Human actions spread like wild fire because of their apparent built-in chain reactions. They’re contagious or infectious in their effects on people, religious or not, or the free thinking arm of the society. All the more the Christians should always preview or review what they wish to do before letting them out.
Consider someone who, from antecedent activities, can be little believed. He takes the fore stage at a revival crusade to preach a sermon to the people of God. What will be his moral platform on which he’s to establish a basis for the topic he intends to dwell on? If he is known around, his audience, if he gets any, will either take him less seriously or will give him a wince of disdain. “Actions,” they say, “speak louder than voice.”
A pastor friend of mine once noted that the best way to test the financial uprightness of someone is to have him work where there are, from moment to moment, huge sums of money. If, after watching him closely over a period of time, it is discovered that his fingers are unsoiled, then we can repose unquestionable trust in him provided that the assurance exists that his character will continue to be so. Alternatively, he says, the fellow could be left to work in the midst of a bevy of ladies. If, after a reasonable while, he isn’t entangled with illicit deals, then his fidelity can be accepted as high on moral ground.
Nothing remains permanently hidden, not least actions. Human behavior shares some affinity with the power of smoke; it isn’t easily caged, it escapes or it’s released some time. When it finds freedom, it operates without restraint. The Bible says, “Talk no more so proudly, let no arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.” (1 Samuel 2: 3 RSV). This means that what we do is laid bare to God and He’ll judge us.
Based on our acts, it’s at once both divine and human to cherish good reports. The Queen of Sheba’s remark on King Solomon’s affairs contemplates this when she says, “…It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom.” (1 Kings 10: 6 NKJV). (See also 1 Kings 11:41). Actions either receive approval or disapproval depending on the way others are affected by them.
When an individual is said to have sinned, it’s the result of his action, deed or act that attracts the judgmental conclusion. So, the sin of a member of a church or a family can be so loathsome to God that He takes it as a national disobedience. The content of Joshua 7: 11 is instructive in this regard, revert to it. We’re members of the same body, the body of Christ because He’s the head of the church. What affects one person affects others, no more, no less.