Jesus Wouldn’t Approve
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. – Matthew 5:17 NKJV.
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5:13-16 NKJV.
And let us consider one another in order to stir up (spur one another – NIV; provoke – KJV) love and good works. – Hebrews 10:24 NKJV.
Nayara Gonclaves did what many people would not do; she tried to talk a robber out of his robbery. 37-year-old Israel Camancho walked into the cell phone store which Nayara managed and pulled out a pistol demanding money. Nayara told Camancho that Jesus “wouldn’t approve” of his robbing. Camancho claimed that he was a Christian, but that he was out of work. Nayara told him that she would try to put him into contact with friends who would help him find work. As Camancho left the store without the money Nayara told him, “You know you don’t need to do that. You know Jesus. He can help you!”
Apparently, Camancho had second thoughts because a couple of hours later he walked into a shoe store a few miles away and again demanded money at the point of a gun. This time no one tried to talk him out of it. He was identified by the store surveillance video and arrested two days later. Police officials said that Camancho had begun his criminal career back in 1988, and has been in and out of jail since then.
There are many things that we know Jesus wouldn’t approve of, and robbery is one of them, because commandment number eight of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-20) says, “You shall not steal.” We know that Jesus wouldn’t approve of murdering someone because commandment number six says, “You shall not murder.” We know that Jesus wouldn’t approve of sex outside of marriage because commandment number seven says, “You shall not commit adultery.”
In our tolerant society, it has become something of a taboo to tell anyone that they shouldn’t do anything, because that is being judgmental; because that is being hypocritical. However, I can remember a few times when people have stepped up and told me that a Christian wouldn’t do what I was doing. I am thankful for them. Nayara should be commended for not only being the “salt” that Jesus commands us to be, but for doing so in a very difficult situation. We should “consider one another” as Hebrews 10:24 says and “provoke, stir up, or spur on” each other to do the right thing.
Have Christians in our society bowed down to the worldly pressure to never be critical of any behavior? Have we lost our salty flavor? What if every time someone did something they knew they shouldn’t do that someone would say to them, “Jesus wouldn’t approve of that”? If you knew every time you sinned you were going to be confronted about your sin it would be a major discouragement from going forward with the sinful activity. Of course, some people would lash out at the Christians, who had the nerve to say anything about anything, but it looks to me like Jesus wouldn’t approve of our never saying anything about anything.
Are we going to be the salt and light of the world or not? The time is here, the time is now, to live the Christian life like we know it ought to be lived.
(Would you tell someone when they are doing something wrong that Jesus wouldn’t approve?)