[404 words]
My son is in school at Bear Valley Bible Institute. He told me of a student that went to the president of the school with an idea that might be too controversial. The president okayed it because it raised a tremendous point.
This student was to bring a lesson in one of his classes. Students are assigned to make new sermons and often deliver them in class for grades. This young man wanted to present a “new” way to sing and with a guitar. The class got terribly quiet. He said that he and one other student would perform together and if anyone objected, they didn’t have to sing along, especially if it hurt their conscience. He grabbed the guitar and he and his friend appeared to get ready to start. A professor and an elder in the class begin to object and a couple of students were heading for the door in anger. The young student informed the class that he wouldn’t dare play an instrument with the hymn but just wanted to prove a point.
“Why is it that some of you begin to object out loud and some of you were ready to leave the room?” he asked. “You were right to do so, but here is the real question I want to ask: Why is it that other sins are that obvious and public and we sit and say nothing?” Oh, my, did his point crush my toes! The men in the room all lowered their heads as they got the point he had made.
Why is it that we will stand strong on some obvious sinful situations and say absolutely nothing about others that are even more obvious or egregious? It is because we have our own man-made rating system of sins. We don’t look at all sin as bad. Some sin we seem to make allowance for. Some sin would require confronting people that we are intimidated by. There are a lot of reasons we do so, but we aren’t consistent, are we?
“Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1-2). Brethren, God gives us ways to deal with sins of others (and ourselves). Ignoring them is not an option!
Chris Moore
Clarendon church of Christ
Clarendon, TX