Your bedroom is cold – the sheets are even colder.
“No worries.” you say. “I’ll just buy some fluffy replacements.”
You change all your bedding so much so, that now, every time you turn on your pillow, teddy bear fleece fibres fly up your nostrils.
Just before you rise, you remember that you forgot to drape today’s clothes over every spare radiator, so now, getting dressed is going to be like wrapping sheets of ice around your frozen frame.
While having breakfast, you thank God for the provision of warm porridge, but as you do so, the contrast between the hot air coming out your mouth and the temperature in the room, causes you to appear as if you are obsessively vaping.
The cold spoon in your hand feels like you’re clutching an icicle and two of your fingers turn hard and yellow.
You grab your Bible and blanket and settle down to have a quick quiet time with the Lord, knowing that the gentle reassurance of his love will stop you feeling so sorry for yourself.
As you flick aimlessly through the pages of his Word, you notice a common theme:
“Do not fret because of evil doers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb…”
“Abstain from all appearances of evil…”
“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech.”
Interesting.
Rita Rich who lives across the way, doesn’t have the same morning struggles as you.
As she swings her legs out of bed and places them on the warm rug, she wonders which bathroom did she leave her toothbrush in last night. Her clothes are strewn about by her feet. She tossed them right there last night, knowing that the underfloor heating would make them nice and toasty by daybreak.
As she pulls the duvet over her pillow, the book she was reading the night before, falls to the floor. It lands on the page where there are three real satanic spells described in detail for the reader to follow in their spare time.
Demonic imagery winds its way through every chapter, but nothing less can be expected from an author who is proud to admit that she is a witch.
Rita has been lovingly warned several times that this is not the type of reading material that should be cherished by somebody who professes to be a Christian.
She snorted whenever the subject was brought up, and continued to make excuses for her witchcraft collection, and the snort in time, changed to deep contempt.
Who are you to tell her what to do? You are hardly an example of virtue, with your irritating manner and ridiculously annoying exuberance for everything holy.
“Fussy, fanatic, fuddy-duddy. I have no respect for you or your opinions and all my budding besties have no problem with my lifestyle, so silence yourself and get out of my conscience.”
There’s no more time for either of you to read, because you both have to get to your jobs. As you make your way to your 20-year-old car, you carefully slide your body towards the brick wall so as to not come into contact with the side wing. That worn-out panel just below the passenger door fell off last week and was welded back on crooked. The last thing you want to do is knock it off again. You hastily write a note in your phone to pick up some strong adhesive tape from the motor shop on your way home.
Rita is making notes also. She needs to remember that they are having wild salmon for tea tonight, followed by a £40 block of Raclette to have with some crackers.
Of course she does the opposite to you. She deliberately rubs herself against her brand new car several times, because it brings out the shine in the paintwork.
While she turns on the heated seat function, you grab a blanket from the door pocket of your motor and wrap it around your legs. Your mind shifts to the book of Job and you suddenly realise you have been blinded just like he was:
Job, in his misery, declared that there was no point in being righteous – seeking to maintain a godly lifestyle in a perverted and evil world. He did a quick comparision check and deduced that there is no benefit in obeying the Lord’s commands. He looked at his ugly, stinking, decomposing body and decided that to be ungodly gets you wealth, friends, success and happiness, whereas following God brings misery, poverty, bereavement and every kind of unfathomable trial.
Nobody wanted to be around Job. Nobody considered him approved of by the Lord.
“He must have secret sins. He must be harbouring unconfessed transgressions. His iniquities must weigh in the balance far heavier than mine.”
And so, Job like one of the Psalmists, announced that there was no point in serving God wholeheartedly. Oh, how easy it is for us to say this was foolish speech when we know the glorious end to the story!
But in reality, do we sometimes go very near to the edge and risk falling into the same trap of such ignorant conclusions?
When there is no forseeable end to the difficulties we face, despite the constant effort to walk closely to the Lord, we are susceptible to looking around and making comparisons with the lives of the lukewarm.
Friends, those whose behaviour proves a serious lack of the fear of the Lord, are not to be admired. Be neither jealous, nor resentful.
Ask the Lord for a softer heart so that you can pray for the blessing of the ungodly instead of allowing them to irritate you – and I’m referring at this present moment to those who claim to be Jesus followers, but are more interested in the rotting, pagan world around them. Those who are happy to dress their children up as warlocks on World Book Day and see nothing wrong in letting them walk around satanic museums, filled with wizard artifacts, books of spells and all manner of demonic imagery. Those who idolise pagan celebrities who have unashamedly sold their souls to the devil for fame. Those who interpret the Bible according to their own fleshly lusts.
“But they lead worship on a Sunday morning and intercede marvelously at public prayer meetings. They teach the youth group, run a house gathering during the week, and are admired greatly by their church leader. They can’t be all that bad surely!”
I don’t care how many ‘Christian’ friends they claim to have, or church rotas they are on. I don’t care how many sermons they preach and how many people hang onto their every word. They need to repent – and so do we if we have ever allowed Job-type thoughts to fester in our minds when we look upon their lifestyles and deem them to be more fortunate than ourselves.
So, do the wicked prosper? It seems so. But only for a time. Keep being who you are and doing what you do. God is not blind. Cheer yourself with the fact that he rewards the righteous in his time, and leave him to deal with the spiritually comotose.
Job eventually realised that the only thing that brings true happiness and blessing is to remain stedfast in your faith and walk.
I write because it brings me joy knowing I’m doing what I was called to do and that delivers far more peace than the promise of a large paycheck.
I am not perfect by any means and I am not claiming to have a deeper reverance for the Lord than those who sin differently from me – only God knows the true heart of a person, but when the lifestyles of certain people indicate little spiritual fruit, those people are not to be envied, nor used as a comparison as to who is the most blessed.
If you are endeavouring to bring God glory in all your pursuits, you are already prosperous.
Enjoy your life and the joy of obeying your calling. God will help you endure the now if you will trust that his future for you is very good indeed.
Cheering you on all the way.
