Be diligent in these matters; give
yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. (I Timothy 4:15)
“You are the light of the world. A city
on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a
bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the
house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your
good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)
Bad news: your faith isn’t between you and God. Your sins aren’t “between you and God.” It’s not “my life, I can live I however I please as long as I’m not hurting anyone.” Sin always separates. Even if you think no one sees, the fact that you are hiding something from them separates you from them.
What one generation tolerates, the next generation normalizes, and the third imposes. In the Sixties, Free Love and the drug culture took root. Today, 63% of women are single mothers. Of those, 45% receive food stamps. The median household income for a single mother is less than half that of a married couple. And yet as women say, “I can have sex with whomever I want, whenever I want, however I want and wherever I want as long as I’m not hurting anyone,” they are hurting themselves, their children, their society whose taxes are raised to help them, and, one million times every year, they resort to killing an unborn child in order to avoid the complications involved. But they’re not hurting anyone.
Every year, 88,000 people die because someone “isn’t hurting anyone” by consuming alcohol. And every six pack of beer costs $4-5 dollars that isn’t available for necessities. Every time someone buys a quarter of an ounce of marijuana (in 2012 at least) to smoke the “harmless” weed, it takes $25 out of the income of the user. That’s $25 that could have purchased necessities for the family, $25 that could have helped pay off debts, $25 that could have been used to make someone else’s life better, but marijuana doesn’t hurt anyone.
I doubt there is anything we can do that doesn’t influence someone for better or for worse. Trying to not hurt anyone else in what we do is an impossible task, but to pretend that what we choose to do does not hurt someone, or isn’t anyone else’s business, is foolishness, especially if we then make it their business by opening our mouths, or living “openly,” or calling on them when everything falls apart.
Paul’s counsel to Timothy is to live in a way that will let others see progress. Others were going to be watching him. The idea that he could live anonymously and invisibly was not an option. He needed to live a life that exemplified his beliefs. He needed to live by faith openly. He needed to do better than “not hurting anyone.” He needed to diligently help others and to get better at it as he went.
This is the sort of life we’re supposed to lead, too. After all, we are the light of the world. We aren’t supposed to hide out lives under bushels, but to remember that our every action and decision has consequences that reach beyond us.
Bad news: your faith isn’t between you and God. Your sins aren’t “between you and God.” It’s not “my life, I can live I however I please as long as I’m not hurting anyone.” Sin always separates. Even if you think no one sees, the fact that you are hiding something from them separates you from them.
What one generation tolerates, the next generation normalizes, and the third imposes. In the Sixties, Free Love and the drug culture took root. Today, 63% of women are single mothers. Of those, 45% receive food stamps. The median household income for a single mother is less than half that of a married couple. And yet as women say, “I can have sex with whomever I want, whenever I want, however I want and wherever I want as long as I’m not hurting anyone,” they are hurting themselves, their children, their society whose taxes are raised to help them, and, one million times every year, they resort to killing an unborn child in order to avoid the complications involved. But they’re not hurting anyone.
Every year, 88,000 people die because someone “isn’t hurting anyone” by consuming alcohol. And every six pack of beer costs $4-5 dollars that isn’t available for necessities. Every time someone buys a quarter of an ounce of marijuana (in 2012 at least) to smoke the “harmless” weed, it takes $25 out of the income of the user. That’s $25 that could have purchased necessities for the family, $25 that could have helped pay off debts, $25 that could have been used to make someone else’s life better, but marijuana doesn’t hurt anyone.
I doubt there is anything we can do that doesn’t influence someone for better or for worse. Trying to not hurt anyone else in what we do is an impossible task, but to pretend that what we choose to do does not hurt someone, or isn’t anyone else’s business, is foolishness, especially if we then make it their business by opening our mouths, or living “openly,” or calling on them when everything falls apart.
Paul’s counsel to Timothy is to live in a way that will let others see progress. Others were going to be watching him. The idea that he could live anonymously and invisibly was not an option. He needed to live a life that exemplified his beliefs. He needed to live by faith openly. He needed to do better than “not hurting anyone.” He needed to diligently help others and to get better at it as he went.
This is the sort of life we’re supposed to lead, too. After all, we are the light of the world. We aren’t supposed to hide out lives under bushels, but to remember that our every action and decision has consequences that reach beyond us.
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