It’s past midnight, but I can’t sleep. Have an ansolutely full day tomorrow… schedule packed full fropm 9am to 9pm, and I need my sleep, but I can’t. thinking too much.
Thinking hard about an absolutely long talk I had on Sunday with a few friends. Talking about two issues, mainly. How ladies dress nowsadays, and clubbing. Asking about what Christianity had to say on these two things, and the general principles involved. About where the standards lay in these two areas. And we couldn’t seem to agree on a standard, which seriously worries me…
The simple view is: there is no standard. There is nothing explicit mentioned in the bible. Take the issue of ladies dressing for example. we are instructed not to be a stumbling block to others, but that verse has been used to justify so many unreasonable things that it is hard to apply that verse now. The second one that I just thought of is that a ladies beauty should not be in ornaments and perfume, but in good character and a godly spirit. But again, there is no clear cut standard.
One argument I heard is that we cannot isolate ourselves from the world. One extreme example would be the mormons, who are instantly recognizable by the way they dress. But no non-christian would dare approach them, and few Christians would either, such is their reputation. If we begin to impose rules and standards on people, is that where we are headed? Besides, Jesus admonished the Pharisees, who tithed on mint and cumin and dill, but ignored grace and mercy, when both should not be neglected. Rules are not the be all and end all of things, yet we should not rely on the law.
Yet without the law, we have slipped up. How are we set apart from the world, if in every respect we look and worse, act just like them. As the song by Steven Curtis Chapman puts it, what about the change? What about the difference? What about the life that’s showing I’m undergoing the change?? It is all to common to hear nowadays that people believe in our God, but they don’t see anything different about becoming a Christian.
So, pondering these things tonight, some things came to me and I must write them down before I forget.
Someone mentioned to me today that beyond all of our theological arguments of where the standards lie, deep within our hearts we know that there are certain standards to be followed. As people, we are all too good as using logic to justify our actions, twisting words for our benefit, while suppressing the voice of truth. A friend once told me that the more he found himself trying to justify an action, the more likely it was that the action was wrong. A thought that came to me some days ago was that we as people tend to make our decisions first and then tailor our arguments to support our decision. The verse which comes to mind goes something like, be ye doers of the word also, and not just hearers only, thereby deceiving yourselves.
We must learn to be honest with ourselves, and listen to that still small voice within us, the voice of truth that tells us a different story from what the world argues. For if we are truly born again, then the Spirit of God resides within us, and we can depend on the Spirit to guide us. As it says in Scripture, as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. Jesus himself said that we, his sheep, know his voice and follow him. Let us take the advice of Mary, mother of Jesus to heart. "Whatever he says to you, do it."
