If I weren’t a Christian I don’t think I would want to be one. I’ve seen too many bank-rolling bishops and prosperity preachers flanked with so many goons and girls that Rudy the Pimp of my childhood would be put to shame. Why would I want to settle for the imitation of street life when I could live the street life? This is what so many skeptics of Christianity ask Christians who profess Christ then curse Him, go to church and to the club, take communion and hit some Hennessy or smoke a demon and then a joint. God calls us to be level-headed to stamp out this duplicity. “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways,” the Apostle James tells us (1:8). When you are unstable as a Christian others become unsure about you and yours, and you never gain what you were intended: winning souls for Jesus Christ.
If you aren’t level-headed you not only never receive what you were intended to gain, but when you lose your wits you can also lose so much else, like your reputation; friends; family; and job. When you aren’t sober (making wise decisions) you cannot be discreet (discipline in your body) to complete the work that you should be committed to (Titus 2:4-5). The Apostle Paul calls these two vanity of the mind and lasciviousness (Ephesians 4:18-19).
Vanity of the mind is the inability to perceive and understand the truth which leads to making bad decisions like lasciviousness, which is having no moral restraints, being shameless and outrageous. So when you walk in the vanity of your mind it’s easy to think it’s okay to be a preacher-pimp; a false friend; a failure in your family but a success on your job; or stealing time at work to make that church event a success. Next time you plan to do away with sound judgment and do something without moral restraints, think about your unsaved loved ones and the bigger watching world that God has commissioned you to be stable for. It’s better to suffer the slight affliction of self-restraint than to enjoy sin, whose pleasures only last for a season (Hebrews 11:25). A lifetime of salvation surely beats a season of sin. The choice is up to you.
Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith