Dolly Mink: Years of experience in Christian leadership and service have given Dolly Mink a unique perspective, and she is eager to share her observations, insights, and words of encouragement to the women of Virginia. Dolly seeks to accomplish this through teaching, training, and writing. In addition to her role with the SBCV, she leads women’s Bible study at River Oak Church in Chesapeake, where she and her husband are members, and she writes short stories and blogs at https://dollymink.wordpress.com.
Unless you have no TV, no radio, no internet, and no smartphone, you, like me, have been inundated with ads for political candidates. Just as seasonal decorations come out earlier and earlier, so do the smear campaigns.
Sometimes the rhetoric is just that—contrived events that are made to sound much worse than they actually were. But other times, news comes out that is so profound and so abhorrent, that the candidate not only withdraws from the race, but his or her political career is ruined.
When Judas Iscariot conspired to turn Jesus over to the Roman authorities, his desire was to do so in secret, where no one would see. (Luke 22:6) Eventually, Judas was able to betray Christ and sell Him out for thirty pieces of silver. Judas thought his sin was private; he thought no one saw or knew what he did. When his conscience convicted him of the wrong he had committed, he was so distraught that he hanged himself; even then, his heart was contrite for having “betrayed innocent blood.” (Matthew 27:4) He died still thinking that his sin was hidden. Little did he know that his action would become a betrayal known for generations around the world.
Building good character is the job of a lifetime. It takes constant attention to every detail to maintain a high moral standing: turning away from gossip, not engaging in social media battles, keeping our minds and our mouths pure, and embracing an attitude of respect and reverence for God’s Word. Truly making every attempt at modeling Jesus as closely as we humanly can.
But it only takes a moment to fail.
In the blink of an eye, we can bring destruction on what we worked so hard to achieve. Because sin is quick. And it can only hide for so long.
I love to read historical fiction: mysteries, comedies, and yes, even the socially rebellious commentary of Jane Austin. In many of these settings, proper etiquette and societal demands were rigid and strictly enforced. If, for instance, a lady was found even talking with a man for “too long,” it would be assumed that they were to be wed. If a gentleman dared to cast a slur on another gentleman, he would be called out, to either publicly apologize or even defend himself in a duel.
Thankfully, we have come far away from such extreme rules. But, I propose, that we have come a little too far.
If we were to take just a step back, we may land somewhere in the area of right-thinking, and remind ourselves to consider the consequences of our actions before we make a mistake we will regret for years to come.
As Christian women, we must do better. We should consider what we say, how we say it, who we say it to, and if we even should be saying it at all! What we text, what we whisper, where we go, what we do—it all matters. Not just to those who are watching us here, but friends, it matters to God. How dare we disgrace His Name?
We will never know what Judas’s thoughts were in those final moments. Perhaps he made his peace with God—perhaps he did not. But either way, his name is forever equated with sin and betrayal. Let us all strive for our names to be equated with peace and grace, and for our character to be a reflection of the One we worship.
