Exposing the Truth: None of my business...

So many times I hear the question - "If God were so good, why would ___?" I've even asked it from time to time. It's a bit of a loaded question, though, isn't it? When we look at the situation, we assume that God allowed it to happen almost in a vacuum. We assume that there is no war going on and that there are to be no casualties. Aren't we sort of assuming that God wins every battle? Wouldn't be much of a contest, would it?

Imagine, the Pittsburgh Steelers, or better, the New England Patriots go marching down the field with their fistfuls of Super Bowl rings, but there's no opposing team!!! It might be fun for New England fans for about the first 3 or 4 touchdowns, but after a while, it's not much to look at, is it? For some reason we all get tragically offended to think that we are part of a game on a field, and I can appreciate that. I'm even with you for a good portion of that angst. But, when we look at the context for life in the world (Greek: kosmos - system of belief, rules, a matrix or philosophy from which a worldview is sourced), which is more fierce than a game - it is a struggle, a battle in no uncertain terms.

The basic Biblical explanation is that when sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, it brought with it a whole host of other junk - death, disease, depression, the need for disinfectant and deodorant. Alright, facetiousness aside, we - the traitor race - betrayed the God who walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. We broke the one and only rule and set loose a chain reaction that a good and righteous God could not let go unpunished. (If He did, He wouldn't be righteous, would He?) And so, with it, sin always brings consequences, shrapnel, as I like to call it. Nothing that's bad in the world can not fall into the category of shrapnel.

Some of us know this because we work around it every day. There are people on our team, above us or below us, who are doing something unethical, incorrect, or just plain wrong. I recommend a very important verse for all of us to meditate on from time to time: My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (James 5.19-20) Some of us have a serious ethical dilemma to face "do I turn them in? Do I say something?"

So often, our answer ranges on the weak side of courage where resides justification and rationalization. You know, "It's none of my business.", "It's not hurting anyone...", "It's making us more money, forget about it..." How blind are we to our own fear or rejection?! If it's not your business, explain that to a guy with 25 years in at Enron and all his retirement stacked up in company options when the plug got pulled. BOOOOOM!!! Shrapnel. Could someone have made it their business years before that bomb went off? Nope. It was none of their business. What about the guy who's chatting online with some girl who's not his wife, gets caught by his wife in bed with someone else who's underage, now you've got three months of 70 hour weeks doing his work while they find a replacement. None of your business...

I'm going to encourage you to think selfishly on this one for once - because Jesus would, too. He's thinking about the shrapnel that kills you when you make the unwise or unholy choice, but just as importantly, those around you who will bear the pain and scars from the shrapnel you may emit when your life explodes. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. (Phil. 2.3)" Consider others. Would you? It's not necessarily about what one individual is doing that's "harmless", but the long term and short term consequences by their behavior. What would Jesus do? Would he explain away or expose the truth?

Here's our work for the day, the week, the life: "have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them... (Eph. 5.11)"