Day 2999 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Psalm 82:2 NIV

We may have never stood before a jury or even entered a courtroom. But each of us have defended the unjust and shown our clear partiality to the wicked.

Because we’ve been both unjust and wicked, and our minds have tried feverishly to deny that verdict.

We’ve all done things we shouldn’t have done, gone along with things we should have avoided, and agreed to things that God says are abhorrent. And we’ve plead our case within ourselves to absolve our minds of that guilt levied because of our arrogance. We may have not defended the wickedness of this world, but we’ve all tried real hard to justify our partaking of it. And that is exactly why we should be entirely afraid.

Because there’s a guilt living inside each of us that we do all we can to ignore or deny. It’s this realization that we ourselves have played a role in the things that go against God. As I sit here now, I look upon hands hovering above a keyboard trying to type out something good, yet those very hands have done things that I wish I could forget. The same mind that mixes together all these words trying to capture a bit of hope and encouragement is the mind that’s thought thoughts that ought not have been thought.

And it’s in that horrid realization that we find ourselves as God’s enemies encouraging the doing of things He told us shouldn’t be done.

You see, it's not a question as to time. It's not asked in regard to an expected answer. It's the kind of rhetorical inquiry aimed at the obvious. How much longer are we going to continue doing as we should know we shouldn't? How much longer will we continue to accept something that we know full well isn't acceptable? How much longer will we refuse to uphold our responsibilities to do as we've been instructed to do?

There just isn't much better than a good old fashioned Biblical gut-shot. Because honestly, we need to be rebuked far more than we are willing to rebuke ourselves. And thankfully, God gave us His Word to help keep us in line when our penchant for wandering begins to show.

How much longer will we go on embracing things that shouldn't be embraced, appreciating things that are destroying people, applauding things that are only adding to the noise preventing folks from hearing the truth? How much longer will we fail to take this call seriously? Why do we fail to find the severity of it? How can we fail to see the severity of it?

If we truly believe in the cross, then how much longer will we turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the very things that our Savior had to pay for upon that rugged tree?

I say all that as a convicted enemy of Christ. Most days I try to put forth this image of sheer focus and increasing will to do as He’s called us to do, yet every night I lay in bed recounting the countless times I failed to be anything but a hypocrite. I write these posts as if pointing out the specks in the eyes of a society I pretend to be parting from. I bear a mind broken between who I’ve been and who the cross tells me that I can be. And I, along with everyone else, struggle to make sense of a love that I can’t even offer myself.

So this isn’t a post pointing out the flaws only around us. It’s a reminder that the fixing of all those problems begins with addressing the ones we like to ignore hiding within.

There's a sad lack of sternness in life. Granted, I've personally been told by those closest to me that I go a little far, go overboard sometimes, have a tendency to be rather hard on myself in ways that seem to make no sense. But still, where's the benefit offered on the other end of the spectrum? Where's the gain in going through life without a single care? Where's the prize to be won down a race filled with people chasing their own rules?

That's the problem in all this nonsense that's being accepted all around us, and all within us today. It's only acceptable because it pleases those who seem to hold the power to persecute. So little concern is given to those who are legitimately struggling. So little thought is given toward those whose faith is weak and whose souls are hanging in the balance because of the wars being fought within that nobody else is helping them fight.

So little worry is shown over the dire circumstances through which we're wading in this wicked world.

Why? Why is it all laughable? Why is it all seen as this problem in which we've no personal involvement? How can we look at a world burning toward the ground and not feel the slightest sadness for those being swept away in that flood? How much longer will we defend those who are propelling the dismantling of decency? How much longer can we fail to see that we’re often among their number?

We don't like to see it that way though, do we? We don't see our silence as a voice given equally to the noise as to the whisper. We don't realize that our inaction done out of fear or laziness is much in line with those acting out of anger and hatred. We don't see that our agreeing to tune in, to listen, to read, to support and encourage and follow and share and applaud is only adding to the laxity of a society that's long stopped caring about doing what should be done.

Maybe we have such an innate fear of justice that we unwittingly cheer on those who are unjust. Maybe we've such a tendency toward violence that we simply must gorge ourselves upon the images of negligence offered by worldly entertainment. Maybe we're so afraid of God as we're so aware as to how horribly we've failed to abide by His Word that we've settled for seeking out and supporting the voices that only echo the hollow semblance of truth we so desperately want to rather than allowing His truth to hit us where it hurts.

