Volume 25, Issue 5
WisconsinChristianNews.com
Page 21
It Seemed Right
Jesus gave us a mark that would characterize His children — divine love one to another. See John 13:34-35. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves.” (2 Timothy 3:1-2). Self-love is the motive of modern life. Nominal religion does not lead men to self-denial and the perils abound in churches as well as in society. Self-love makes marriages unworkable. It causes brotherhood to fall apart. It seems right to separate if people can not get along together but someone has to pay a heavy price for taking the way that seems right. God’s way is the right way. It is not the easy way. It is not the “natural” way. It is the way of the cross. It is the way that calls for self-denial. It is a way of restrictions. It is a way that most re- ligious people call unnecessarily strict. Multitudes affect us. They make us think that you can live after the flesh and not die. The Bible says; “If you live after the flesh, you shall die!” (Romans 8:13). It seems right to enjoy affluence, but Jesus said; “a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven” and proceeded to tell how hard it actually is. (See Matthew 19:23-26). If it seems right, it is probably wrong. If you fol- low Jesus, you know where you are going and why. You hear His voice and you follow. You are on the narrow way and you know it. You have peace and rest. Rod & Staff Publishers W6053 County Rd. X Withee, WI 54498 (715) 229-9400
It is almost popular in America to believe in Jesus these days, but what kind of belief is it? Is it a belief that separates them from their sin and from the world? Is it a belief that makes them content to be nothing in this world? Popular re- ligion actually promotes a wide variety of evils. Saving faith, for many, is nothing more than a mental thing. Among plain people, where sepa- ration is a cardinal doctrine, their separation may be nothing more than an external matter. Since that does not bring peace, some join the main- stream religions and throw away their traditions and then write books about how liberating it is. “It seems right.” The prevailing wind today is away from anything stable. It is all very fluid and changeable, more often than the seasons of the year. The kingdom of Christ is a kingdom apart. This kingdom is not political. It is as Jesus says it; “few there be that find it.” It is a kingdom of great value and will cost everything you have — a con- cept we can hardly understand. See Matthew 13:44-46. The devil is a master at making things seem right when they are not right. Something in me wants to believe that probably there will be many more saved than I think. But Jesus said; “Few there be that find it.” “Few” is a relative word and we do not know exactly how few. Jesus also said; “Many will say unto Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name?’” Again “many” is relative. “Many” refers to those who are “believers” that work iniquity. Few could be a comparison of all humanity. Both together call for some holy reflections on just where we are in relation to Christ’s kingdom. Are we among the few? Or are we just doing what seems right? Are we carried along with the reli- gious currents of the times or are we anchored?
By Isaac D. Martin September 2024
they learned that God saw it otherwise.
King Saul thought it seemed good that they should spare the best of the sheep and oxen for sacrifice, but God had commanded him to de- stroy everything. It seemed right to the Jewish leaders that someone as controversial as Jesus should be killed and they committed the greatest human injustice of all time. This is a very small sampling of people of the Bible who followed a course that seemed right. Humanity continues to choose the path that seems right but the end is death. Life presents us all with two ways — a broad way and a narrow way. By far, most people are on the broad way. Most religious people are tak- ing that way. The broad way, being broad, car- ries the greatest current. It has the pull of numbers. Those who put up no resistance or only a little resistance will be pulled along with the current and carried to the ruin that Jesus promised to those who are on the broad way. See Matthew 7:13-14.
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 14:12; 16:25. Satan made it seem right and even logical to eat of the forbidden fruit, but it brought death. It seemed right for Cain to bring an offering of the fruit of the ground, but it did not please God. It didn’t seem right for Noah to be building a huge boat on dry ground, but it was the right thing to do. It seemed right for Sarah to give her servant to Abraham to bear children for her, but it pro- duced regret, not fulfillment. It seemed right for Lot to pitch his tent toward Sodom, but it cost him nearly all he had. It seemed right for Esau to sell his birthright for a mess of potage but he sold far more than he realized at the time. It seemed right for Aaron and Miriam to reprimand Moses for his Ethiopian wife, but God showed them otherwise. It seemed right to Korah, Dathan and Abiram to accuse Moses and Aaron for taking too much on themselves as leaders, but 15,000 died before
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