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I’ve been reminded of a picture recently. It’s the title of this post.

In the picture, good and bad meet up to play a game. The outcome of the game will determine whether good or bad will be poured out onto a situation.

As they are playing, good is playing good and bad is playing bad.

A neutral observer watches the game, and immediately makes a complaint to good. “Hey Good, did you see that. Bad just cheated!”

Good just smiled at the observer and said, “Of course bad cheated. It’s what bad does. I wouldn’t expect anything else. After all, bad is bad. You just need to know that the outcome of these games are determined by who we are.”

The observer was a bit upset and perplexed by good’s response. He thought, “If bad keeps cheating like this, then bad is going to win through blatant cheating. This just isn’t right!”

Good had no such concerns. Good knew, that in order to be good, good needed to play by the rules and not concern itself with what bad was doing.
If good was to cheat, then he would no longer be good, but would become the very thing that he was trying to defeat.

When the final score was in, Good had won.

Good turned to the observer and said, “I knew that we would win, you see good always triumphs over evil, if good can just remain true to itself.”

I know that the above picture doesn’t always appear to be true in real life, but can the principal of good being good and bad being bad, be something that is worth reflecting on?

Does the ends of doing …… justify the means???
What if the means, that we do, then becomes the something that we don’t like?

Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

As I have been writing this, the words of Psalm 73 have been coming to my mind. Verses 16 and 17 mainly.

Psalm 73:16-17
¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,
    it troubled me deeply
¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God;
    then I understood their final destiny.

It’s a bit like, before verse 16 the writer of Psalm 73 is looking at the world and is seeing the wicked prosper.
But after the writer comes to God, in verse 17, he then sees the final result. You could consider reading psalm 73 to get the whole picture.

So, will we endeavour to remain true to who we are?

Will we allow God and His Goodness be the main guiding force in our lives?

Father.
I know that You are Good.
Please help me to hear, know and follow You that much better, so that I can follow Your Good example.
Please help me to remain in Your sanctuary all the days of my life.
Amen.

Last week I wrote about the parable of the ten Virgins, in Matthew 25:1-13. Five were wise and five were foolish.

This week something happened that could be a retelling of the lesson. 🙂

My wife has a bottle of Oil of Olay moisturising cream.
For some reason, she doesn’t bother to put the lid back onto the bottle. It appears that she just couldn’t be bothered to do so. (She is the one who suggested that this might be a post to write.)

One morning she was trying to use the Oil of Olay, and started to complain, “I can’t get any out.” So I just took the bottle, and had a go at squeezing some out, with a vice like grip.
Little did I know, that the small hole for the moisturiser to come out of, was blocked. It was soo blocked, that nothing was going to come out, that way.
Instead, under the pressure of a husbands vice grip, the whole end stopper shot out like a cork released from a bottle, along with a handful (and a bit more) of moisturiser with a sudden splurge.
It was a bit of a shock. 🙂
It seemed that my wife’s top, the floor, and a few other places needed a bit of moisturiser too. 🙂
We both ended up laughing about it, but a bit of a clean up, was needed to be done.

When I looked at the Oil of Olay cap, I noticed that it has a small pin like bit on the inside of the cap.
It seems that the maker knows that the hole could get clogged, and as such, has made a way to clear the hole the moisturiser goes through, if the cap is used as it should be.
Namely, all the time.

My wife (and myself) got caught out, in effect, because the effort of putting the top on and off all the time was too much for her.
She was acting like one of the foolish virgins who didn’t take any extra oil with them.
She has since told me that she will change her ways, and now make use of the lid, in turn, using the all important cleaning pin.

She has in effect, decided to stop acting like one of the foolish virgins, and to instead, act like one of the wise virgins.

In today’s world of all inclusiveness, is it permitted to say, “That path isn’t open to you?”

In short, is it ever OK to say, “No” to anyone, anymore?

Sometimes, “no” is the right word to use.
If a small child wants to play with matches or an electrical socket, then who would just let them? No should be the answer.

But what about older and supposedly wiser people?
I do believe that the answer should be, it depends on the circumstances.
But who sets the boundaries for what is allowed and what is not?

This is where we can find ourselves possibly with different opinions, which could then lead to difficulties on some level.

I guess that what I am trying to get around to, is the question of, can the church say no, to certain things anymore?
Is, or will the church be allowed to believe and practice biblical truths?

I’m not trying to say that everyone Must buy into what the bible says. (Although, from my point of view, that would be a good thing to do. 🙂 ) We all have freedom of choice, and as such are able to make our own choices, of what we believe and how we act, for the better or worse.

I’m also not trying to say that you need to reach any kind of standard or act in any way to be able to go to church. Hopefully all churches are open for all to enter in, so that all can then have the opportunity to make a connection with Our Lord God Almighty.

To be honest with you, even trying to write this post feels like trying to walk through a minefield. I also think that many would quickly understand that thought.

As I was about to go to work one day this week, the road in front of my house was covered with rubbish from a split black bag. I knew where it had come from, as it had happened before.
Now I had a choice, just ignore the rubbish and drive over it, or, at the very least, move it. I didn’t like the idea of just driving straight over the rubbish, it could contain something that could damage my car. So I went and fetched my broom, and then swept the rubbish over to the front of my neighbours drive. (Hopefully, the right neighbours drive. 🙂 ) If I was a better neighbour, I might have picked it up, and put it in another black sack. But this time I wasn’t, and I just didn’t have the time.

This post in some ways, is just trying to sweep something, that is just there, slightly to the side.
In some ways, it is trying to say, “There are some issues, which we may need to navigate in some way.” How we navigate them, well …. ???

A picture comes to mind.
A police station is a place of safety for all.
All are free to enter into the reception area to seek help, safety or protection, regardless of who they are.
But the other side of the desk is another matter. To be a police man (or police woman), a certain standard needs to be met. Anyone may be able to apply to join the police force, but some may be told “No, your application will not be processed any further, because a standard has not been met.”
Who would be happy with a known bank robber being a member of the police force. A known bank robber might have a tough time getting a job as a bank manager as well. 🙂

So, are there actually some roles and responsibilities where someone will need to be told, “No, that path is not open to you.” ?
Will we be allowed to say “no”, without fear of recriminations?