DO NO HARM

Isaiah 45:11-48:11; Ephesians 4:1-16; Psalm 68:19-35; Proverbs 24:3-4

“Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom, living at ease and feeling secure. You say, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other. I will never be a widow or lose my children.’
 Well, both these things will come upon you in a moment: widowhood and the loss of your children. Yes, these calamities will come upon you, despite all your witchcraft and magic. You felt secure in your wickedness. ‘No one sees me,’ you said. But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray, and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’ So disaster will overtake you, and you won’t be able to charm it away. Calamity will fall upon you, and you won’t be able to buy your way out. A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one for which you are not prepared.”

“Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”

“Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms.  Our God is a God who saves! The Sovereign Lord rescues us from death.”

“A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense.  Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables.”

Just because we do not get caught doing affirmative wrong does not make our actions right. Engaging in the same illegality or immorality as everyone else only makes us conformists; it does not excuse our decisions nor does it make them socially acceptable. Such things are not and do not give rise to mere mistakes, either. Mistakes may be unintentional, but sins are not. We need no objective tests to tell us whether our thoughts and dealings are socially acceptable or legal or sinful. We know, because we plan them. But there is one test that will show our malfeasance for exactly what it is: the more time we spend trying to justify our actions, the higher the probability they never had any justification to begin with.

It is impossible to read today’s passages and not appreciate their relevance to today’s circumstances. Based thereon, it is extremely tempting to rant about all the frustration and injury the last eighteen months have brought us. After all, thoughtless, corrupt, selfish and heartless creatures disregarded any semblance of morality and left only desolation and destitution in their wake. Wunderkind MBAs struck out on a “me first” course which left no real room for consideration of others or of ultimate consequences. Remarkably, Wall Street still has issued no apologies or confessions for the grief it brought to our entire world. But here’s the thing: no one really thinks the bad guys didn’t know any better, precisely because we all knew better yet chose to look the other way. Totally seduced by the promise of easy money, easy housing and a comfortable retirement, nearly all of us willing sacrificed almost everything we held dear on the altar of prosperity. We even went so far as to convince ourselves our very prosperity was, in fact, the will of God. It would be easy to claim we were all just blind fools, but we were more than that. We were accomplices. We tolerated it, and in many cases, also hoped to profit from it. Alas for us all. We are reaping what we sowed, and there’s no sense complaining about it.

Sins are intentional, and it is intellectually dishonest to assert otherwise. The decision not to follow God’s way can never be inadvertent, not if we are created in God’s image and given the ability to think with the mind of Christ. When we entertain strategic decisions grounded in self and ego, we sin with calculation. Until we admit that, we are only kidding ourselves. We cannot get off the hook by trying to excuse or seek forgiveness for lesser related offenses. We must own our intent if we are ever going to allow Christ to change our hearts.

There is a reason for living according to the example set by Christ. It works. It’s the right thing to do. It allows us to achieve a power and purpose we could never realize on our own. But mainly, when we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we do no harm.

One of the most disconcerting things I think about heaven is a fair certainty that the first to meet me at the pearly gates will be those I have wounded in this life. Now, I’m pretty sure they will be greeting me with forgiveness, love and understanding, but I am not at all sure their kindness will avoid my embarrassment. It may intensify it.