02.21.08

As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. - 2 Peter 1:3-4.

To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled (corrupted - NIV) and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled (corrupted - NIV). They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. - Titus 1: 15-16.

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. - Matthew 5:13.

Somewhere in Massachusetts a police department received three very nice award plaques with an estimated cost of as much as $200 for each one. Each plaque had the name of an officer engraved and reportedly said, "Congratulations! You’re corrupt." Of course, this was not well received by the police department involved. In response, they have dusted the plaques for fingerprints and reported the offensive plaques to the Postal Inspector. Federal charges are possible for using the Postal Service to "threaten, intimidate, or harass." Just a thought, maybe we can have the postal service take over the Internet email system and lock up all of the harassing spammers. But then they would probably want to charge us forty-two cents for every email.

If God were to judge your life right now what would He see? Would He say, "Well done good and faithful servant", or would He say, "You’re corrupt!” If we could see our lives as God sees them would we be surprised?

What is corruption? Here is my definition: corruption is decay meaning whatever state something is in that it becomes worse. Jesus says that we are to be the "salt of the earth." Salt is a preservative and prevents corruption from taking place. Jesus also says that if salt loses its preservative ability it is of no value.

Christians are the mainstay, the preventative of moral perversion further corrupting the hearts and minds of those living in this world. Sadly, many of us Christians i.e. believers could be given a "Congratulations! You’re Corrupt" plaque too. How could this happen? It happens because the world is a corrupting influence that is constantly seeking to erode the moral stance of every child of God. The more contact we have with the world the more contact we need to have with God and the things of God to maintain our saltiness. We cannot constantly be exposed to immoral movies, immoral television programming, immoral books, immoral magazines, immoral friends, and immoral co-workers without there being corruption.

There is, however, a whole other category of individuals that might receive a "Congratulations! You’re Corrupt" plaque. Those in this category are those that the apostle Paul is referring to in Titus 1:16 when he says, "They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work." There are many who claim to be Christians, believers - but they have never known Jesus as their Savior.

If you are losing your saltiness, and you are in danger of receiving a "Congratulations! You’re Corrupt" award it is time to repent and turn again to God. If you claim to be a believer but your life says that is a lie then throw yourself upon the mercy of the Lord Jesus before it is everlastingly too late.