The law of gravity tells you what stones do if you drop them; but the Law of Human Nature tells you what human beings ought to do and do not.” C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
There is the unwritten law in the mind of humankind that I call the law of “expectation.” Depending upon the circumstances, our minds will have certain preconceived notions as to how things ought to be. This is a good thing because it enables us to see. According to the experts, sight is 90 percent imagination. If it were not for our experience, our minds would not be able to rightly interpret the images that our eyes deliver to our cerebral cortex. Our sight and our memory play a harmonic role in allowing us to see both familiar things and those things new to us without becoming disoriented.
However, when it comes to actions, we have another law in effect that is called prejudice. It is also based upon experience (whether good or bad, right or wrong). We see, we judge, and we react accordingly. This allows us, more often than not, to operate our automobiles alongside those belonging to our neighbors, in rather close proximity without creating a total catastrophe. But what happens when our expectation leads us to a false prejudice? We pick up the phone and call our insurance agent to inform him that we have had an accident. Hopefully it was not beyond the scope of repair for the car and healing for our bodies!
Unfortunately, in our personal relationships with others this law of expectation takes on unrealistic proportions. We often expect of others what we do not demand of ourselves. We may have a whole host of societal standards based upon where we live, work, or worship. These standards may or may not match those held by someone else. What results is the inevitable collision of standards of conduct where feelings are injured, and relationships destroyed. “But like a good neighbor, State Farm” isn't there to help you pick up the pieces.
Let us now call in the accident investigator to determine the cause of the calamity. Perhaps we can listen to the cockpit voice recorder and hear what was really said in the minutes that preceded the event. We could check the flight recorder (black box) in order to ascertain the attitude of the heart. Perhaps we could check the weather forecast to see if there was an air of deception present that hindered visibility. The accident investigator looks through all the evidence and then comes to the conclusion that this accident was preventable and assigns fault (oftentimes to both parties).
The world looks upon us believers as though our faces were engraved upon Mount Rushmore. There is an expectation of absolute perfection in all we say or do. It is a bit like being an airline pilot whose reputation is only as good as his last landing. It would not matter if the pilot had made thousands of perfect landings if the last landing resulted in a crash. When the world holds us to account in response to these crashes, some of us believers would say of our own conduct, “I am not perfect, just forgiven!” When we are rebuked by the brethren, we counter with, “Judge not, lest ye be not judged” ─ the mantra of those who use Grace to self-justify a careless life.
It was no accident that the Apostle Paul called upon us to, "clothe yourselves with the armor of right living, as those who live in the light" (Romans 13:12b NLT1996). Perhaps said another way, the word used could be “virtue.” Virtuous living is no accident; it is a volitional choice that is based upon right experience. Right experience leads to right expectation, and right expectation leads to right prejudice.
But where does the right experience come from? Answer: “The Light!” The Light has a Name, “Jesus.” In Him there is no darkness at all! Therein lies the whole answer to the whole question. The near context of the verse quoted is:
“Another reason for right living is that you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for the coming of our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So don't live in darkness. Get rid of your evil deeds. Shed them like dirty clothes. Clothe yourselves with the armor of right living, as those who live in the light. We should be decent and true in everything we do, so that everyone can approve of our behavior. Don't participate in wild parties and getting drunk, or in adultery and immoral living, or in fighting and jealousy. But let the Lord Jesus Christ take control of you, and don't think of ways to indulge your evil desires” (Romans 13:11-14 NLT1996).
Sound familiar? It should! Let us render this in a more literal update of this same translation:
“So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living…Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13 NLT2004)
Paul says in Ephesians:
“throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception”
(Ephesians 4:22 NLT2004).
We are tested every day, all day, even while we sleep! We are only as good as our last landing! Collisions occur with the world and with the brethren. They are caused by expectations that are corrupted by lust and deception! This causes us to trip! And when we trip, we should know that it was Jesus, the “Chief Cornerstone,” over whom we stumbled. Another landing failed!
“He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that will make them fall” (1 Peter 2:8 NLT1996).
Virtue or vice, the choice is ours, and the fault of our failures lies within.
The final questions (plural) remain. How are you doing? Even more importantly, how are we (the Body of Christ) doing? Answer: Abysmally! Don't believe me, just ask your neighbor! Read the newspaper. Jesus changed the world with twelve unaccomplished men. Yet we live in a time when “mega-churches abound” and sin super-abounds. If the law of proportion applies, then a mega-church should change the universe. What was that thing that happened in 1740? An awakening? Who was that guy who was preaching then? What was that phrase we just passed over? “Wake up, for the coming of our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”
As it seems to challenge an excellency above all His other perfections, so it is the glory of all the rest; as it is the glory of the Godhead, so it is the glory of every perfection in the Godhead; as His power is the strength of them, so His holiness is the beauty of them; as all would be weak without almightiness to back them, so all would be uncomely without holiness to adorn them. Should this be sullied, all the rest would lose their honor; as at the same instant the sun should lose its light, it would lose its heat, its strength, its generative and quickening virtue. As sincerity is the luster of every grace in a Christian, so is purity the splendor of every attribute in the Godhead. His justice is a holy justice, His wisdom a holy wisdom, His arm of power a “holy arm” (Psalm 98:1), His truth or promise a “holy promise” (Psalm 105:42). His name, which signifies all His attributes in conjunction, “is holy,” (Psalm 103:1) Stephen Charnock, Existence and Attributes of God,1682.
