The Real Problem

It is for Us, Too

Micah 1:1-7 KJV

1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. 2 Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. 3 For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. 4 And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. 5 For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? 6 Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof. 7 And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

I've heard some people say that the Bible isn't for us today. They say that what is written in the Bible was only for those people in the time it was written. However, I have to disagree.

First of all, we can all learn by studying history. We can learn from what others have done right and by what they did wrong. I have told my brother before that I learned much from the mistakes he made. Because I was willing to pay attention and consider what results he saw from the choices he made, I was spared from repeating the same mistakes.

Secondly, as in this scripture, the Bible tells us it is for "all ye people" and it says, "hearken O earth." This means it is for everyone. Now, we aren't living in the exact same problems that Micah describes, but we do still live in a sin-filled world that suffers from the same sin issues.

God will come to judge the earth. He is a just God and He will destroy evil-We need to be aware of what lies ahead if we continue on the path we are heading. While Micah only mentions the capital cities of Samaria and Jerusalem, we can understand that those are representative of the whole nation. The judgement that comes to them is the same that will come to any who worship idols.

Judge?

Matthew 7:1-5 KJV

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

This is a commonly quoted scripture among Christians and non-Christians alike. It is far easier to see sin in someone else's life than in our own. This is why Jesus tells us that before we speak to another person about the sin in their life, we need to examine ourselves first.

While many people will use this scripture to say that we should never say anything against another person's choices, that is not the case either. We are called to love one another and sometimes that means calling out sin in another person's life so they can come back into right fellowship with Christ. The difference is in how it is handled and whether we are in a right fellowship with Christ ourselves.