“Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.” (1Ki 1:21 AV)
These
are the words of Bathsheba. She is concerned
with Adonijah. Adonijah is David’s eldest
living son. With help from some of David’s
administration, he assumes the throne in David’s stead. David is elderly and weak and never anointed
Solomon to take his place. These words
are spoken to David. Bathsheba was not
so much concerned with who would be serving as King as she was the safety of
herself and Solomon. She knew if
Adonijah was to take the throne, Solomon and Bathsheba would be perceived as a
threat even if they were not. Their very
existence was a threat to him. The point
is very clear. The disobedient or wicked
will always see the righteous as a threat.
The very existence of the righteous is a threat to the wicked even if they
did nothing. We want to be accepted and
affirmed. But the saints will never be
accepted or affirmed in the eyes of the wicked.
I
don’t normally do this because the purpose of this blog is not apologetic. It is not my intention to call down saints with
whom I disagree. And, my following
comments are not intended for that purpose.
Referencing the following is merely an example of that to which I am
referring. A “Christian” author and apologist
was recently interviewed and stated the present state of animosity of the LGBTQ
community towards evangelicals can be traced back to our response to their lifestyle
during the 80s and 90s. Tim Keller comments
that states if we were more kind and welcoming to this community, the animosity
would not exist. I beg to differ. He further states that when the world
persecutes the believer for his stand against same-gender relationships,
whatever comes his or her way was earned by the improper response to the sin of
this community. I find it ironic a man
who professes to believe if Jesus Christ would even assert such a thing. The founder of our faith did nothing but good
works and sacrificed His life for all of humanity. Yet they killed Him on a cruel cross! What was His crime? Healing the blind. Giving sound back to the deaf or strength
back to the lame? Giving life back to
the dead? He confronted the self-righteous. He confronted the adulterer with her
sin. He confronted the weak in faith. He did so to give them the answer to their circumstances. And what did He get? Torture and agony.
The
truth is simple. Those who hate God and
His righteousness do not want those who love God around. Even if we are to hide in caves and leave the
rest of the world alone, they would still see our existence and a threat. We could, and often do, offer no resistance to
the wickedness of the world. We step
aside and do not hinder much of the world's sin. We may do what we can legally. But by and large, outside of voicing God’s
word, we honor individual soul liberty.
We do not run the government. We
don’t even run the schools. However, the
very existence of a church building or those who attend is a treat. It is high time we as believers wake up to
the fact no compromise could turn the relationship between God’s people and the
devil’s people into a giant love fest.
It simply is not going to happen.
We are to reach them by loving them without any expectation of love in
return. The simple fact we are here is
uncomfortable. Our job is not to be
loved. Our job is to represent the
interests of God’s amazing grace for the lost.
But remember, deep down in their heart, your presence is a threat and
that will never change. We have to find
the means of overcoming this without trying to change this. To do so is the compromise.
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