Can’t Christians decide not to shine as light? Well they can, but that comes with great conseqsences and these include-
*THEY GET NOTHING GOOD DONE:
when good men do nothing, they get nothing good done. To be good, one must do good. The lord commands his people to do good (Luke 6:35; Ephesians 2:10).
Christ “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, Zealous of good work (Titus 2L:14).
In the parable of the talents, Jesus described a man who does nothing. When he received his lord’s money”(Matt. 25:18)
When his Lord returned, he returned to the lord just what he had been given (Matt. 25:25) Notice, the servant did not do any outright evil, such as stealing the money,
but then neither do he do anything good. He did nothing and he gave nothing good accomplished. Jesus said he was “Wicked and slothful servant” (Matt.. 25:26).
Jesus rebuked the church at Laodicea for doing nothing “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So that because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and Increased with good and have need of
nothing; and knowest not to thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:15-170. Too many Christians and too many churches do nothing .
They are standing idly by, they are mere spectators. They sit on the sidelines instead of actively participating and working for the good. Good wins. They join in the
celebration though they did nothing to produce the victory. If evil wins, they will complain long and loud though their own apathy helped produce the undesirable
result. When Jesus found a fig tree with “nothing thereon, but leaves only” He cursed the tree and “presently the fig tree withered
away” (Matt. 21:19). What will he do with those who claim to be good and yet who do nothing ? John the Baptist warned, “And
now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matt. 30:10; John 15:2)
*THEY HELPED EVIL TO TRIUMPH:
When good men do nothing, evil triumph. Evil, sin and sinful men must be opposed.
God commands those who are good, not just to avoid evil but actively oppose it. Christians are not only to have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness, but do nothing about sin and evil to prevail. One who is silent when there are those around him in sin becomes a partaker with them (Eph. 5:7).
Àlso read this..
“FAITHFULNESS OF GOD IN TIME OF CRISIS”
In the days of Elijah, the silence of many had allowed the evil of Ahab and Jezebel to prevail throughout the land of Israel. “ And
Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the lord be God, follow him: but if Ball then follow him.
And the people answered him not a word” (1 Kings 18:21). The silence of the people spoke volumes of their indecisiveness and inaction.
Their failure to stand up, speak up and speak out permitted wicked and evil men to run rampant. Jesus Told of a traveler who
was robbed beaten and left him half dead. The man who did this were wicked and did a very wicked thing. But the Levite and Priest
allowed the evil to continue unanswered by doing nothing as they each” passed by on the other side” (Luke 10:31-32).
Fortunately for the traveler there was one man, a Samaritan who was willing to stand up for what was right who was willing to
stand up for what was right (Luke 10:P33-36). Jesus warned “ He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathered not with me scattereth abroad (Matt 12:30) In the
fight against evil there is no middle ground, no gray area no neutrality. Those who are not actively and vigorously fighting against evil are helping evil to triumph.
*THEY ARE NO LONGER GOOD:
When good men do nothing, they are no longer good. Many have the mistaken notion
that good is merely the absence of doing that which is wrong. Not So! One is good not merely because he does no.
(1peter3:11).
James explained, therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
The eldest of Israel, Reuben knew his brothers’ murderous plot against their younger brother Joseph was wrong. He
started and attempt to deliver Joseph, but as he hesitated and valicillated, the other brother sold Joseph into slavery. When
Reuben heard what they had done he realized his failure to act had helped to binged about this evil result. Instead of
correcting his error, Reuben sought to cover his guilty by greeting with his brother to lie to their father about Joseph’s disappearance (Gen. 37:18-35). Reuben had “good intension” and he was not even present when Joseph was sold into slavery but he
knew his inaction and absence made him just a guilty as the rest of his wicked brothers.
This guilty continues to haunt him through the years (Gen. 42:21-22. the prophet Obadiah severely condemned the Edomites for doing nothing when evil was befalling their brethren, the Jews. When Jerusalem
was invaded by her enemies, the Edomites “stood on the other side’s” doing nothing but watching the slaughter as spectators. God said by their failure to act and to help their brethren “even thou as one them” (Obad. 11).
Today, there are preachers and Christians who fail and refuse to meet the real foe, refuse error and fight the enemy. Instead, they have turn to viciously savaging their own brethren.
There are filled with bitterness and hatred and they maliciously attack, slander and misrepresent other Christian and gospel preachers.
Paul warned about such men and behavior among those profession to be Christian, “but if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another” (GAL. 5:15).
Those who engage in such behavior are spiritual cannibals.
While the conduct of these so-called Christians is shameful, what about those supposedly”good” men who do nothing? Those stand on the other side and do
nothing but watch as their brothers are been slandered, slaughtered and devoured,they cease being innocent bystander and idle spectator.
Their failure to act not only allow evil to triumph, but makes them just as guilty as the spiritual cannibals they refuse to reprove and rebuke.
In God’s words,”even thou was as one of them”(obad 11).”Be not deceived;God is not mocked;for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he really”(Gal.6:7).
Those who fail or refuse to do good in the face of evil are sowing some dangerous seeds. They are doing nothing good as Jesus commanded them to do; they are
helping evil to win and have ceased being good and have become partakers of the evil they did nothing to stop. Do not allow evil to triumph. Do not sit by and do nothing. Stand
up and be counted, speak up against evil and speak out against evil men and their sinful deeds. God needs our light where the
world is the darkest. The reason: the blacker the night, the greater the need for a light bulb. If the bulb does not shine, it is not
because of the darkness. Darkness cannot put out a light. If the darkness increase until it is black as a cave, it is still not dark enough to extinguish a light . No one has yet
smothered a light by increasing the darkness. Darkness gets because the light fails. When we fail to reflect Christ’s light, we let the darkness win. Jesus said, “even so let good words, and glorify your father who is in
heavens “(Matthew 5:16). “The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us put on the armor of light” (roman 13:13). “and this is the Judgment , that the light will come
into the world , and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his
works should be reproof. But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God” (Jn. 3:19-21).
Shalom….