Keep it real!

On NBC's Dateline last night, the story of a man who had one time served a congregation in youth ministry was reported. While he was in ministry, and already a married man, he became infatuated with a girl in his youth group, then convinced her to 'marry' him, as his 'second' wife, moving him with him and his first wife. He twisted Bible passages to convince both women that his polygamous desires were "God's will!" Several years later he murdered the second wife, who was, by then, the mother of two of his children. He then horribly mutilated her body to hide her identity and buried her in an obscure grave in the Arizona desert. On the stand at his trial he tried to wrap himself in religion, with assertions that he had 'given his heart to Jesus' at the tender age of 6. Did Sean Goff ever truly know the Lord? Perhaps, only God knows for certain. Did something go terribly wrong in his life? Of that I can be quite certain, and know it happened on many levels! His integrity, his accountability to his church, his submission to the Word of God; yes, even his intimate walk with Jesus Christ (assuming he had one in the first place) were gone by the time he became the murderer of a woman he once claimed to love. Even in a post-conviction interview, he was hiding himself in Christian language, seemingly without genuine repentance before God or man.

That's a shocking illustration of a sin committed everyday by millions of people who claim a relationship with the Lord - the decision to hide their own decisions or desires, even the sinful ones, inside of righteous rhetoric. For example, some Believers when asked to serve their church in some area, will say, "I'll pray about it," knowing full well they have no intention of accepting the responsibility, but not wanting to say, "No, I'm not going to do that." Or when approached by another Believer who is in need they claim to need time to pray about the request, but in fact simply what to avoid getting involved. Another example is the person who has made up his own mind to take a new job or move to another church who responsibility for his choices by saying, "It is the will of God for me to do...."

Of course, we should pray about everything including service in the church and requests for help. Yes, too, we should be actively seeking to know God's will. But, never, should we use religion to give us an excuse to do what we want to do. Among the Ten Commandments, there is this one - "Thou shall not take the Lord's name in vain." Another translation reads, "You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name." (Exodus 20:7, NLT) Much more is declared as unholy than cussing when you're angry! God does not want to be the excuse for my choices nor for yours. He does not want a veneer of holy talk pasted over our self-will.

Jesus Christ urges us to be people who keep it real- all the time. "Let your yes, mean yes; and let your your no, mean no," He says. Don't doubletalk. Don't be slick. Don't use words to create impressions in others that are false. He goes on to say, "When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong." (Matthew 5:37, The Message) I would venture to guess that Sean Goff, convicted murderer, started shading the truth and hiding behind religious language a long time ago, on issues that were just the little things in life. The duplicity that allowed him to kill a woman and then to lie to everyone around him for months may well have grown from the seeds of so-called 'white lies,' becoming a habit and eventually weaving such a web of deception that he has become a deluded man who believes his own tales and claims of superior spirituality despite his gross sin.

Double talk can become a habit, but so can total honesty. It is refreshing to hear a person admit to his own desires, even those that are less than holy, and then to ask for help in discovering the mind of the Lord. When we find ourselves tempted to misuse our power of speech especially by wrapping ourselves in Christian rhetoric, we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us face the truth, first in ourselves. God knows us - our motives, and our inner thoughts- better than we know ourselves! And, He loves us- the good, bad, the beautiful, the ugly. If we are honest before Him, if we make a habit of using plain speech, even in prayer, the Spirit will become our Counselor, helping us to be changed, and keeping us from the wiles of the Deceiver who desires our total destruction. How sweet is the peace of the man whose words are true, who has banished the shadows from his life by becoming transparent before God and others.

Here's a word from the Word, a promise to take with you today as you commit yourself both to God and others to keeping it real:
"But if we live in the light, as God does,
we share in life with each other.
And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away.
If we say that we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves,
and the truth isn’t in our hearts.
But if we confess our sins to God,
He can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar,
and his message isn’t in our hearts.
My children, I am writing this so that you won’t sin.
But if you do sin, Jesus Christ always does the right thing,
and he will speak to the Father for us." (1 John 1:7-2:1, CEV)