what
fellowship has light with darkness? What
accord has Christ with Belial? Or what
portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with
idols? For we are the temple of the living God (vv 14-16).
As Christians we need to separate ourselves from the world,
and it is not easy. I go to some site
that is otherwise useful and informative and find provocative pictures to
generate more traffic. I turn on the
television to catch the weather report, and I am subjected to all sorts of
images during the commercial breaks and endless celebrations of the latest
revelations of skankiness among the skanks.
For somebody my age, the sexual aspects are less of a hook than they
used to be. I’m more likely to be
entrapped by the snares of greed and acquisitiveness which is a constant in
this age.
Sometimes I am afraid, even after all these years and all I
have seen – afraid that I am missing out.
I suspect that I am not alone in this.
The Amish seem fascinated by my motorcycle. I sometimes wonder if I am corrupting them
just by riding through their country.
Fear of missing out drives the purchase of many things, including lots
and lots of pills.
James 4:4 asks, Do you
not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? It seems a little harsh, a little exclusive,
maybe a little intolerant. In fact, it
is antagonistic. We are at war. [W]hoever
wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Nehemiah’s rather extreme reaction makes a
lot more sense when we realize that he was dealing, in effect, with traitors,
with rebels who had sided with the enemies of the Lord. But I have to ask myself if I have not been
guilty of the same thing. I want to get
along. I don’t want to make the people
around me feel bad. I don’t want to be
tagged as someone weird. I’ve been
called every name in the book just because I am less than excited about
celebrating All Saints’ Eve.
A few years back, one of the managers got me moved to
another site because I didn’t go out the bars after work. Oddly enough, it worked out to my advantage. Some people don’t like outsiders. They like agreement and consensus. They like endorsement and confirmation. Telling some folks that they can do as they
please is not enough. They are not happy
until you join them – not because they care about you or desire your company in
a personal way. They crave the sense of
approval they get when everybody joins in.
When we follow God instead of the crowd (even if the crowd
gathers in a church building), we become targets. We can be as circumspect and cautious as we
like. We can try to avoid giving
offense. They still, for some reason,
manage to be offended. I have been asked
if I think that I am better than other people.
The answer is no. Perhaps I am
worse and weaker, more easily shackled by a bad habit.
I have to answer to God for what I do and with whom I
associate. There may be times when it is
less critical, when we can afford to be a little less strict. But when the darkness falls and the storm
breaks, we had better be on the right side.
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