NAUGHTY OR NICE?
NAUGHTY OR NICE?
This question has always held great importance in many ways, to many different situations, if one stops to think about it. We are all aware that St. Nick needs to know the answer to this before he slides down the chimney of childrens’ homes, but the same question, only termed some-what differently, is asked many times every day in the lives of men and women going about their daily routines. If I want to apply for a job with some corporation, there is a process that must be followed. One very important part of the process is the filling in of that pesky form asking those awkward questions about my past. Have I had any criminal charges laid against me? Have I ever been arrested? Have I ever spent time in jail?
If I choose to migrate to another country, there needs to be [in most countries at least] a process of very strict vetting before I am accepted as a migrant or refugee. Very sadly that has not happened in America for nearly three years now. But we all know the wisdom of carrying out that process. Most moral folks will be careful who they hang out with, by judging whether or not the other person is living a moral life. Bad company always influences one to lower one’s own morals.
If I choose to make law enforcement or military service my career, there will most certainly be a process of severe vetting. Many clubs that are in existence have a similar process, somewhat less in severity, of vetting those who wish to become club members.
We all know that ‘saying,’ ‘as in the natural, so in the spiritual,’ don’t we? Well, that ‘saying’ is very true in this matter.
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.
You have wearied the LORD with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”
For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.
To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.
Each one of those scriptures assures us that God asks the question of each person. “Are you naughty or nice?” Well….. using different words. We must all agree that ‘doing good’ is ‘doing God’s will.’ When Cain killed Able, God came to him and said this:
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
When the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, he told them:
For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
The disciple John left us with the same truth:
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
We can see clearly that doing good, or what is right in God’s eyes, is what He accepts as righteous, can we not? He assures us all through His inerrant word that it is only the righteous folks who go to heaven.
This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous.
Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God's holy people.)
Yes, my dear reader, your eternal destiny relies absolutely on what sort of deeds/acts/conduct your life displayed here on earth. That does NOT mean that you can ‘work your way into heaven,’ but it does confirm to you that once you have repented, and been given the Holy Spirit for forgiveness of sins, your life will be miraculously different to what it was before you got to know God & learned to fear Him.
Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”
Pro 14:26-27
Whoever fears the LORD has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge.
The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.
Once one knows God well, one WILL learn to fear Him…guaranteed!! Then one will repent, and begin that awesome journey of living in Christ where there is NO SIN. God states often in His life instruction manual that He is a God of justice. That simply means that there is just one consequence for doing something that is NOT His will. It has been described as hell, death, damnation, destruction, and being thrown into that place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Following is John’s description of someone living in Christ. I have copied this from my NIV which, like all modern versions, has some words that men added when they compiled the modern versions. I have left them out. But the KJV still has it correct.
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
No one who lives in him sins. No one who sins has either seen him or known him.
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
No one who is born of God will sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot sin because they have been born of God.
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. 1 Jn. 3:4-10
God could not have made it any clearer than that, could He?
That describes a righteous life. That describes every person who has ever got to know, learned to fear, love and obey God, and repent. When a sinner makes it his top priority to get to know God, and searches for Him with ALL his heart, God promises to reveal Himself to that sinner. In doing so, that sinner will understand that he simply CANNOT choose for God’s highest good [agape God] all the while he sins. I went through that process after crying out to God for decades to set me free from a terrible sexual addiction. That was when I was a faithful member of evangelical churches wherever I lived, and was respected, and even given leadership positions in those churches. I lived that fantasy life that all my church peers lived, but I just could not accept such a life, because I hated hypocrisy, and therefore, myself. Once I knew God well enough to realize He was a God of justice, and guarantees consequences for sin, I understood why Jesus told me to be afraid of Him Matt.10:28. Then I knew I could not honestly confess love for Him while I was a sexual predator. So, He set me free without me even trying, any longer. It was simply my logical choice to stop doing what prevented me from loving God. My desire to display true agape for God was far greater than any pleasure or ‘feeling’ I had from doing evil stuff. That is guaranteed for any sinner who wishes to gain salvation, and freedom from Satan’s captivity.
On proof-reading the above, I realized that the event of repentance in my life, was somewhat more dramatic than what I suggested. You see, when I truly chose to agape God, because I had understood the consequences of not doing that, soon afterwards, I fantasied sexual acts, and masturbated, and immediately felt such deep despair, utter shame, and gross sorrow and remorse for causing God such grief. It was such a ‘painful’ experience that I immediately knew I would NEVER repeat anything that would negatively affect God, due to the deep sorrow, remorse, and guilt I experienced in my soul. The Old Testament saints stripped, put on sackcloth and sat on dung heaps, throwing dung dust and ashes over themselves for days, without eating or drinking, as a display of how grossed out they were for grieving God. James offers those of us who live under the New Covenant, a somewhat less dramatic event of repentance, in his letter:
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Js 4:7-10
I can guarantee that one will only repent once, because he/she will NEVER want to go through that gross pain of realizing how he/she has grieved God again. I have to assume that the Old Testament saints never went through that drama a second time.
St. Peter has been given extremely strict orders to NEVER let any sinner into those pearly gates, so we must do something about that if we want to walk those streets of gold.
I spent from 1992 to 2011 researching American Christianity across the USA and it broke my heart, big time. I wrote a book after that, explaining God’s plan to put an end to Satan’s attempt to destroy that nation, and to transform enough citizens’ lives so that God could exalt her again as she becomes a shining city on a hill. Amazon or B & N have ‘A Nation Broken’ ready to ship to you now.