Natural Law
The law of gravity tells you what stones do if you drop them; but the Law of Human Nature tells you what human beings ought to do and do not.” C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
There is the unwritten law in the mind of humankind that I call the law of “expectation.” Depending upon the circumstances, our minds will have certain preconceived notions as to how things ought to be. This is a good thing because it enables us to see. According to the experts, sight is 90 percent imagination. If it were not for our experience, our minds would not be able to rightly interpret the images that our eyes deliver to our cerebral cortex. Our sight and our memory play a harmonic role in allowing us to see both familiar things and those things new to us without becoming disoriented.
However, when it comes to actions, we have another law in effect that is called prejudice. It is also based upon experience (whether good or bad, right or wrong). We see, we judge, and we react accordingly. This allows us, more often than not, to operate our automobiles alongside those belonging to our neighbors, in rather close proximity without creating a total catastrophe. But what happens when our expectation leads us to a false prejudice? We pick up the phone and call our insurance agent to inform him that we have had an accident. Hopefully it was not beyond the scope of repair for the car and healing for our bodies!
Unfortunately, in our personal relationships with others this law of expectation takes on unrealistic proportions. We often expect of others what we do not demand of ourselves. We may have a whole host of societal standards based upon where we live, work, or worship. These standards may or may not match those held by someone else. What results is the inevitable collision of standards of conduct where feelings are injured, and relationships destroyed. “But like a good neighbor, State Farm” isn't there to help you pick up the pieces.
Let us now call in the accident investigator to determine the cause of the calamity. Perhaps we can listen to the cockpit voice recorder and hear what was really said in the minutes that preceded the event. We could check the flight recorder (black box) in order to ascertain the attitude of the heart. Perhaps we could check the weather forecast to see if there was an air of deception present that hindered visibility. The accident investigator looks through all the evidence and then comes to the conclusion that this accident was preventable and assigns fault (oftentimes to both parties).
The world looks upon us believers as though our faces were engraved upon Mount Rushmore. There is an expectation of absolute perfection in all we say or do. It is a bit like being an airline pilot whose reputation is only as good as his last landing. It would not matter if the pilot had made thousands of perfect landings if the last landing resulted in a crash. When the world holds us to account in response to these crashes, some of us believers would say of our own conduct, “I am not perfect, just forgiven!” When we are rebuked by the brethren, we counter with, “Judge not, lest ye be not judged” ─ the mantra of those who use Grace to self-justify a careless life.
It was no accident that the Apostle Paul called upon us to, "clothe yourselves with the armor of right living, as those who live in the light" (Romans 13:12b NLT1996). Perhaps said another way, the word used could be “virtue.” Virtuous living is no accident; it is a volitional choice that is based upon right experience. Right experience leads to right expectation, and right expectation leads to right prejudice.
But where does the right experience come from? Answer: “The Light!” The Light has a Name, “Jesus.” In Him there is no darkness at all! Therein lies the whole answer to the whole question. The near context of the verse quoted is:
“Another reason for right living is that you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for the coming of our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So don't live in darkness. Get rid of your evil deeds. Shed them like dirty clothes. Clothe yourselves with the armor of right living, as those who live in the light. We should be decent and true in everything we do, so that everyone can approve of our behavior. Don't participate in wild parties and getting drunk, or in adultery and immoral living, or in fighting and jealousy. But let the Lord Jesus Christ take control of you, and don't think of ways to indulge your evil desires” (Romans 13:11-14 NLT1996).
Sound familiar? It should! Let us render this in a more literal update of this same translation:
“So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living…Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13 NLT2004)
Paul says in Ephesians:
“throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception”
(Ephesians 4:22 NLT2004).
We are tested every day, all day, even while we sleep! We are only as good as our last landing! Collisions occur with the world and with the brethren. They are caused by expectations that are corrupted by lust and deception! This causes us to trip! And when we trip, we should know that it was Jesus, the “Chief Cornerstone,” over whom we stumbled. Another landing failed!
“He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that will make them fall” (1 Peter 2:8 NLT1996).
Virtue or vice, the choice is ours, and the fault of our failures lies within.
The final questions (plural) remain. How are you doing? Even more importantly, how are we (the Body of Christ) doing? Answer: Abysmally! Don't believe me, just ask your neighbor! Read the newspaper. Jesus changed the world with twelve unaccomplished men. Yet we live in a time when “mega-churches abound” and sin super-abounds. If the law of proportion applies, then a mega-church should change the universe. What was that thing that happened in 1740? An awakening? Who was that guy who was preaching then? What was that phrase we just passed over? “Wake up, for the coming of our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”
As it seems to challenge an excellency above all His other perfections, so it is the glory of all the rest; as it is the glory of the Godhead, so it is the glory of every perfection in the Godhead; as His power is the strength of them, so His holiness is the beauty of them; as all would be weak without almightiness to back them, so all would be uncomely without holiness to adorn them. Should this be sullied, all the rest would lose their honor; as at the same instant the sun should lose its light, it would lose its heat, its strength, its generative and quickening virtue. As sincerity is the luster of every grace in a Christian, so is purity the splendor of every attribute in the Godhead. His justice is a holy justice, His wisdom a holy wisdom, His arm of power a “holy arm” (Psalm 98:1), His truth or promise a “holy promise” (Psalm 105:42). His name, which signifies all His attributes in conjunction, “is holy,” (Psalm 103:1) Stephen Charnock, Existence and Attributes of God,1682.