Called on the Carpet

Amos 5:10 

“They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks with integrity.” (NIV)

“How you hate honest judges!
    How you despise people who tell the truth!” (NLT)

Reprove: to disapprove of strongly; censure:

Integrity: adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.

You know those kids who are always right in class? Or maybe it is only one kid. He always raises his hand when the teacher asks a question. “Can anyone else tell me the answer?” the teacher would say. Some of us grew to hate these kids. Oh, we wanted to be that smart, but it was just grinding to hear and see that kid always get it right while we, well, seemed to struggle. Oftentimes, these same kids would have no filter. They would proceed to tell you all the things you were doing wrong and criticize your life practices. “You know drinking Coke will rot your teeth.” You just wanted them to shut it.

Another sign of sin the Lord brings to light is that we seem to hate those who reprove us and cannot stand the ones with integrity. I have added the definitions of both words above for good measure. When we are practicing sin, we do not like people telling us about it. In fact, we tend to stay clear of those people, just like that smart kid in school. We do not need anyone telling us about our lives and how we are doing it wrong.

When you accepted Christ and chose to follow Him, the Holy Spirit was downloaded into you whether you liked it or not. The Bible calls it a still, small voice inside. I can remember that after I committed my life to Christ at a young age, for some reason, sin was not fun anymore. I would do something against the grain, and I would feel bad for what I had done. What was this guilt? Why did I have it? It was not there before, and all I knew was that when I sinned, I was convicted. This tiny conviction from the Holy Spirit kept me from a lot of sinful things. I got good at listening to it and heeding its instructions.

If you are in the middle of a life of sin and you are reading this, you might hate the reproof and not want to listen to anyone with integrity, but somehow you are drawn to staying away from sin. This is the Holy Spirit. Get to know that urge and the still, small voice. If you would rather gather around those who approve of your sin and you tend to stay away from those who walk in integrity, then you might have a sin problem. Cleaning yourself up will not work. It might help, but in the end, Christ is the only one who gets rid of that sin and crucifies it.

When Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house, Zacchaeus felt led to right all the wrongs he had done and announced it to the crowd. Sin cannot stay in the same place as Christ. You cannot walk that line. Either choose Christ and crucify sin, or bow to sin and watch it ruin your life. It is your choice. The signs are right in front of you.

Prayer: Father, help me to listen to rebuke from wise, godly people. I know a wise man is corrected and becomes wiser because of it, while a foolish man is rebuked and becomes more foolish. Help me to follow and heed the direction of the Holy Spirit in my life at all times. In Jesus’ name, amen.