Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday May 17, 2007

When I was kid, I doubt that I was ever a child in the modern sense, but as a kid I heard the wise ones of our little enclave opine, "People what live in glass houses should not throw stones." Pretty good advice, for when a stone is thrown, there will surely be a like response, with a rock often replacing the stone.

If only those who are without sin may throw stones, then what are mere men supposed to do when confronted with the bully who robs houses, spoils the lives of little children, what of a person bent on the murder of a loved one? Do you sit still and say; "Well, I said a cuss word once, so that leaves me out of the equation to help." In my experience I have been learning to "lead with my scars" and throw the stones with gusto when the occasion calls for it. Any preacher is but a sinner saved by grace, so in order to be effective the one who proclaims the truth of God must be aware that above all else the truth of the Lord must be paramount in the message and that it is the Lord himself who is "throwing stones" at inordinate actions. On more than one occasion someone has "threatened" to expose my past. I always say, have at it, my sins, which are many are well known having been broadcast to the four corners of the earth by major media. I give a thumb nail sketch of such in my bio and in my book, "Put In The Hole For Praying." I learned the value of this from Chuck Colson. It removes a powerful weapon from Satan's arsenal.

C.S. Lewis wrote:

"Satan's most effective strategy: He gets the Christian to become preoccupied with his failures; from then on, the battle is won."

It is good to remember when "playing up our failures," to be sure to give the grace of the Lord Jesus more ink.

I am personally thankful for the fact stated so eloquently by Paul is more than a verse, but a truth experienced in my life, Romans 5:20 "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:"

A brother in Christ was engaging in some actions clearly condemned in the Word, when I called him on it, he hit me with the "glass house" bit, failing to recognize the difference between past forgiven under the blood and current willful sins. In time past I would have been a little hot under the collar, a nice euphemism for Mad as… In this case I simply smiled at his ignorance, for when dealing with forgiven past and present practice, the "glass house" argument is like a former drunk warning a current drunk about the pain he suffered from driving drunk.

God is not focused on your PAST failures and neither should you be entangled with that which is but a temporary memory. Get on with living for Jesus.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2007 Use with credit.

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