Just because I know better, doesn’t mean I do better. I know a way that is right. I know the actions that are good. Still, I don’t always do better. It’s beautiful to think about doing better, but actually getting to do it is difficult. Try thinking about obeying your parents as a teenager, then perhaps you’ll see how hard it can be to do the right things in life, even when you know to do them.
The thing is, the default state of a human being is sin. It means that despite knowing better, we are hardly strong-willed enough to respond accordingly.
Matthew 26:41 says, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
It is way easier to not do the right thing, better yet, to not do anything. See, sometimes we fail to do better because it is difficult, but many times we choose to do nothing at all because it is safe. The saying is, as long as I didn’t do anything wrong, then I’m good. But that just won’t cut it for Christians! The truth is, just because you haven’t done anything wrong doesn’t mean that you have done something good.
James 4:17 says, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
Being Christian is a call to disrupt the norm. It is a call to speak up. It is a call to cause change. It is a call to do better, based on absolute truth. Therefore, if your choice is to lead with love and live like Christ, you cannot do nothing. When did the church become a bunch of cowards? Every day seems like another day for us to humiliate the work of the cross. We have forgotten the essence of Christianity – the works of Christ on earth. Honestly, the longer I live, the harder it seemingly is to find a church that preaches truth – in its entirety – and now it’s becoming normal. We no longer condemn sin, because that would just send people out of the church. We no longer call people to accountability, lest they stop tithing and partnering with church projects. It’s like we are no longer making it hard for the devil to have his stake in our lives – and he’s having fun with it.
James 2:4 says, “Have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?”
But perhaps all this begins by our very definition of ‘better’. In an era of information overload, we have quickly interchanged information for truth. Ideally, as long as you know more than everyone else, you have an opinion that can pass as truth. Unfortunately, an opinion, also, does not cut it for Christians! Your opinions are not the truth. Your knowledge is not the better way.
The goal should be to be so deep in your relationship with Truth (Jesus), that your life reflects it. If you have been with Jesus enough, you will begin to lead with grace, correct with love, and judge with wisdom and tact. By gaining more truth, you start knowing better.
But there’s still a catch to it. You are not learning the truth to keep it to yourself. Once you know better, you must start doing better.
It is your responsibility to embody the kingdom of God on earth. The very Jesus that was full of grace and mercy was the same Jesus that cast people out of the temple. While He is not calling us to rebellion, He is calling us to revival.
Be fierce in standing for truth, not just for yourself but the entire society. If you don’t do it, then the salt has lost its cause. You are no longer shining the light. If the system is failing – which it clearly is, then you haven’t said and done enough. We have to start doing something. You can’t choose to not act – not now when the world is seemingly crying out for help.
Still, that doesn’t make it easy. It will still cost you something to stand out or voice the truth. It will still suck to be polite in the face of rudeness. It will still hurt your pride to subject your opinions to the transformation of Jesus. It will still make you uncomfortable to pursue a life that is bigger than you. Worse, it will hurt when the backlash comes forth. You cannot expect to disrupt things and get no response from people. Weapons will be formed. Words will be said. You will be challenged. But that is not an invitation to back down. Rather, it is your chance to stand for truth as everyone stands for everything else.
You and I have a role to play, and we must play it right. The devil has been in our corner for way too long because he has seen how our partiality and acts of cowardice have made his work easier. I don’t think he’s even putting in that much energy anymore, because the ones he is up against have not quite taken their place on the battlefield. But I think it’s time for a change.
I think we are that generation – the undermined one that is still a force to be reckonod with. The generation that doesn’t need armor, but is armed with a pebble and it’s enough to get the job done.
We may have slacked, but we haven’t lost yet. If memory serves me right, God already says that we are more than conquerors – so really, we have already won even before we begin! But now we must begin. We must do better. We must do something. God is counting on you and me.
1 Peter 4:5 says, “They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
