May 20, 2020 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John

Behavioral Justification

We justify our behavior in so many ways. It is hard for most Christians to think of themselves as failures; we want to believe that we are serving Christ effectively. So, the only obvious remedy for us is to ‘justify our behavior’.

We often justify our behavior to ourselves in so many little ways. Here are some of the justifications:

· I do not have time for this.

· It’s too hard.

· Well, he did this to me!

· Did you see what that person did?

· I do not even like that person.

· My political organization believes in this.

· No one will ever know.

· It does not hurt anyone directly.

· It feels good so it must be right.

· It is a ‘gray-area’, not white or black.

· No one really knows the truth or will see what I do.

· Everyone should make up their own mind or decision.

· God will forgive me; He knows it is too hard to keep His rules.

· Societal norms and legislative laws allow me to make exceptions to Biblical laws.

The problem with self-justification is that it leads us into a life of self-destruction and a trail of inflicted pain on others. Jesus did not criticize Paul on the Damascus trail for persecuting others, Jesus said, “ Paul, Paul, why do you persecute me?” Jesus did not say, “Why do you persecute those who follow me?” Jesus makes everything about Himself because everything is about Jesus Christ.

When we wrong others, we wrong Jesus Christ. When we lie to others, we lie to Jesus Christ. No matter what lie you say, or harm you do, or failure to act in faith—you do each and every action against Jesus Christ. Paul was not a Christian when Jesus asked him, “Why do you persecute me?” but no matter who you are or what you believe in, you are measured against what Jesus would do and everything is about and belongs to Christ.

Jesus warned us against looking into a mirror, seeing who we really are or what we are doing, and then forgetting about what we saw and proceeding to justify our behavior. We fail God miserably when we justify who we are, what we do, and for whatever reason we give ourselves & others regarding our behavior. We lie so well to ourselves and to God. It is no wonder that we do not walk with God’s blessings and power.

It is time to become unjustified to ourselves yet becoming justified to God. It is time to admit who we are, what we have done, and take a good long and hard look at ourselves. Ask God to show you where you have been justifying yourself, repent of all personal justifications, begin to allow the Holy Spirit to show you where your self-righteousness is working in your life, and only allow the justification of the Holy Spirit to work in your life thereby becoming acceptable to God.

This leads me to what has taken place in America the last couple of months. This is the first of a series of articles where the Church has justified itself by trying to be acceptable to society, American culture, community norms, and obedient to laws of man when they are in opposition to God’s truths and the Bible. More to come; this is the time to repent.

Wake up Church!

The Holy Spirit is trying the hearts of men and you are failing!

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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