"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2
Has someone ever asked you why God in the Old Testament is portrayed as cruel and God in the New Testament is all full of love? Critics of the Bible try to make the argument that God is inconsistent from the Old Testament to the New Testament.
In the Old Testament He had the Israelites kill men, women and children when they conquered other nations. For example... "When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations--the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you... and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy." Deuteronomy 7:1-2
People take these harsh edicts out of context and use them in an attempt to prove flaws and inconsistencies in God's character. Yet if you look at the circumstances in context and try to understand why God commanded what He did, it is much easier to see what was really going on.
The Israelites were a weak people. Case in point... they succumbed to temptation many times while in the desert after leaving Egypt. God was leading them, with them, and yet they were afraid they would die. You know the stories... while Moses was up on the mountain receiving the ten commandments from God, the Israelites had Aaron make a golden calf so they could worship it. That is just one instance where they did not remember or trust God. Their weakness as a people plagued them throughout their existence as a nation.
God told them that He would give them the land of their enemies, but they must kill everyone they conquer. Conquest was assured. They were to leave no one alive. On the surface, this seems pretty cruel of God, but you don't get a true sense of what God was doing if you stop at the apparent cruelty. The people who God was going to give over to the Israelites had rejected God and were wicked evil idol worshipers who offered human sacrifices to their false gods. They had brought judgement on themselves and their children. God was using Israel’s army to carryout His judgement on these people. With this understanding, God’s actions seem more reasonable and legitimate. It is His right to judge the nations and to execute punishment for their unrepentant wickedness.
Another reason that God did not want anyone spared, was that the Israelites were so weak that even a few of these people left alive would have been enough to corrupt the Israelites into sinful acts, including worshiping idols. In fact God even stated that He did not want any of the Israelites to intermarry with any foreign peoples. This edict had nothing to do with preserving the racial purity of blood lines, and everything to do with trying to protect his chosen people from being morally and spiritually corrupted. “Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.” Deuteronomy 7:3-4
You might be thinking... this seems like an unnecessary command since the Israelites were told to destroy the people inhabiting the land God was going to give them. Again the problem was with the Israelites, not God’s commands. They had this nasty habit of not doing what God told them to do. As this passage from Judges clearly shows... “The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.” Judges 3:5-7
Moses fell on his face in the dirt many times pleading with God not to destroy the Israelites. Moses repeatedly asked God to have mercy on the Israelites. They kept sinning by succumbing to the world around them. The Israelites saw the mighty hand of God with their own eyes. Think about that... they were eye witnesses to the actions of the one, true and only living God. Yet they were quick to fall into sin and worship false gods and worthless idols.
God did not want His people contaminated by the world around them. He used the Israelites to show other peoples and nations His power. If the Israelites became contaminated by the rest of the world and continued unabated in worshiping idols and acting like everyone else in the fallen world, how could they have been a beacon of hope and purity to the sinful world around them? How could they have honored and glorified the true living God who had embraced them as His own? They could not.
Christians today must live in this sin-filled world. We must have contact with it on a daily basis. However, God calls us out of the world in the sense that we are to be above and beyond its corrupting influences. He wants us to be no part of the world, its thinking and ways. We are to be a “cut above” the world, so that His glory can shine through our lives and our actions. How else will anyone ever know that God can transform people to be truly different? If Christians are just like everyone else, why would anyone want to be one? Why put any stock in a Savior whose followers are just like everyone else? God has been trying to get sinful humanity to recognize this principle, since the fall of man.
The lives of the early Christians were dramatically changed through their devotion and commitment to God. Otherwise, no one would have even noticed them, much less followed them. Once Christ returned to heaven, no one could see Him or know Him, unless they observed the lives of His followers. The early Christians did a great job of “shining like light” of Christ’s power to transform a sinful life. People looked at the early Christians and they knew they were different. Everything about them was different... their focus, their attitudes... and their concern and love for all peoples.
Can the same be said for you today? When people look at you do they see something different from the world? There are a lot of 'good' people in the world, who try to live by a high moral standard, but they don't have a relationship with Christ. What sets you apart from those ‘good’ people? Do you look just like any other person who lives by high moral and ethical standards? Or is there something about you, that is unique and different?
Many things are not necessarily wrong in and of themselves. Paul said... "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Everything is permissible--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is constructive." 1 Corinthians 10:21-23
Just because something is not wrong for us, does not mean it is good for us. Maybe even more important, is it good for others to see us in such habits and practices? I will leave to your own conscience the unending debates... such as whether a Christian should drink alcohol or smoke. Think about this... what if your drinking or smoking causes someone else to look at your life and say, "He is no different then me, so why should I bother listening to him?" Is the choice of movies you go to see potentially harmful to people observing you? Is what you are doing good for the soul of the unbeliever who sees your actions? If you are well known for breaking the speed limit, and that causes someone to not see the difference Christ has made in your life, even though in every other way you shine brightly with His glory, is speeding harmful to that person's soul? If we stand around and gossip like everyone else, are we causing someone to reject our living witness for Christ?
We carry an awesome responsibility. We must be doers of the Word. We must act and live according to the commitment we have made to Christ. As followers of Christ our lives are not our own anymore. We belong to Him. Our job is to bring others into a relationship with Him. If our lives do not reflect the glory of Christ, how will we ever be able to convince others to seek Him? Our lives are the “guideposts” that will lead people to either eternal life or eternal damnation. We may be on the right road, but which way are the guideposts of our lives pointing?
Do you know one of the biggest reasons people give for not going to church? Hypocrisy! Many people think that all Christians are hypocrites. You’ve heard the saying... out partying on Saturday night... singing hymns on Sunday morning. Or maybe co-workers see the “Christian” taking office supplies home from work while condemning others for stealing. Or maybe it’s the “words” that comes out of a Christian’s mouth when they hit their thumb with a hammer. Or condemning the evils of gambling while you the Christian go about playing the lottery in the hopes of winning millions. Don’t worry, if I win... I plan to give 15% to the church... well, maybe only 10%!
The unbeliever watching the lives of Christians knows very well the standards God expects of His people. The world holds us to those high standards. What standard do we hold yourself to?
You might think this is all unfair... what you do should be between you and God. If God does not convict us over something, then why should we worry about it, why care what other people think? Is our life just about what pleasure we can enjoy from whatever we’re doing? Do we care that other people may not come to know Christ because of us? Rest assured, while it might not register with you, it does with God. He knows every soul you have touched and influenced... positively or negatively. One day... He will remind you of the list. Personally, I don’t want to endure His reading a “list” of those souls I am responsible for condemning to eternal damnation because of my behavior and actions.
Turn all your guideposts towards Jesus and there won't be anything to worry about. That does not mean that the world will not still see things in your life that they try to claim make you the same as them. Satan loves to help people think that what Christians are doing is no better than what the world is doing. DON’T give him any ammunition.
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2
