Articles
Just Because You Can...
At a time when our society is more interested in their individual rights than they are their personal responsibilities, and on this weekend when many celebrate their freedoms and Constitutional rights, it would be beneficial to stop and think about what we do and why we do it. Quite often, individuals — especially in this country that emphasizes freedom — focus on what they can do, and less often on what they should do, instead. As the old saying goes: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
It would be great if we could convince our friends and neighbors and all our social media “friends” and followers that our focus should be on spiritual matters and putting others before self, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that we who are proclaiming to be followers of Christ need to take a good, long look in the mirror and just work on doing that ourselves. As newspaper columnist and social commentator Cal Thomas once noted, professing believers in this country have a hard time convincing unbelievers that they should live by a higher standard when they aren’t doing it themselves. There is a reason the world sees Christians as nothing but a bunch of hypocrites: Many who profess to be Christians don’t act like Christians. Even unbelievers who have no interest in God or the faith know that if you’re going to call yourself a Christian, you should actually live and act like one. Generally speaking, we’re doing a pretty poor job of that lately.
In the interest of making a better impression on those around us, let us consider just a few areas where we could do better in setting the example of how a Christian should behave and live. If we find that we might be guilty of some of these things, I would ask that we each examine self to see if our motivation is what it should be, and what changes need to be made to leave the right impression on others who observe our daily lives.
Marriage and the Home. One of the things Cal Thomas noted, in particular, about where professing believers fail is in the matter of how we perceive and how we behave regarding marriage. Christianity is a system of beliefs wherein we are supposed to see this as a lifetime commitment (cf. Matt. 19:6), a relationship where husbands are supposed to love their wives (Eph. 5:25) and wives are to submit to their husbands in everything (Eph. 5:24), a place where parents love and care for their children, leading them in God’s ways (Eph. 6:4), and where children respect their parents (Eph. 6:1-3).
Yet, according to polls and statistics, in this country, the divorce rate for professing believers is about the same as that for unbelievers. In this country, incompatibility is the number one reason for divorce. In this country, we have about three million cases of domestic abuse reported every year, with officials estimating the incidence is up to three times what is reported. In this country, even parents who are professing believers emphasize secular education and the pursuit of material gain, and their children show them zero respect. In all reality, it is far too often the case that one would have a hard time seeing any discernible difference between a home where professing believers live and one where unbelievers lived. Just because we can live however we want doesn’t mean we should.
Our Words. Christianity is also a system of beliefs where its adherents are to allow “no corrupt word” to come from our mouths (Eph. 4:29), to “speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men” (Titus 3:2), to not take part in any “filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting” (Eph. 5:4), and where believers’ speech is “always…with grace, seasoned with salt” (Col. 4:6) that others might be encouraged and edified and that others might know that we are guided by the words of Jesus. A Christian, because of who he is and whom he claims to follow, should “speak truth with his neighbor” (Eph. 4:25), should speak “what is good for necessary edification” (Eph. 4:29), and, most importantly, “speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1), and “speak, not as pleasing men, but God” (1 Thess. 2:4).
Far too often, even religious leaders speak to please men, rather than God, and are not speaking “sound doctrine” at all, but what draws the largest crowds and increases the monetary contributions. Far too often, individual Christians entangle themselves in discussions that quickly devolve into insults and even vulgar language. Far too often, even Christians seem to feel like they can say whatever they have to say to get in the last word, to ‘win’ an argument, or to gain some self-satisfaction that they ‘put someone in their place.’ Absent is any love, compassion, discretion, patience, or understanding. Just because you can speak your mind doesn’t mean you should.
Let me take a minute to particularly address social media and our use of words. Though the platform is not, in itself, evil, it certainly can be used for evil. Just because you call yourself a believer doesn’t mean you don’t have to watch your words, either. In fact, it is reason to be more cautious with our words! Far too many Christians are getting caught up in political discussions that do nothing to further the cause of Christ but may, in fact, be a cause for it being hindered by our associations with certain political discussions or even certain politicians. Some believers are so affected by their political interests that they think nothing of supporting ungodly efforts and ungodly men; some get so caught up in political discussions that they seem to be more interested in making their political beliefs known than they do their belief in Christ; some are so wrapped up in political discussions that they forget to encourage or edify anyone, or to promote God’s word on the latest political or social issue. Just because you can post on social media doesn’t mean you should.
Our Religious Beliefs. Our country is known for its freedoms, one being the freedom of religion. Our Constitution;’s first amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” In other words, there can be no 'national religion,’ nor can any government entity or individual prohibit any particular religious practice or organization. We proclaim our love for this freedom and we get all riled up when we think someone is infringing on those rights. We wave our flags and proclaim our freedom to worship and serve God however we want…and then we do. Or, we do nothing.
Lost in the discussion is the question of whether or not we are doing things as God wants. We have become so wrapped up in our Constitutional right that we have forgotten our responsibility to the one we claim to be worshiping and serving. What does God say about it? From my experience, there is little to no interest in investigating to learn what God has said about it, and more interest in what the individual feels about it, or what their family has done for generations. We should be most interested in doing everything “in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17). Just because you can worship however you want doesn’t mean you should. — Steven Harper
