PULL NO PUNCHES

God is blunt when it comes to telling the truth and He pulls no punches even when it comes to people that are His.  However, the news media of today seem to glamorize the people and issues they are for without the mention of any or many of the negatives the person or issue has.

Innate in man is to make himself look as good as possible even if he leaves out part of the truth.  And it seems to be the same with today’s media; innate in media is leaving out parts of news stories that may take away from their narrative.

God, on the other hand, exposes even His own people when they attempt to circumvent His perfect plan.  He is after His own glory and the joy of His people.  When we get away from pursuing God then we do not get the ultimate joy that we are after.

In the Old Testament book of 2 Samuel 11 we find David, the King of Israel and a man after God’s own heart – lounging at home when he should have been going to battle with his army.

“It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he was from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.  And David sent and inquired about the woman.  And one said, ‘Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?’  So David sent messengers and took here, and she came to him, and he lay with her…Then she returned to her house.  And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, ‘I am pregnant’” (2 Samuel 11:2-5, ESV).

And this was not the end of the story.  David sent for Uriah and brought him back from the battle field in an attempt to have Uriah lie with his wife and thus clearing David from sin.  Uriah had much more character than David in this instance for he could not see lying with his wife while his brother-in-arms were still at war.  David sent him back to the fray and had him murdered.

In the next chapter of 2 Samuel God sends a prophet named Nathan to confront the king with his sin.  God spoke through Nathan that there would be serious consequences to his sin.  The Bible puts it like this: “Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in His sight?  You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.  Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.  Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house.  And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.  For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.  David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’  And Nathan said to David, ‘The LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die.  Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die’” (2 Samuel 12:9-14).

God pulls no punches, He exposes the good and the negative in His children.  He does this so that His children will see their need every day for His presence in their lives.  God exposes sin for the good of the sinner and the showing forth of His grace and mercy.

In the latest World Magazine, and the Dispatches/Human Race section the following article is shared.  “Killed: A 23-year-old Baltimore rapper died in an ambush June 25, an hour after hosting a charity basketball game to ‘pray for peace in the streets.’  In what police say was likely a targeted killing, an unidentified man gunned down Tyriece ‘Lor Scoota’ Watson at a busy intersection in broad daylight.  Watson rapped about the streets and drugs, but he engaged the inner city and its kids, advocating nonviolence after the death of Freddie Gray.  His family said he was likely targeted because he was making something of himself and trying to escape Baltimore streets” (p. 8).

After the atrocities in Dallas, Baton Rouge and Minnesota the media seemed to play up the police and civilian interaction and it was mostly negative.  It seemed as if the security of our states, counties and cities were taking fire from the media from only one angle.

But everyday crime, which is extremely unfortunate does not get reported.  Is Tyriece’s life less important than those who made nightly and cable news?  Not to God and not to his family – his life mattered as do all lives.

The news media pulls punches by making you listen and watch what brings then ratings.  But it does more, it promotes their stars’ personal agenda and makes the person they back look like the perfect person they would like to see.

God presents warts and all, yet shows how these warts can be redeemed.  We must be informed!  First line of information for a Christian is the Bible.  Second, do not take a story at face value that is pushed by any news media, but read other news sources and find out for yourself what the truth is.

Fortunately, the Bible has been and still is the best source of truth.  To find out truth research is required and curiosity is a good quality to have when finding out any bottom line.

It is good that God pulls no punches because it addresses the realities of the human condition.  Yet, it does not leave you hopeless, but completely hopeful by the person of Jesus Christ.  Until we realize that God has provided ultimate hope through His Son, we will want punches pulled because they hurt when they land.  Jesus has taken the most serious punch the world has to give and that is death but He won that victory but rising from the dead.  Turn to Him today, He wants you to be His.