September 21, 2010
Bad Egg
One time there was an odor in my refrigerator and even though I cleaned out all the old leftovers, the smell remained. I’d never encountered a rotten egg before, so it took me a little while to discover where the odor was coming from and which one was the bad egg. Whether in or out of the church environment we’ve all run into people who we thought were bad eggs. No doubt others at one time or another have thought of us as being the rotten one. Paul gives us a word of caution during those smelly times, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’” (1 Cor. 15:33 NIV)
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Gail;
-----Save one, I have never met a good principle that does not have at least one bad application.. Of course, that one saved is giving yourself to the Lord in His Word lit by the Holy Spirit. It operates to correct the bad applications of all the other principles.
-----None of us eggs are without a rotten corner. It is the dead man from which we so long to be freed. And it is because of its lingering that our own righteousness is not perfect. It is because of this imperfection that the perfect righteousness without which we can never see the Father is the Lord’s righteousness imputed to us. This condition of lingering unrighteousness in our own selves is in each of us bad company to one another. Yet we must be company to one another.
-----Being company is the meeting together and the fellowship which helps everyone grow and improve. For in the same way, each of us is a good egg that influences and inspires others. So when we get together we see everyone trying their best to present the good side of their egg and hide the bad corner. Some folks see that as phony and regard church meetings and other Christian gatherings as a parade of charades. And in as much as each one there probably can be found behaving less appropriately when at home than in public, the charge might have some stickiness.
-----But by the same token, anyone learning a new skill, or a new way of doing anything, is in a process of being phony. For one must practice a skill in order to acquire it, and his effort to acquire it through practice comes from the fact that he does not yet have it. So practicing something being learned is the doing of something you are not. And doing what you are not is precisely what constitutes being phony.
-----Yet, as I stated at the beginning, save one, I have never met a good principle that does not have a bad application. And applying this principle of phoniness to the practicing of new skills is a bad application. The good behavior practiced in Christian circles is less about being what they are not and more about becoming what they should be. Even beyond that, there is in it a sense of sheltering one another from the bad company of rotten corners hidden while presenting for good company what the Lord is bringing forth amongst them all.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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