Guilty By Association

"Today's Devotion" For February 24, 2006

Read: II Corinthians 6:14-18; I John 1:5-10

GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION?

"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" (II Cor. 6:14)

For the most part it's probably reasonable to assume that most responsible parents are concerned with whom their children "hang out," i.e., who their friends are. Certainly it's not unusual an unusual situation for teenagers and young adults to "hang" with other people that make them feel special, important, or excited - all of which play into the allure of gangs (and this is true for the city, the "burbs," and small towns. Thus, the young man or woman who is normally a good student, well-mannered and well-behaved, find himself or herself in jail because they got involved in the antics of the "crowd" they were "hanging with" and the problems that resulted. We often talk about the "good kid" who's in prison because early in his life he "fell in with the wrong crowd."

While we might speak this way of young people whose judgment isn't as yet as well developed as an adult's might be, reality tells us that adults aren't very good at taking their own advice. There's a sense we have in our society that "guilt by association" is just plain wrong. Perhaps, in certain isolated circumstances, that may be true. On the other hand what looks like a snake, slithers like a snake, and hisses like a snake is most likely a snake, and if it rattles its tail real trouble is afoot. Such a situation seems to be playing itself out on the national scene at this time. There's a withering debate over the approval by the President's administration of the sale of port operating rights to major, domestic U.S. ports such as New York, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. It isn't the sale itself, but to whom the sale was made and approved - a Middle Eastern nation who has purportedly supported terrorists and helped their flow of money in the past.

Yet there is much to be said for judging situations and people based on their associations. A police officer making a traffic stop and smelling the unmistakable odor of marijuana in the vehicle doesn't try to find out whose "weed" it is, but arrests all the occupants of the vehicle, even the innocent 14 year old boy in the back seat whose older brother, the driver, along with a couple of his buddies, is dropping him off at school for music lessons. It's guilt by association. The arrest of the innocent 14 year old can be just the wake up call the parents need to get the older son some help. When a mob forms on the street and begins to riot, those in the crowd who aren't taking part in the looting and burning that's taking place are often arrested because they are present. It's guilt by association. Such a consequence might prove helpful is getting people out of situations that are volatile and potentially hazardous to others.

Such guilt by association is also applicable to our spiritual lives. We don't like to hear such a statement, nor do we feel comfortable with it. St. Paul had to address this issue with the church in Corinth who apparently had allowed false teachers into their midst and had cooperated with them in various ways. In so doing, God's people were giving sanction to the teachings and actions of the false teachers who were in reality servants of the devil. Not only did such "acceptance" of false teachers rend the fabric of the Body of Christ, destroying its harmony and fellowship, but it gave conflicting messages to those around them who needed to hear the truth of the Gospel and be saved.

Our Lord Jesus Christ calls on us no less today to recognize that being "unequally yoked with unbelievers" can also make us guilty by association. Certainly we have acquaintances and co-workers who are not Christian. You may attend school with those who are not Christian. As a nation we know that we stand for "freedom of religion" and are a pluralistic society that allows a multitude of religions to live freely under the Constitution. Certainly we can't sequester ourselves from the world and have no contact with those who don't know Jesus as their Lord and Savior from Sin. To do so would be to disavow and disobey our Lord's command to "go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" (Mark 16:15). As Jesus states in the Sermon on the Mount, we are put on the earth to "season it" (Mt. 5:13) and to let our light shine that "they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Mt. 5:16).

Every day God gives us opportunities in our work, our play, our business dealings, and every contact we have with others to be seen and known as His children. He gives us multiple opportunities to share the good news of Jesus in our words and deeds. He doesn't ask us to "hang out" with those who would commit crimes, do drugs, harm others, or blaspheme Him. At the same time He also calls us to share His Word with such people so they might hear the Law and repent; the Gospel and believe. In doing so we may very well be labeled "guilty by association," and if so we give thanks to God for allowing us to bear our cross in Jesus' name. At the same time, we don't want to be labeled "guilty by association" because we allow the things of God to be dragged in the mud by those who would pervert His truth. It's better to speak the truth in love and be derided for it than to allow falsehood and disobedience to go unchecked and be associated with it. After all, what we often forget, is that the other side of “guilty by association" is that others see us as God's people because we are faithful.

Prayer: Father, I thank You that You have made me Your very own redeemed and forgiven child in Jesus. I thank You that You give me opportunities each day to touch the lives of others with Your love. I thank You that You forgive my sins each day and remember them no more. So often, though, Father, I fail to realize that I often allow others to define who I am. I may be "hanging" with the wrong people - people who seek to do harm to others rather than seek the good. I often allow myself to be influenced by those who seek to interpret Your Word in a way that's comfortable instead of truthful. Father, let me be "guilty by association" of being Your beloved child and a true disciple and witness to Your love in Christ. Help me to seek every opportunity to share the truth of Your Word others so they, too, might repent and know Your forgiveness in Christ. In Jesus most holy and precious name I pray. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright © 2006 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.