Yes, the title is correct. Black in white.
When we say black and white, we indicate inclusion. We take two separate and very different things and include both in our plans. We combine them in some way, fashion, or form. We ameliorate them into something that is better.
How is black in white different? It’s like the chewy center of a candy surrounded by a covering of hard sugar. One is in the other, totally hidden, and it can only be revealed by eroding the outside casing.
Black in white is the deception that has cracked the foundations of the modern church.
Let’s see how the damage to our bulwark of spiritual defense has come about.
2 Corinthians 11:3 warns us:
“But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”
The key word here is cunning. The evil one knows what will draw us astray, and he doesn’t hesitate to use it. He want to stain our purity with the stain of sin.
Hebrews 13:17 reminds us:
“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”
To ignore our spiritual leaders is to stain ourselves with stubbornness. We may still smile and sing in the choir, but God sees our attitude. When he draws back our robe of purity, we are no longer clean inside.
Hebrews 13:2 extends our boundaries:
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
Our Christian walk is not just about us. It’s about the people we interact with on a daily basis, including those we don’t know personally. To pass them off as unimportant is to open ourselves to the stain of the devil.
1 Timothy 4:1 keeps us on track:
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.”
The Word is our yardstick. We must judge every teaching by the Bible’s standards. If we step away, we have left the faith, no matter how wise man’s teachings may sound, and we become stained with the world’s false ways.
1 Timothy 3:1-5 points out our responsibilities:
“The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?”
If we fight with our spouse, then sit on the platform on Sunday mornings, we have opened up our robe of purity for the devil to stain us with reproach. If we desire money, carnal satisfaction, or power to a greater degree than God, we already wear black within our robe of white.
Colossians 2:18 says it’s not all about appearance:
“Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind.”
There is a pretense of walking with Christ that is mere posturing before the world. Only the truth can keep us spiritually clean.
Colossians 2:4 directs us back to the Word:
“I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.”
When measured against the natural world, the precepts of the Bible seem foolish. If someone only looks at the physical world, the experts can argue them away from the message of the Christ. However, our salvation is of the spirit, and the physical rules don’t apply.
We can be honorable before the world, yet carry a blackened soul wrapped in the pretense of purity when we stand before God. We need to ensure that when God peels our purity away to peer inside our souls, that the inside looks just as good as the outside. Then, and only then, we will be white through and through.
Pretty is as pretty does, and that applies to our walk with God, also.
Copyright © 2015 MyChurchNotes.net
Code: FGO.D.01.15.vp.esv