Maybe we're so worldly that we've embraced the call to defend the ways of the world to which we're enslaved.

How much longer can we look away from things that we know aren't as they should be? How much longer can we drown out our conscience with the voices screaming lies aimed at keeping us disinterested in joining this fight? How much longer will we settle for the couch when it's to our knees that we've been called?

Friends, I'm not sure if you notice, or even if anyone really cares all that much anymore, but people are hurting. And I'm not talking about the superficial wounds we all carry from a world losing control. I'm not talking about the skin-deep injuries that are the result of daring to venture just a little outside of the lines clearly drawn by those who demand we fall in line and follow along their chosen path of filth and immorality. I'm not talking about bruises.

I'm talking about souls aching so deeply for help that there aren't words able to be spoken which can convey the misery. I'm talking about hearts so broken by lies and betrayal that they don't know if they can ever trust again. I'm talking about the countless many who are so lost in a sin they want out of so badly that they have no idea where to turn. Because, all the times they've tried before has only seen them turn to someone or something that didn't care enough to speak the truth.

The truth can only set those free who hear it. Unfortunately, it's hard to find that truth amidst so many lies that sound so amazing to souls seeking a moment's peace away from the agony of the reality of a life lived in a world fallen.

How much longer can we contain this truth inside and allow a world of lies to continue flourishing, when as our Savior showed, and called us to follow, that we are in a war with eternal suffering a very possible outcome. How much longer can we play as if that weren't the case?

We look around at a world laughing, partying, playing, performing a show meant to display an image of security found within one's own desires. We see a world idolizing all manner of social concept and construct. We see a society seeking selfish satisfaction and success. We hear a melody of voices all pointing people inward with this promise that they'll find themselves within themselves. We hear a chorus of deception being played louder and louder day after day.

And we see a body of followers letting it go.

We see a bunch of believers accepting defeat. We see a bunch of church signs far too witty to make an impact. We see a bunch of people calling themselves by a Name without fighting the good fight that Man asked us to take up while we're awaiting His return. We see a bunch of fear founded upon this worldly idea that we have something to lose by speaking out against the sin, the evil, the immorality, the violence, the filth, the addictions, the delusions, the downfall.

But if we truly hold to a faith that’s built on the promise that Christ already won, why are we so afraid of losing something?

Why are we so afraid of losing worldly acceptance if we truly believe we’ll be accepted in Heaven? Why are we so afraid of losing our personal addictions if we truly hold to the promise of a joy that outweighs them all? Why are we so afraid of losing our lives if we truly believe that our lives only begin once they end?

Why are we so afraid to be set free by the truth if we truly believe that the truth can set us free?

Why is it that we continue failing to see the challenges we’re creating every single time that we do something we shouldn’t and try to hide it rather than repenting of it? Why are we so afraid of disappointing those who are but human, ourselves included, by speaking and standing against the filth we refuse to surrender? Why is it that we give more worry to angering mankind than to the One who will judge mankind? Why is it that we can so easily ignore the very depravity that our Savior died to defeat?

How much longer can we defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?

I'm afraid that somewhere along the line we agreed to this idea that life is but a game. No, I'm terrified of it. Mortified. Completely disheveled and disheartened. Absolutely heartbroken not that there are a great number of voices speaking against our faith or failing to stand upon the truth of it, but of the disinterest in those voices who could and should join the few fighting against this modern giant of worldly influence.

Friends, how can we not say something? How can we not do something? How can we not strike the blows to ourselves that are needed to help us fight against our own sinfulness? How can we not call out the dangers we see? How can we not share the worries we have? How can we not walk by our faith in such a way that shows just how terrifying the wrong side of right really is? How can we not show the world that we're so certain of our faith and the truth upon which it rests that we're willing to die if it means someone else may find eternal life?

How can we not die to self if we believe it leads to eternal life?

Sadly, it's just not taken that seriously anymore. Seems that we’re all just trying to bide our time in as peaceful and calm a way as possible. Don't want to rock the boat because we're afraid to drown. Don't want to anger the ones running this show because we don't want to be left out of it. Don't want to speak against the powers that be because we know it won't go well as the powers that be are of such anger and hatred that those who stand against them risk everything.

