Guilty As Charged!

Growing up, whenever a Man of God preached a heart-challenging sermon, the old folks would say, “He stepped on my toes!” The metaphor meant the minister was so truthful that he or she made them feel uncomfortable, like someone stepping on their feet. Well, last Wednesday at Bible Study, my pastor not only stepped on my toes but I felt like he’d cut them completely off. Our discussion came from Philippians 3:17-19 NIV.

 “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.”

After he read the passage, many of us whispered to each other, “What is an Enemy of the Cross?” Before anyone had enough nerve to stand and ask, Pastor wanted to know, “How many of you use the Word of God for your own personal dislike?” He explained, “For example, how many of you use the old scripture to beat up people with tattoos; simply because you don’t like them?” (Leviticus 19:28 NIV). He went on to ask, “How about when people come to church but are dressed like they just left the club? Do you stare down your nose at them?”

The minister firmly insisted, “When we treat people like this, we become Enemies of the Cross; instead of us helping to draw them to it, we push them further away from it!” I suddenly felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my head. You probably could have landed a Boeing 757 passenger plane inside my open mouth. All I could think about was that I was, “Guilty As Charged!”

I finally understand the full meaning of Philippians 3:19 NIV, which reads, “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.”  We become an Enemy of the Cross when behave in a self-righteous manner, one that causes ‘destruction’ or persecution instead of unity.   The phrase “their god is their stomach,” means we only care about what benefits us, like satisfying our own hunger.   “Their glory is in their shame,” describes how we feel superior by lifting scripture from the bible to disgrace someone when this behavior itself is shameful. When we do these things, our mind is ruled by ‘earthly’ influences not heavenly ones. God tells us to love one another, not to judge.   The Lord only knows how much I have failed miserably at this commandment! Whether it was a family member, friend or stranger off the street, there have been times through out my life when I fallen short of this rule. Thank You, Holy Father for Your forgiveness!

Sweet sister, are you, too, guilty as charge when it comes to being an Enemy of the Cross? In other words, have you shown more judgment than love towards others lately? If so, you should know me well enough by now to know what I’m about to say…it’s not too late to change!   As long as we have presence of mind, it’s never too late for a second chance. So today, beloved, let’s commit to no longer being an enemy of the cross. That means we must stop rating sin; deciding which one is worse when compared to others.   Just because that sister committed adultery doesn’t mean that your lack of compassion or insensitivity towards the poor is less sinful. We should be Ambassadors of Love, not an all-in-one judge and jury. How do we start this process, you might wonder? We begin by praying for our enemies. This includes that nasty supervisor, rude colleague, neglectful baby daddy and/or ex-husband, disrespectful stepchild, back stabbing friend, or woman who destroyed your relationship. Reality is, no one is worth a one-way ticket to hell due to unforgiveness in our heart…and I do mean no one! We must lay and, most importantly, leave our hurts at the Throne of Mercy.   In this way, God can then take our broken pieces and lovingly seal them back together again.   All we have to do is make sure we are no longer ‘Guilty As Charge’ when it comes to demonstrating a spirit of self over the Spirit of Christ.