Creation of Adam (detail)
1510 Fresco Cappella Sistina, Vatican

As of late, I have had many conversations with people and have read even more here in blogland. I have noticed an unsettling trend in Christianity of late. Many, many people have begun to take situational ethics and call it relying on the sovereignty of God! Sounds totally unbelievable huh? Amazingly there are so many who do this and do not even realize they have bought into this way of thought.

Many when confronted with scripture after scripture on a teaching they are not TOTALLY comfortable with, begin to offer reasons why they do not think it applies to them, or at least not to the same degree as it does to others, even though they believe it to be truth. They continue to live the way they have been without feeling the need to make any changes (or only tiny adjustments) in their life because if they are not correct in doing so God is sovereign and will intervene.

Did you see that?

1. believe it is truth
2. not comfortable making the change
3. God is sovereign & will intervene if I am wrong

First, if we truly believe something is the plan of God for life then we will follow through with action.

Second, if truth is revealed to us in scripture our action is to adjust our lives to live that truth!

In Titus 2:14 and 1 Peter 2:9 we are called "peculiar". Just for fun, here are some of the synonyms of the word "peculiar":

uncomformable, exceptional; abnormal, abnormous; anomalous, anomalistic; out of order, out of place, out of keeping, out of tune, out of one's element; irregular, arbitrary; teratogenic; lawless, informal, aberrant, stray, wandering, wanton; peculiar, exclusive, unnatural, eccentric, egregious; out of the beaten track, off the beaten track, out of the common, out of the common run; beyond the pale of, out of the pale of; misplaced; funny. (adapted from Roget's Thesaurus)

Thank you Lady of Virtue for the list.

Third, who are we to assume that God will intervene even though we have justified our disobedience? This keeps the individual in control, as if they know better than God. Who needs submission right, after all if God is sovereign He will change things. Even partial obedience is still disobedience. Yes, God can and sometimes does intervene when we are disobedient yet, this is not what we should be resting in. This is saying God bless me in spite of my actions rather than because of my actions. Are we testing God and asking for Him to sovereignly overrule us or are we submitting to his sovereignty? There is a difference. A big difference!

Labels: Christianity