Most of you know I have a casual interest in sports (if you define 'casual' as foaming-at-the-mouth-throwing-things-at-the-TV-not-speaking-to-my-family-while-i"m-watching-sports. Then yes, it's a casual interest.) But it goes beyond casual (see above) especially when I'm watching the Pittsburgh Steelers--or "super stillers" as we know them in western PA. But now, I'm just heartsick over recent news--Big Ben Roethlisberger has been accused of sexually assaulting a college student in a small Georgia town. Seems he was out bar hopping late one night with a bunch of body guards, and the girl made the accusations after he left. We of course need to wait for the outcome, he is innocent until proven guilty, but it is depressing nonetheless. And the one comment I've heard the most in discussion is that even if he didn't do it and this is a result of his notoriety, he should have had more sense than to put himself in a position where these kinds of charges could be brought against him.
As I thought about that, somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind were words from the Bible struggling to the surface. When these things finally make their way out, they always come out in King James English for some reason. These were: "Avoid all appearance of evil." I guess that doesn't sound very old English, but trust me, it is. Paul writes it in 1 Thessalonians 5:22. I think it's pretty applicable here.
Avoid (stay away from, like the plague) all (all) appearance (anything that looks like, smells like, acts like--it's a duck) of evil (bad things). If you couple this with what we've said recently about taking God's name (identifying with God and his character) in vain, that we should be bringing honor to God's name in everything we say, think and do, then I think Big Ben would have done well to employ this principle. Stay away from anything that even remotely looks like evil or has the potential to evil. Don't drag God's name (which you carry) into anything that resembles badness. Be a good representative, ambassador. Take this serious enough that you're willing to put aside anything that has evil connotations. Had Ben put that into practice, he might not have been in the situation he is now.
We need to be careful with that, when I was a kid that verse was used against all kinds of activity (don't drink, or smoke or chew or run around with gilrs who do) that ' not sure should really be considered evil. And it's not a verse you should probably be applying to someone else other than yourself (like I just did to Ben...) But I do think we should be asking ourselves, "If I am a real, genuine, follower of Jesus, does this behavior (whatever that might be) reflect well on him?"
To Ben: I hope these accusations aren't true. I wish you had stayed home and played scrabble that night.
As I thought about that, somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind were words from the Bible struggling to the surface. When these things finally make their way out, they always come out in King James English for some reason. These were: "Avoid all appearance of evil." I guess that doesn't sound very old English, but trust me, it is. Paul writes it in 1 Thessalonians 5:22. I think it's pretty applicable here.
Avoid (stay away from, like the plague) all (all) appearance (anything that looks like, smells like, acts like--it's a duck) of evil (bad things). If you couple this with what we've said recently about taking God's name (identifying with God and his character) in vain, that we should be bringing honor to God's name in everything we say, think and do, then I think Big Ben would have done well to employ this principle. Stay away from anything that even remotely looks like evil or has the potential to evil. Don't drag God's name (which you carry) into anything that resembles badness. Be a good representative, ambassador. Take this serious enough that you're willing to put aside anything that has evil connotations. Had Ben put that into practice, he might not have been in the situation he is now.
We need to be careful with that, when I was a kid that verse was used against all kinds of activity (don't drink, or smoke or chew or run around with gilrs who do) that ' not sure should really be considered evil. And it's not a verse you should probably be applying to someone else other than yourself (like I just did to Ben...) But I do think we should be asking ourselves, "If I am a real, genuine, follower of Jesus, does this behavior (whatever that might be) reflect well on him?"
To Ben: I hope these accusations aren't true. I wish you had stayed home and played scrabble that night.
RSS Feed