I have not written in a few days and issues I feel passionate about come spilling out, now always with the right words attached.
However….
…earlier today I was in a meeting with the tax commissioner of my local county.
We were getting to know each other, about growing up in our county, talking politics both local and national, fun stuff.
During the conversation we discussed what causes well intentioned people to go into public service, of any type, or in any industry, only to have themselves seduced by the pursuit of power and the ingrained nature of greed.
And again, not only in politics and government, but it could be in any field where a person is elevated above the actual call they answered to. They begin to believe the opinions of man and no longer consider the opinion of God.
I am currently engrossed with a book entitled How The Church Fails Businesspeople by John C. Knapp. The emphasis of the book is directed to ministers but the following quote came to mind as my friend and I were discussing where any of us can get off track and lose our way.
I am quoting from Knapp’s book, page forty three.
“John Calvin rightly observed that when we are ‘highly esteemed,’ it is easy to become ‘unduly credulous’ about ourselves and defensive about any suggestion that we fail to measure up to expectations.”
In life, any of us can look into the eyes of seduction and greed be momentarily distracted and often leave long term consequences in our finances, our families, our own confidence before God.
The Bible refers to this often, with the words, “beware”, “take heed” “listen not to the flattering tongue.”
The weaknesses we hold privately often become known publicly.
One of the most sobering verses in the Bible for me is Luke 12:2-3, which says, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.”
That should keep all of us on the straight and narrow, but it doesn’t.
We look into the eyes of seduction and greed and find ourselves swept away, asking God to, as David did in Psalm 51, “restore to me the joy of my salvation.”
But as my friend said as he was walking me out, “At the end of life, money and power will not matter.”
True enough. True enough.
The Bible says in Proverbs that when we find ourselves in a place we should not be, it is like hot coals thrown into our lap and leaves us burned.
Politicians, ministers, celebrities, the common man.
When our eyes meet the eyes of seduction and greed it is often hard to look away.
And why so many fall away before realizing what God had intended for their life.
JHH
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