“And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.” (Gen. 4:13)
Something has been lost in our day, something that many who do not realize that the price that was paid for them was a price they will never have to pay, and that has caused them to keep a perpetual smile on their face. They have forgotten that most that they meet will suffer horribly and inconsolably for all eternity and have instead concentrated solely upon their own justification.
There is a claim by them that love drives them, but their actions and words in public belay these thoughts of theirs.
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
And they do obey, at least in the church setting, around those that are like-minded with them, but not in the world they live in, not amongst the wicked.
What has occurred is that they love the Lord Jesus Christ for self, whether it is a selfish reasons cannot always be determined, but it is questionable, for the faith one professes to have in their Redeemer who does not go out into the world and profess that faith, that love to others, is indeed questionable.
“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” (Matt. 15:8)
Yet they do not, again, outside of the confines of that building with a cross in it somewhere or those who sit in the pews with them, and so they are in an entirely different category, to a degree. They profess to serve, but only when it is presumed safe to do so.
Which is it? The fear of possible personal retributions? Embarrassment to profess His Holy name because of the possibility of being ostracized from those whom they call friends or frowned upon by those who might in some form chastise or mock them for their beliefs? Why is this supposed love they profess to have for the Lord not brought before others, save for within the confines of the security of those who profess the same?
Cain was punished for doing what he should not have done, where does the punishment for those await who will not speak of Him in public, by the loss of rewards before they entire in His eternal glory, or at the Great White Throne before they are cast into eternal darkness?
We have determined to call them the perpetually weaker brother, years, even decades of professing a faith and love that is never revealed to the outside world. They profess no need to speak of the One they call their Savior, but state that their lives and the way they live it are witness enough.
Are we required to search for the lost? Will any enter into heaven who did not speak of His sacrifice to those outside of those church walls? Can one who hides the words of the Scriptures in their heart, but never voices these words to the stranger on the street expect eternal life?
Will a lamp of a life lived by example only with no words spoken be acceptable in the eyes of the Judge of all mankind?
It is inconceivable to me to see such a person as my brother or sister in Christ, but I am not their judge, I am no more than a messenger offering to others the message I have been told to give.
“For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” (1st Cor. 11:31)
That which we love we share with others, that is the message.
