Perhaps it may turn out a sang,
Perhaps turn out a sermon.

-- R. Burns Epistle to a Young Friend

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Being Stainless



The wage of the righteous leads to life, the gain of the wicked to sin. -- Proverbs 10:16


As we so often say, guns don’t kill people, people kill people.  It is not what we have or do not have, what we do or don’t do that makes us righteous.  Jesus might have had this or similar sayings in mind when He said:  The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

What is in our hearts, regardless of our external circumstances, determines the kind of people we are, and the kind of people we are will create meaningfulness or meaninglessness in our lives.  It does not matter if a person sweeps the street or rules the world, what we do passes while what we are becomes our eternal destiny.  One who is good will not consistently do evil.  Our outward behavior flows from who we are.

Our films, part of our national mythology, show both tragedy and triumph.  We love the movies where the poor kid overcomes obstacles to become successful, rich and famous.  A fairly recent example might be The Pursuit of Happyness.  In that film we see a man with a success mindset who was determined not to be trapped in hopelessness and lack.  Other films depict the downward side of the spiral where some measure of success leads, not to happiness and fulfillment, but to tragedy, broken relationships, addictions, and destruction – Goodfellas comes to mind. 

Lord Acton said that power tends to corrupt.  I would be foolish to disagree with a wise man, but I think wealth and power expose what lies at the center of a life.  If there is corruption, riches and influence may make it manifest.  Conversely, if one has a good heart, having resources will enable that goodness to express itself.  

It's hard to live without oxygen, but even something so essential can be dangerous in high concentrations.  Bare steel is prone to rust on exposure, but alloy in the right elements, like chromium, and it becomes much less vulnerable.  Faith, hope, and love are among the elements my heart needs that it might be impervious to the corrosive influence of the world and the things of the world.

3 comments:

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...


As we so often say, guns don’t kill people, people kill people. It is not what we have or do not have, what we do or don’t do that makes us righteous. Jesus might have had this or similar sayings in mind when He said: The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

Aye aye, Mushroom!
It boils down to the choices we make, which is why true religion should always encourage individual liberty.
It's sad that so many Christians have forgot that or are ignorant of truth of the very faith they claim.

For Christian literally means Christlike and Christ died to set us free!
Not to use force to enslave others and ourselves.
Or to condone the choice of murdering babies in the womb.

Life and liberty are key elements of Christianity but one must have faith in, and continuously search for the Truth purify and realize this until it becomes self evident.

And even then, I have learned, it's best to remain humble about it and gratefull for such holy gifts!

Great post, Mushroom!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Er, to purify that is.

mushroom said...

That's a good point: walk humbly with our God.