At a business meeting recently, a local politician was the guest speaker. He's a young man, with a bright future. He indicated that some of us were being too negative in the meeting stating facts about the state of the economy and government. Since when did facing naked reality become such a negative behavior?
I suspect the answer is, "when the politically correct era began under the Clinton's." We have become so afraid of words we cannot face naked reality. We need heaps of sweetening applied to get the facts. That is exactly what the local mayor was implying with, "You get more with honey than vinegar."
I've been thinking about that with respect to the Bible and the way God operates. God doesn't sugarcoat anything about the depravity of human nature. In His view, we're pretty darn bad. Compared to His unquestionable perfection we are pretty darn bad.
I've noticed many times in life that quite a few of us don't get the true meaning of sugarcoated words. So, the behavior we dislike never changes. I know people who take great delight in insulting others and the recipient never understands because it's been sugarcoated or couched in oblique language. They have the intellect and education to so do and use them routinely.
God reveals David's sinful status to him through Nathan in 2 Samuel 12. Nathan goes through the litany of David's sins. Nathan was sent by the Lord to open it with an analogy that inflamed King David. After David's response, Nathan informed the king know he was the object of the analogy. Nathan doesn't rant and rave, jump up and down, make false accusations, or belittle Kind David. He simply states the facts and what the Lord is going to do to King David.
We can only imagine what emotions King David's face revealed. Scripture records nothing more than his repentant words. I suspect he went through a range of emotions beginning with shock followed quickly by arrogant indignation to culminate in humble repentance. King David was the most powerful man in the world so God's convicting words through Nathan must have been an emotional ride.
I suspect the answer is, "when the politically correct era began under the Clinton's." We have become so afraid of words we cannot face naked reality. We need heaps of sweetening applied to get the facts. That is exactly what the local mayor was implying with, "You get more with honey than vinegar."
I've been thinking about that with respect to the Bible and the way God operates. God doesn't sugarcoat anything about the depravity of human nature. In His view, we're pretty darn bad. Compared to His unquestionable perfection we are pretty darn bad.
I've noticed many times in life that quite a few of us don't get the true meaning of sugarcoated words. So, the behavior we dislike never changes. I know people who take great delight in insulting others and the recipient never understands because it's been sugarcoated or couched in oblique language. They have the intellect and education to so do and use them routinely.
God reveals David's sinful status to him through Nathan in 2 Samuel 12. Nathan goes through the litany of David's sins. Nathan was sent by the Lord to open it with an analogy that inflamed King David. After David's response, Nathan informed the king know he was the object of the analogy. Nathan doesn't rant and rave, jump up and down, make false accusations, or belittle Kind David. He simply states the facts and what the Lord is going to do to King David.
We can only imagine what emotions King David's face revealed. Scripture records nothing more than his repentant words. I suspect he went through a range of emotions beginning with shock followed quickly by arrogant indignation to culminate in humble repentance. King David was the most powerful man in the world so God's convicting words through Nathan must have been an emotional ride.
I understand the philosophy of getting more with sugar than vinegar. Yet I see the result of so much sugar the message of our severe problems has been lost and the United States is in a world of trouble, that will take generations to work through.
God does not deal lightly with sin and He will not deal lightly with our debt. Our debt is indicative of deeper moral decay. The conservative groups have sprung up around the country because they are ready to stop the application of sugar, apply the vinegar, and get down to the gritty business of digging out of debt we are on the verge of pushing off to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They understand the medicine will be bitter and last longer than castor oil on the tastebut that sugar is killing their progeny.
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