The Split-Life/Justification
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So whoever knows the right thing to
do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:17)
The reverse of this scripture is also true. If we know
that what we are doing is wrong and we do it anyway, justifying it in our own
minds, it is still sin. Nowhere in scripture is sin justified by the words “except
when you have a good reason”.
Christians often leave church and become “normal” when
we go to work or home, doing things of which God would not approve. We do
little or big things that we know are wrong in God’s eyes, but we say we did it
for the right reason. We can justify our actions so easily, but wrong is wrong
and sin is sin. We cannot sin i.e. steal or lie, for the right reason and think
that it is okay with God.
Draw near to God, and he will draw
near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you
double-minded. (James 4:8)
While we are in church we would not think of
committing a sin for any reason, but if once we exit the door, we begin to
justify wrong actions with supposed ‘right’ reasons, we are living in sin and
are double-minded.
We are splitting our lives into two distinct roles.
One is our Christian role and one is our worldly role. There are many
split-life Christians, justifying their sin, and this is not pleasing to our
Father.
Everyone who makes a practice of
sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4)
We may justify the action by thinking we are helping a
situation, but if we know right from wrong and we do what is wrong, then it is still
sin. Our human reasoning is not the same as God’s. Stealing back a bicycle that
had been stolen from us may seem fair, but it is sin. Stealing is wrong no
matter why we do it. Repaying evil with evil is sin.
Saying that we are doing the wrong thing for the right
reason is lying to ourselves to justify our actions. It is just an excuse to do
what is easy, what we want to do in the first place, or what gives us a feeling
of justice. We may fool ourselves. We may even fool others, but we do not fool
God. We are sinning and in need of forgiveness.
He is a double-minded man, unstable
in all his ways. (James 1:8)
We cannot, for one minute, believe that sinning for a good
reason is acceptable to God. We are to be the light in the world but if the world
sees Christians sinning, they won’t look at the reasons behind the sin. They
will judge us, and they will turn away from God because of our actions or
words. They will call us hypocrites and we are.
We must not have a split-life, living one life as part
of the world and the other life of service to God. If we are followers of God, then
He should be our whole life. Everything we do should be subject to Him and His
will.
Take no part in the unfruitful works
of darkness, but instead expose them. (Ephesians 5:11)
Justification is one of many tricks of the deceiver,
Satan, whose goal is to ruin our relationship with God and to keep others from
knowing the truth. We may think that a ‘little’ sin here and there for the ‘right’
reason is easier, fair, good, or justified. But God’s commandments are clear.
Sinning for the right reason does not exist. There is
no good sin, no little sin, or big sin. Sin is sin and all sins are an abomination
to our Father. That is why God sent His son to die to redeem us from our sins. Justification
will not save us. Only living for God all the time will bring us the peace and contentment
that we seek.
I call heaven and earth to witness
against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and
curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
(Deuteronomy 30:19)
Prayer:
Our Father who art in Heaven, help us today to choose once and for all
who we will serve. We know right from wrong. We understand what justification
is. Help us to be aware of the times when we are justifying our wrong-doing.
Don’t let us live a split life no matter who we are around, who we work with, or
who our friends or family are. We stand with You alone. We have faith in You
alone. Amen
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