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by Kevin Pauley
Abraham came near and said, "Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" – Genesis 18:23-25
God revealed to Abraham His plan to destroy Sodom and its surrounding area. Abraham’s shocked reply in essence was, “Are you really going to lump the righteous and the unrighteous, the good, the bad and the ugly together in this?” In other words, “Doesn’t the fact that there seem to be degrees of wickedness and evil matter? Shouldn’t this be a more selective, surgical strike?”
We tend to think of our personal righteousness (I am referring to our Christian walk – our lifestyle – as opposed to our standing in Christ), as being some kind of insurance against calamity. If we behave, God will bless us with good stuff and if we misbehave, God will curse us with bad stuff. Sweet system – but “it don’t work that way.”
What shocked Abraham was that all people are equal in the eyes of the Almighty. If there is no difference between the righteous and the unrighteous, what’s the advantage of trying to be holy?
It seems that most of God’s people have struggled with this issue for the entire sad course of human history. Job struggled with it. The apostles were shocked when Jesus said that rich people have a tough time getting into the kingdom. “Then who can?” they object. To this very day you’ll find people who say, “If you follow these principles, you can be wealthy. If you tithe God, will pay you back with interest (as if God could ever be indebted to us).” “If you have enough faith, you too will be healthy,” they proclaim to their legions of hopeful marks.
But when Jesus asked for the cup of suffering to pass Him, He was denied. Do we have more faith than the Christ? When Paul asked three times for healing, he was denied. Do we have more faith than Paul?
God sends rain on both the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). He shows no partiality – welcoming anyone who fears Him and does what is right. (Acts 10:34-35). He is the farmer who sows His seed indiscriminately (Matthew 13:3-9). And before we get too upset about this concept, we need to remember that it worked in our favor. It worked in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). What if He’d waited till we were righteous? What if He’d waited till we were worth it?
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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