Transformed by Honor

February 5

No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor. Andrew Carnegie

No doubt Mr. Carnegie, the Scotsman who arrived penniless in America, built a fortune, then donated much of it to building a free library system, would be aghast at the transformation that has occurred in the country that gave him opportunity to succeed and that he loved. We have ceased being a land of opportunity and become a land of entitlement. A full 47 percent of Americans pay no taxes. Many welfare recipients make far more money by producing illegitimate children than working citizens do by their labor. And neither the country nor the people are improved for the convoluted transformation that has occurred here. Honor is tantamount to an unknown virtue. Men no longer count it as an aspect of their character that they value before the world.

We see it in personal dealings where blackmail and deception and manipulation are used to gain advantage. We see it in international dealings where threats of war and economic upheaval are used to gain advantage. We are a people void of honor and integrity because we are a people who have turned our backs on the One True and Living God. We have espoused a counterfeit religion that negates the essence of our Christ—forgiveness and love.

The Bible asks, "How can you love God who you have not seen if you do not love your fellow man who you have seen?” I John 4:20 We mistake our indulgence of the sins of sloth and moral depravity for love when we subsidize them with our tax dollars. Thereby we allow men to go their way without honor, without a call to repentance, without love—and we call ourselves Christian in the process.

WE HAVE PIERCED THE HEART OF OUR FAITH AS SURELY AS IF WE HAD THROWN THE ROMAN SPEAR THAT PIERCED THE SIDE OF JESUS AS HE HUNG ON THE CROSS!

We tell ourselves that we have obeyed the tenets of Christian doctrine but have negated it by white-washing the immutable law of God. We have deluded ourselves into thinking we are people of honor when honor is the furthest thing from our character. In its place we have cultivated the spirit of evil, which is the manipulation and duplicity of the enemy of God. We are of all people most deceived.

How do we overcome our dilemma? Apart from the love of Jesus, we cannot. We cannot forgive, we cannot love unless we surrender our hearts and spirits to Him. When we do, we will find the peace that has eluded us. We will appropriate the joy that He promises. Will others change when we change? That we cannot know. If they choose to remain in their stew of honor-less evil it will be their choice.

We can decide only for ourselves that we will not allow our inner being to be cluttered with the negativity of indulgence of dark practices that tear us down and destroy our hope. Instead, we will throw open the window of our souls and allow the light and love and forgiveness of Jesus to flood into us. We will let Him transform us—pray our transformation draws others to His unchanging and honorable truth.