Mike’s Musings …

If It Ain’t Yours, Leave It Alone

   How many of us own things that are precious to us and we just don’t want them bothered? If we’re ashamed of what we possess, we need to reconsider those possessions and get rid of them. But most of us aren’t ashamed of our personal treasures; we just want our privacy respected.

   Yet, most of us have experienced being “hacked” in some fashion. Our social media accounts, email accounts, banking accounts, etc., are all subject to invasion; therefore, we affix several “protectors” to prevent the unwelcome invasion of our privacy. These include passwords, spyware, malware, and other “virus” protections. Still, anyone who has worked with computer matters for a long time has unfortunately learned that nothing is truly “safe” from invasion.

   While this article would go on and on about the ease of invading privacies, the point we make is simple: If it ain’t yours, leave it alone! It isn’t that we’re ashamed of what we have (or shouldn’t be!) but that unless we willingly share those things with others, they belong to us, and are considered “private.” God has such things as we learn from Isaiah 55: 8 – 9. This agrees with what Moses said, “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)

   What God has shared with us is enough! Peter said He gave us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). There is no need to invade His privacy; be content with what He has given us. As the late brother Robert Turner was wont to say, “We have no right to whittle on God’s end of the stick.” The same understanding must be respected when we think of the Lord’s church, His plan of salvation, and His commandments regarding our life and its conduct after obeying the gospel. It belongs to Him (Colossians 3:1-4; Galatians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 6:20; et al).

   I muse on how genuinely Christians believe this fact: that what belongs to God is His and we have no right to invade His privacy! What He has given us is not protected by mechanisms that prevent us from the investigation. However, we are forbidden from adding to it or subtracting from it (Revelation 22: 18 – 19). And while our personal lives might have some degree of privacy from the public, we must realize God is not subject to that privacy (Hebrews 4:13). Therefore, if there is something we are ashamed to have others know, we need to change it, and conform to God’s way (Romans 12:1-2). The soul needs to be His property and made clean in the blood of the Lamb.