June 20, 2014
No Apologies
I
can’t imagine that Solomon ever apologized for his wisdom and I doubt if his
family or staff ever thought of him as a know-it-all, a Bible thumper, or
self-righteous. Sometimes we believers succumb to self-inflicted peer pressure and
downplay our spiritual side. We take pride in education, brag about hobbies and
highlight our successes, but we say little about our faith for fear of
appearing too knowledgeable, too religious, or too righteous. Jesus said, “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 (Matt 5:14-16 NIV).”
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Gail;
-----One would wonder how a person inflicts peer pressure upon himself. The very term indicates the direction of that pressure’s flow is to you from peers. And not to minify your perceptiveness, but your insight about this is framed in a church which has little reason and makes less effort to attack what is knowledgeable, religious, or righteous. Peer pressure against such there must be imagined more than observed.
-----The church I attend is different. Several times I have mentioned in discussions that the Lord is wholly righteous and does not fellowship with unrighteousness. Every time I do they squeal like stuck pigs. I made the mistake of attending a study of Revelation there one recent Summer. The discussion leader, a retired oat mealy preacher, emphasized over and over that the purpose of Revelation was to show we win. Whenever I tried to discuss the correlations between that book and current events upon today’s history stage, he’d squeal like a stuck pig. He merely averted with a disaffirming stare any mention of, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place,” (Rev 1:1) even though this purpose is so displayed by the book itself (or is the book entitled “We Win Shown John”.) Rev Oatmeal (don’t get me wrong, I really like this brother, besides loving him) read the popular segue into the throne-room from the letters to the churches as, “And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up hither’” (Rev 4:1b) Well. Yah. That’s what the voice said. But you know. It said more, “…and I will show you what must take place after this.” (Rev 4:1c) Oh my. That’s more than “we win” too. But dare to mention the scriptures mention this and…yah…that’s right…like a stuck pig. In a discussion about why the Lord was so hard on the people on their way to, at, and away from Mt. Sinai, I offered that God’s plan was to come and dwell in their midst within the Holy of Holies. Being a God who does not participate in evil, then the people necessarily must be righteous, too. After class, one of my funner brothers gently took me by the arm and explained how everyone has different ideas about these things so we should remain quiet. Even though he spoke in a near whisper, he was shrieking like a stuck pig.
-----Char loves the warm fellowship there. I remind her often about the necessary hollowness behind those pastily smiling, mainstream-protestant, unpondering faces. At this church, the peer pressure against the knowledgeable, the religious, and the righteous is real - wouldn’t want to offend anyone, you know. So, in this church the meaning of your insight glows even brighter. Peer pressure is like the wind. It might stop the weak from doing what they need to do, but the strong perform their obligations regardless. So even where peer pressure is absolutely real, the infliction of it is ultimately by the self not holding up the shield against its fiery dart.
-----Thank you for the insight. Now hereafter, if on Sundays you hear a distant squealing mounting up from the Southwest, rest assured that you've inspired me to proceed being as knowledgeable, religious, and righteous as the Holy Spirit has helped me to thus far be.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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