An Airbrushed Life
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An Airbrushed Life
Proverbs 30:20
- This is the way of an adulterous woman:
- She eats and wipes her mouth,
- And says, “I have done no wickedness.”
She doesn't confront her behavior but simply paints over it with a denial of her guilt. She effortlessly relieves herself of any guilt by simply saying she has no guilt; in her mind her adulterous behavior is morally equivalent to putting on her shoes. She eats, wipes her mouth and then says "I have done no wickedness". How naive to believe one's sinfulness can be wiped away as easily as food is wiped from their mouth. Those who believe this way have entered that dark world where being created in the image of God has lost all meaning.
No person has the moral right (authority) to declare themselves good when in fact they are not good! By reading Matthew 28:18 we can understand the limits of autonomous thinking. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus, which means He is the only One who is truly autonomous. Also, according to John 5:22 Jesus is the Judge of the whole Earth; He is the One who determines one's innocence or guilt. For all who will listen, Jesus being our Judge gives us hope. Since all authority has been given to Him, don't be foolish by thinking you can wipe away your sins. Rather, confess and forsake them, and Jesus will be the One who sets you free! This is very, very good news!
The Apostle John reminds us that it is not our words but our behavior that demonstrates who we are. John says "if we say that we know the Lord, but do not keep His commandments, then we lie and do not practice the truth. Airbrushing cannot remove one's guilt. Airbrushing is a lie - it is an attempt to make yourself look good while living in a way that is not good. Jesus said a tree is known by its fruit. If the tree is good then the fruit will also be good, but if the tree is bad the fruit also will be bad, Matt. 12:33! The message is that our behavior is the only true reflection of who we are. We can say anything, but our behavior speaks very much louder than our words!
How difficult is it to be the person God has called you to be? Isn't serving God preferrable to living a make-believe life? Isn't being real better than lying to yourself? The purpose of airbrushing is to hide one's imperfections. Isn't it better to face our imperfections than hide them. Think about it, every day just to feel good about myself, I have to hide who I really am. Isn't it painfully obvious the benefits of loving God far outweigh those of appetite. A person becomes healthy by facing who they are and then making the needed changes. What happens to our soul if we consistently paint over who we have become? What is the real cost of turning our life into a performance? Godliness is the foundation of a good life while living a lie ultimately destroys any hope of being the person God has created us to be. Why not confront and overcome, why be a person who has to airbrush who they are? The problem with airbrushing is that eventually we come to believe the airbrushed me is the real me!
If we are wise, we will stop airbrushing.
Yes, we will run to God.
We will value what He says.
But if foolish, we will cover our ears,
believing our sinfulness can be airbrushed away.
There are many ways to airbrush a life. Our friends can convince us that we are in fact good even though our behavior is not good. If we are living an airbrushed life, then we will allow their opinions to paint over our bad behavior. They can convince us that we have no guilt, that we have the moral right to live our own life, to choose our own path, and to be our own person. All that is true if there is no Creator God. Yes, if there is no God who tells us that He is Lord and that we are to honor Him with good living, then we can live as we choose. If there is no God who has called all people to repent of their sins, then we can paint over our behavior and call it good. But, if God exists, if He is indeed Holy, and if He created us to be holy, then painting over who we are is fantasy. We become like the monkey who covers his eyes and then says, "I see no evil". The Lord is God and He calls every person to godly living. He tells us that if we ignore Him and go our own way then we will perish in our sins. But He also says that if we will confess and forsake our sins then we will find mercy!
Our culture can airbrush our behavior with a message of tolerance toward one another's differences, which is appropriate in a social context. But with regard to one's personal behavior, we are called by God to turn from all wickedness. The scriptures recognize the challenges of being human and the Lord treats us with patience and mercy. But at the same time, He demands inward honesty, He demands our heart. We cannot airbrush our life and call it good. We cannot airbrush anything, but in Christ we overcome every challenge to our personal holiness. Rather than airbrushing our behavior, we are told to overcome ungodliness through the redemptive victories of Christ. God's predestined purpose for every Christian is they be conformed to Christ
Churches can airbrush a sinful life with a message of God's love which goes something like this - God loves you so much that He will never reject you. He knows that we are weak, and that we are all sinners. Since Christ died for you, He will never count your sins against you, even if you live in open and willful sin. Since His love for you is so great, He will never condemn you. Of course, to believe such a message you have to ignore the plain teaching of scripture. We are told repeatedly that if we live in willful sin we will perish. Listen to the following scriptures and do not airbrush them away.
Gal. 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
1John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
Friends, family, churches, educational institutions, therapists, etc., will airbrush over the plain teachings of scripture
but
those who confess and forsake their sins will inherit eternal life!
The scriptures warn of a "whitewashed" life. The outside is painted white, but the inside is rotten. Think about a whitewashed wall - it looks strong, stable, and good. But it is a deception. In reality, it is rotten on the inside. It has been whitewashed to hide the decay! It is make-believe. It says that it is good and strong but it speaks lies. The whitewashed life looks good but is rotten on the inside. Never are we told to hide who we are, to make ourselves look good. Always, in every place, and at all times, we are to serve God from the heart, which means we are not living a whitewashed life. A good person lives in obedience to what God says. They do not whitewash their lives, they confess and forsake their sins. A good person both hears and obeys the voice of the Lord. He says, "put off the old and put on the new," Ephesians 4:22-24! An honest and good person has learned to honor the Lord by hating evil, Prov. 8:13. Never do we whitewash our sins but always confess and forsake them.
The problem with internally airbrushing our behavior is that eventually we believe what we say. Initially, our conscience will condemn our efforts to justify bad behavior. When we wipe away guilt we are wiping away the sensitivity of our conscience. If we continue airbrushed our behavior and continue the phantasy life, the day will come when we no longer sense a need of repentance! A wise person protects their conscience. They understand God gave it as an early warning system. If we take the wrong turn, it will say bridge out, danger ahead, turn, bridge out, danger ahead, turn. If we listen, it will keep us on the right road and away from decisions that destroy. But if we choose to live as the adulterous woman, if we choose to look the other way, if we choose to paint over our sins rather than confess and forsake them, then we will not inherit the Kingdom of God. This is the clear teaching of Scripture!
The Word of the Lord from Genesis to Revelation communicates only one message - if you live in willful and unconfessed sin you will perish.
But, if you confess and forsake your sins, you will have mercy. Proverbs 28:13
God bless you,
Jim
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