Original Entry: July 12, 2008
Shasta Lake, CA
Evil men
do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it
fully. Proverbs 28:5
This is
how it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will come and separate the wicked form the righteous. Matthew 13:49
Last year
I met a man many hunters would envy.
Every year
he has his picture on the wall with his trophy elk, Mule Deer and
Blacktail. Almost every time I shoot at
a local archery course I see him there.
One day I began to engage him in conversation and my envy quickly turned
to pity. In his arrogance he told me
that he quits any job he has so that he can hunt for two months straight. His hunting addiction cost him his marriage,
dignity, and every good job prior to hunting season. As he spoke with the utmost arrogance I felt
sorry for the son he brought with him, the marriage he forfeited, and the
career he had forsaken while he carried on, none the wiser.
In his
unbelief he simply did not understand concepts such as responsibility,
commitment, and manhood. In Matthew 13:47-50 Jesus tells the
parable of the Dragnet concluding that God will separate the “wicked” from the “righteous.” Proverbs 28:5 compares “evil” men with those who “seek the Lord”. This men, is the difference between
righteousness and wickedness. Standing
in judgment over the archery guy it hit me that in his unbelief he simply could
not discern or “understand justice” when
it came to being a responsible man.
Hobbies
should never interfere with responsibilities. E. Stanley Jones once wrote, “I
believe in recreations when they re-create. But when they kill time and
exhaust you-let them go.” I would ad that when they kill your faith and family
let them go as well.
With all
due respect this seems to be the rule more than the exception for the man who
does not faithfully follow Jesus. Sadly, even for some who do. I recently spoke
to a wife after her husband got done bragging about his four weeks of hunting
trips, “I guess he would rather hunt (than be with us)”.
The tell
tale sign of the men who “do not
understand justice” is found in one word; justification. When a man has to justify his behavior
something has gone wrong.
Just as
the archery guy justified his over indulgent lifestyle, men who reject Christ
justify themselves in some way, shape, or form.
What areas
of life do you justify yourself? Where
are you like the archery guy?
