Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

My heart is grieving right now for those who are part of the homeschool realm. I just read the third of three articles that I have seen within the last 6 months regarding scandals within the homeschool movement. This last article that I read was regarding the leader of ATI and the plethora of sexual abuse cases that he has been the perpetrator of.

My heart grieves as I have grown up in this homeschool realm and have seen many, many people with good intentions. I have seen many who have taught the Bible well. I have seen a good number who have exalted Christ. As my heart grieves to see several of the leaders in this homeschool realm fall into deep sin, I am left with a stark reminder: We need to keep the main thing the main thing.

As Christians, our main thing is to preach and revel in Christ and Him crucified, whether to ourselves or to others. Our lives need to be centered around the beauty of 2 Corinthians 5:21: "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." This is our hope. We cannot hope in the shallowness of simply looking better than the world. We cannot hope in the seemingly more noble goal of transforming ourselves instead of being conformed to the world. Our only hope is Christ! We are desperately in need of Him before, during, and after we have placed our faith in Him as the only way to salvation. Our flesh needs to be put to death every day. In the cases of these Christian leaders who have fallen into deep, lustful sin, it should not surprise us that lust is a temptation for them. We are sinful people that are desperately in need of the Cross of Christ each and every day. We must strive for a lifestyle of repentance, a lifestyle of turning away from our sin and turning towards Christ. If we do not cling tightly to the Cross, we will find ourselves slowly but surely drifting toward sin. There is a war between our sinful flesh and the Holy Spirit within us that will continue to be waged until the day we die.

Our lives should be transformed, but the right things need to be transformed, and the right person needs to be doing the work. Our hearts need to be transformed, not just our outward appearances. And God is the one who does the work as we cling to the Cross. Let us reflect on these two passages from Romans 12:

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." Romans 12:1-3

"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.' To the contrary, 'if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with God." Romans 12:9-21

This is how we should be acting in love as Christians. We should not simply be doing things to contribute to our outward appearances. Let us live lives of humble repentance. Don't let Jesus go missing from our speech and actions.