Of Hardened-Hearts, An Open Letter
This past Thursday was a strange one. The entire day I was fixated on hardened-hearts, and near everything brought to me dealt with hardened-hearts. Strange coincidence. It started shortly after midnight on Thursday morning when I penned the following.
A man might speak truth, but through his action can mysteriously make truth to be untruth. By this I mean to say that a man may know all truths, but if he does not live out truth, if truth does not drive him, begin him at every moment- then truth is an untruth. Those who turn to such men see a veil of falsehood that covers/distorts truth, and truth is lost for those who, turning to such men, reject the veil thiking it to be truth. Woe to the man who willingly adorns himself with a deceitful veil whether knowingly or not. Regardless, brothers, we must avail to discourage one another from such garb as this. To those who unwittingly act in this disobedience we must reveal to them the Light of Christ which is Truth and which destroys all untruth. But of those whose hearts are hardened- what do we do? To those whose gnostic pride assails the truth- how will the LORD lead us? We speak truth, and they speak truth, but in our actions we are divided. One acts truth, the other acts spite, selfishness, and distraction from the truth. What of such men? I would say 'love,' but I hesitate. For if their hearts are hardened such that they know truth but do not act in it- what then is the will of God?
A man might speak truth, but through his action can mysteriously make truth to be untruth. By this I mean to say that a man may know all truths, but if he does not live out truth, if truth does not drive him, begin him at every moment- then truth is an untruth. Those who turn to such men see a veil of falsehood that covers/distorts truth, and truth is lost for those who, turning to such men, reject the veil thiking it to be truth. Woe to the man who willingly adorns himself with a deceitful veil whether knowingly or not. Regardless, brothers, we must avail to discourage one another from such garb as this. To those who unwittingly act in this disobedience we must reveal to them the Light of Christ which is Truth and which destroys all untruth. But of those whose hearts are hardened- what do we do? To those whose gnostic pride assails the truth- how will the LORD lead us? We speak truth, and they speak truth, but in our actions we are divided. One acts truth, the other acts spite, selfishness, and distraction from the truth. What of such men? I would say 'love,' but I hesitate. For if their hearts are hardened such that they know truth but do not act in it- what then is the will of God?
posted by mick_brigham at 4:54 PM
4 Comments:
Mr. Barrett,
What to do indeed...I have pondered this very thing this very thing this semester. There are some people who I believe do not show Christ in return for being "right/smart/pious/wise." Now truly, this is pure conjecture as I cannot presume to read into somebody's heart. But it does seem that they act differently than they profess, in context...as a Christian even. These people as you say may have a facade that people may buy into that display's piety or something. But their intention SEEMS selfish or something wrong. The problem that I deal with is this: is this truly the case? I wonder, because they do things with such passion and intensity that perhaps their intentions are true. But the question remains, what if their actions, in their intentions, draw people away from the truth that they are professing. And even further the question remains...What can I do"
-sorry if this is meandering, i'm just thinking while typing, so forgive me if it is muddled. Let's try and come together on this one I say, it is truly something thats been on my mind.
-Mike-
amen, EJ.
I've been convicted of this a lot lately. Too much. Perhaps God is speaking to me.
--matt
Alright brethren...
It seems to me that I don't really have an answer for this one. To give it its due, we cannot judge others as we are often of the same or similar vices. But we cannot pretend that in some cases, the fruit of the spirit is blaringly absent in cases where it should be shown and in some cases even proclaimed. What to do, what to do...
So this is my challenge, let us look for some piece of scripture, some letter of paul or narrative somewhere in scripture that points directly towards our question. Let it be any wisdom, from any source -but indeed let us explore. I do thank you all, esp. Mr. Jamis this time around for giving me the proverbial smack that I needed, let us heed the words of both you and EJ and not fall to what we are trying to avoid.
-Mike-
-Mike-
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