How much longer can we not risk anything?

How much longer can we sell this hollow image of faith that's equal parts fear of the Lord and fear of man? How much longer can we lead people astray by letting the wickedness leading the world lead them instead of pointing them to the truth with the audacity to follow it ourselves? How much longer can we agree to sit in the backseat and just watch it all implode, completely unconcerned for the ones we could have helped avoid the cost that's rapidly coming due?

There is a truly great amount of injustice, wickedness, evil, anger, hatred, deception, discontentment, discombobulation and practices which are detestable in this place. And if we don't speak against it, we may as well be saying that it's all okay. If we don’t fight against it, then it must all be okay. If we try to defend it just because we ourselves are slaves to it, then we’re saying it’s okay. Because, honestly, everyone already wants to assume it's okay. Everyone already wants to do as they please. Everyone already wants to assume that God's fine with whatever we decide to do when following our own deceitful hearts which only lead away from Him.

But folks, we're here saying that we're among the small group who knows better than all that foolishness. How much longer can we not live like it?

The answer to a rhetorical question is obvious. How much longer? The answer isn't a number of days, weeks or years. The answer is that it stops. There is no longer. It is no longer acceptable because it never was. This question posed here in Psalm 82 reminds us that we've been doing this wrong. How much longer will we continue to do what is so clearly incorrect? We won’t.

It stops. Not because it's easy to stop hiding out in the shadows afraid of being seen by those who will hate what they see in us. Not because we stand to gain a bunch of friendships or followers by speaking the truth that confronts a fallen world. Not because we'll be appreciated, but because we don't need to be. We already are. Christ appreciates those who die to themselves, who die to this world, who let go of this human desire for comfort and gain in exchange for the opportunity make Him known to those who are still seeking the peace only found in His forgiveness.

We don't need the world to not hate us, quite the contrary. In a world where wickedness is defended, evil is enjoyed, sin is applauded and those who revel in their unrighteous rot as they’re cheered on for being so courageous as to follow themselves as king and see themselves as gods, we should crave rejection. We should even reject the parts of our old selves that still seek to undermine the good work that He began in us. Because it means we stood for something.

It means we stood against those who rejected Christ and the sin which still denies our King and our God and His Word and His truth and His authority, and His coming return.

Friends, stand up. Not amongst the crowd which is selling the wrong story. Not amongst the many offering love unto those who hate themselves. Not amongst those who are living a lie and begging everyone else to do the same so they can all avoid the guilt together.

But stand upon the Word of God and welcome whatever is thrown at you because of it. Because we can't defend injustice anymore. We can't allow the lies to speak over the truth, though they will certainly try. We cannot allow the wickedness in this world to win a battle we know Christ already won.

It's time to join the line and take up the task of doing what He asked us to do. Take up our crosses. Die to self. Repent of everything we know doesn’t belong in our lives. Lead by example through humbly following His. Defend the weak. Protect the innocent, what innocence is left. Fight for those we're here to help, not for those who are fighting against them. Speak the truth, first and foremost to our own ears so that we’re rebuked most harshly for all the things we’re doing that we shouldn’t be doing.

The world's in bad shape, and it will get worse. We cannot be a willing party to the continuation of the desecration. We all have skin in this, because we know what it’s like to live life wrong. We know the mistakes we’ve made and still yearn to quit making. We know the truth, and that the truth that sets people free. If they're still enslaved, if we’re still enslaved, then we're failing. And that is unacceptable.

How much longer can we not see it that way?

We’ve given such great effort unto striding this imaginary middle ground trying to appease two enemies warring against each other. And as part of that effort of neutrality, we’ve had to agree to overlook injustice and ignore immorality. And through all our fearfully trying to weave our way unscathed through this minefield, the cross has been left to fall through the cracks.

It’s time to take up our crosses once more and die upon them every single day because we should know that there is no middle ground in the battle for eternal salvation. No more seeking an out, a comfort, a way to retain our own immorality or avoid the guilt of failing to fight against it. It’s time we seek only the responsibility to do what we should have been doing all along. Fighting the good fight, both in the world, and within ourselves.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold