How are You Inclined?

Just a thought I had while sitting in a McDonald’s last night. There were some policemen in the place, and as they left we had a nice exchange of well wishing with them. I thought about how good it is to like the idea of the police being around, and that the only people who don’t like them being around are those who are inclined unto lawlessness, as the Bible also confirms (Rom. 13:3,4). The same goes for the truth. People do not like being around someone who truly walks in the Spirit of God and speaks nothing but the truth, unless they are inclined to want to do good in all things. That’s what Jesus said (Jn. 3:20,21). And that very much includes other people who have the Spirit, but have not been taught truth and consequently do not WALK in the Spirit. Jesus confirmed this sobering reality powerfully with these words: “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets… Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Lk. 6:22,23,26). It was God’s people who rejected God’s prophets, and it was God’s people who spoke well of the false prophets. And why did they do so? Simple: They were not inclined unto true righteousness, which righteousness the prophets exemplified and preached. But they WEREinclined unto UNrighteousness, which the FALSE prophets exemplified and preached. Yet because of a lack of the knowledge of God among God’s people, not many realized who was who and what was what (Hos. 4:6).

Jesus addressed this very issue when he blew the religious leaders of his day out of the water, so to speak: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly APPEAR RIGHTEOUS UNTO MEN, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Mat. 23:25-28). So who is righteous and who is unrighteous is not such a clear cut matter, for many who are thought to be righteous by the majority of people around them, in fact are not. And how do I know this? Because nothing has changed. Not since the prophets. Not since Jesus. Not since ever. So while we should certainly not be inclined to PASSjudgment on anyone, we had better be able to discern who it is that is walking in the Spirit, and who it is that is preaching nothing but truth; as well as who is not. If we are NOT able to do these things, then we are in danger of the words of Isaiah being fulfilled upon us: “For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed” (Isa. 9:16). Amen.