What happens when you expose someone who is as a “white-washed tomb filled with dead man’s bones?”
Sometimes they might rage at you in attempts to scare you off so that you will back down.
Sometimes they polish their tomb so that it is as white and bright as possible, so that they can continue to deceive people.
Sometimes they grab their filth, smear it onto you, then point at it and say, “ah ha! look at this filthy person.”
Sometimes they do all three.
The thing is, we are all as whitewashed tombs without Jesus. We all need healing from the inside out. Any good thing in us is of God, and if it were not for the grace of God we would have no hope. So, we love our enemies anyway.
Yet, there are those who hide behind their white-washed tombs then come out and hurt other people–again and again and again without real accountability. If you hold them accountable, or if you simply refuse to play their mind-games, they turn on you, as mentioned above.
It is hard to watch. It is hard to see someone make an outer Christian show, but you know better. On one hand, we all have our bad days. We all fail to measure up. Yet, there is a level of hypocrisy that is not acceptable.
Lord, judge it. That’s all I can say.
We cannot see the hearts of others, but sometimes the fruit is so fake or rotten, we can become tempted to judge our fellow servants in Christ. We should not. If they have fake or rotten fruit, then that stems from a wounded heart. If they are blind, then God has ordained it.
Lord, heal them and give us peace and patience and reveal our hidden sins to us as well.
God will do all things in the way that He deems best. If He wants to reveal their hidden sins, He will. If He wants them to pay for what they have done, He will repay. If He wants to extend mercy because they wear the blood of His Son, He will. If He judges them to count the blood of His Son as an unworthy thing by continuing in hypocrisy, lying, strife, and mercilessness, then so be it.
Seal the things of God up in your heart. Do not be overcome with evil. This can be a hard temptation–and one that will come upon the whole world. I have been tempted too. Lord willing, I will resist and keep resisting.
“They had almost consumed me on the earth, but I forsook not thy precepts. Quicken me after thy lovingkindness, so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth forever. Oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. They faithfulness is unto all generations. Thou hast established the earth and it abides. They continue this day according to thy ordinances, for all are thy servants.”
“When he shall come and find them drunken and beating their fellow servants, then the master of that house shall appoint their portion with the unbelievers.”
“Except thy law had been my delight, I had perished in my affliction. I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me. I am thine. Save me for I have sought thy precepts. The wicked have waited for me to destroy me, but I will consider thy testimonies. I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad. Oh how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day.”
“And this is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do as I command you.”
I have been through my own kind of “hour of temptation” again and again–and these deal with the same sorts of temptations, just in different packages. This might be arrogant to say, but I think this is for a reason. Lord willing, I am coming out of this time. God’s will be done. I feel at peace about it. We shall see. ❤
Jesus Alone 