July 07, 2008
Dark Secrets
Model Christie Brinkley is being criticized in her messy public divorce. The media seems to think that since her husband has admitted to his indiscretions, and for the sake of their young children, that Ms. Brinkley should not be airing the dirty laundry. I disagree with the media. The footnotes in my NIV study Bible referring to Romans 1:18-27 says, “God’s wrath is not limited to the end-time judgment of the wicked.” Whether or not we are a believer in Jesus, most people believe that God knows all our sins. However since God isn’t in the tabloid business, we think our dark secrets are safe with Him. In the Scripture, as well as in life, the penalty for our sins often begins with exposure.
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Gail;
-----The political differences between our people and the conflicting solutions to various problems seem to stem more from the tendency to apply a general principle to the whole situation as called for by only a mere detail, than it does the utilization of far different principles. For example, the liberal will fight hard to save the murderer from the gas chamber and to bring the gas chamber to the unborn child, while the conservative will fight hard to save the unborn child and put to death the murderer. Yet they both hold to the principle of a right to life. They merely each point to different details of each situation.
-----Reason does tend to sort out which details of a situation are important, and of themselves call for certain principles regardless of other details. But neither are all people skilled and supportive of logistics, nor do all situations lend themselves to clarification by reason. Even concerning those situations that do, most well intended folks wind up using the old adage, “Whose reason then do we go by?”
-----Which I think extends a great opportunity for the answer. We go by the Bible. At the heart of the Word of God is a principle that applies to all situations, clarifying them at least enough to begin seeing other, more refined principles for other, more refined details. The principle is nowhere in the Bible stated in one clear text, but emerges from many texts and stories throughout it, such as, “Outdo one another in showing honor,” “Serve one another,” “Let each one please his neighbor,” “Do good to all men, especially to those of the household of faith,” and the likes. The principle is simple: actually seek the good of others, not forgetting that Jesus’ call for us to love one another as we love ourselves is an admission that we ourselves are also others belonging in the equations of justice.
-----Therefore, when discerning what details are necessary to share with the general public, and which are not, the question must include three others, Peter Cook, the general public, and Christie Brinkley. With each ambition to reveal a detail, Christie’s questions must be, “What actual good does this revelation do for the public? For Peter? And for me?” With emphasis placed on “actual” and without toying with the definition of “good”, Christie takes a giant step towards discerning whether or not a revelation should be made. Likewise, where an action my be good for one but bad for the other, and having no alteration possible for alleviating the disparity, then the good had better be sufficiently more important than the bad.
-----This principle is nothing more than the Lord’s call for us to abide in love. That Christie is certain she must divorce Peter is not reason for Christie to stop loving Peter. Love is the continuous search for what is actually good for the other. Not what Christie thinks is good, or what Peter thinks is good, or what the general public thinks is good, but for what is actually good. “Make love your aim.” (I Cor. 14:1) “Let all things be done in love.” (I Cor. 16:14)
-----In the final analysis of what is good, you and I know the relevant definition is laid down in only the Word of God. Many want to deny that truism, because they have a definition serving their own ends more completely. But whether the Word is denied or whether the Word is accepted by any one or by all makes no difference whatsoever to the fact that the Word of God is the definition. It needs us not. We need it. So does Christie. So does Peter.
Love,
Steve Corey
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