Rebuked by an Unbeliever
There are unbelievers who are people of integrity. There are even unbelievers who are very moral people. That is not the case most the time, and we are seeing it less and less as our culture deteriorates, but they are there. If we, as believers, are less moral than unbelievers in any area, believe me, they will see us and even call us out for our sins. That is what happened to Abraham when he went to Gerar. Abraham lied to the king, Abimelech, telling him Sarah was his sister, not his wife. Then, the king took Sarah to be one of his wives. When he did that God confronted him about taking a married woman and told him the dire punishment coming if he did not return her. Then, Abimelech called Abraham in to speak with. him. (Genesis 20:9) He rebuked Abraham for his sin of lying and asked him why would he have done such a thing to him and his kingdom. I am sure Abraham felt ashamed being rebuked by an unbeliever, but I hope it taught him a lesson, and I hope we get the message, too.
One of the worst things that can happen to us, as believers, is to be a bad witness to unbelievers. That brings shame on the name of the Lord, and it gives the unbelievers a reason not to trust in the Lord. We are to be people of faith, like Abraham was, and our faith should lead us to practice righteousness all of the time. Sometimes, we sin when we fail to trust the Lord and His power to protect us, and we try to do it on our own. That never works. Other times our fear causes our faith to be shaky, and we chose the wrong way to avoid harm. Other times, we are selfish in trying to avoid pain, and we do not think of how our actions will effect other people in a bad way. All of these things were factors in this account. As believers, we must always think of how our actions will be a good testimony or a bad one. Any time we act on our own, and we fail to trust the Lord, it is a sin, and others will see our lack of faith. They may even rebuke us to our face. It is even more likely they will tell others behind our backs, and it will turn them away from the Lord. Let's decide now to never let that happen.
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Tomorrow, I intend to read Genesis 21-23.