Friends' Favorites - What's the Difference?

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
Psalm 11:3 KJV

I like reading different versions and translations of the Word of God because sometimes they say it so differently that I am able to understand the BIG picture of it all. This same text for today in the New Living Translation reads, The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?  And I love it in The Message, The bottom's dropped out of the country; good people don't have a chance... Hmmm... I heard that line at the office just the other day.

I remember a conversation I had with a young woman years ago. She believes in God, but she has not yet embraced the Word as her standard for living. She wanted to justify her actions and her beliefs by what was going on in the world system. It seemed right. The infamous 'Everyone else thinks it's okay.'  'There's no law against it.'

Well, actually there is...

It's just not in the book of law that she's reading...

Society (and their lawmakers) will go to unbelievable lengths to justify their actions, even so far as to enact laws saying they're okay. For those fools (that's what Scripture calls them) who say, 'There is no God,' it's almost understandable. However, for those who say, 'We believe in God' and yet still embrace what is clearly opposed to His Word, it's unbelievable... or is it?

Pastor Alan Neel said something a couple years ago that really stuck in my heart. He said, "We've spent the last 30 years making believers out of people. Nowhere in the Word of God does it say go and make believers. It says go and make disciples." 

What's the difference? James 2:19 reads, You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.

What difference does it make how many laws are passed to say something is okay if the Word of God says it's sin? What difference does it make if everyone is doing it if the Word says it's sin? 

I'm going to reiterate what I said to that young lady years ago. I don't care how many rules and regulations and laws are presented, passed and posted on the books. There's only one Book of Law that doesn't change. Only one whose standards and truths remain. Immoveable, unshakeable. Only one that has stood the test of time since the beginning of time...and remains. If the Bible says it's sin, it's sin.

What does the Word say about what's going on in the world? Read further in Psalm 11, The Message, God hasn't moved to the mountains; his holy address hasn't changed. He's in charge, as always... and at the end of the chapter, God's business is putting things right; he loves getting the lines straight, Setting us straight. 

Setting us straight. Making the difference between believers and disciples. What's your standard? That's the difference.

Prayer:

Father,
          We look to You - the Author and Finisher of our faith. Make our paths straight. Lead us in the paths of righteousness for Your Name's sake, according to Your Word. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.