My Little Devotional: "The Means Justify the Ends"

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Growing Up is Hard to Do”

While I believe this episode was a bit misplaced in the schedule of the show’s run, it still gave a pretty good message for the younger audience. A lot of kids, adolescents, and even teens seem to have the idea that there’s something magical about the status of adulthood that enables you to do all sorts of things, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders echoed that belief. However, on being subjected to magic that made them advance several years, they found out quickly that adulthood is nothing more than a tick mark of one’s own age. Adults can be just as immature or inexperienced as children in the right situations, and real prudence and good judgment is something that takes time and life experiences to develop. There is no “shortcut” to being an adult. One can’t just get a magical stamp on oneself that qualifies them to be in a position of responsibility.

However, what I also focused on in this episode was the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ behavior in regards to Biscuit and Spur. Being kids in adult bodies, they were interested only in going to the fair and having fun for themselves. However, they still needed the kids to get them there, and so they ended up using their guise of adulthood to try and lead them into making decisions that would benefit them in the long run. That was the truly down part of this episode–“adults” using their perceived position of authority to manipulate young and inexperienced people into doing what they want.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t quite as malicious as direct manipulation. While the girls definitely benefited out of it, they did so when they thought they were giving sound advice, even when it was only canned advice or half-hearted directions–things that sounded good on paper but lost their luster when they were applied out of context. In the right situation with the right motivations, some of their advice might have actually been the right thing to say. However it ended up falling flat and creating a disaster. That was because the end goal for the CMCs was never to truly to give good advice or direction, but to get to the fair.

This second point is far more poignant, both to adults and children.

We’re all human and we all have weaknesses. And one of the greatest weaknesses we have is bias. In almost any difficult decision or moment in our lives where we have to make a choice or favor one decision over another, our biases will inevitably come into play. This is rather evident in situations where we stand a chance of benefitting from one decision over another, but it can really happen anywhere. Perhaps we have a prejudice or prejudgment about one party over another, and when deciding on guilt or innocence we want to lean to whatever supports that judgment. Or perhaps we’re tired or exhausted from our work, school, or daily lives, and so we go for whatever decision is quick and easy as opposed to what might be a better decision but requires more work. Or someone involved is a friend or close to us, and so we’re inclined to cut them more slack than they deserve.

Then, of course, there’s times in which sin is involved.

Perhaps we have a bad, self-destructive habit or addiction we’re coping with. When temptation rolls around, we know, deep down inside, that it’s bad…but we think that God wants us to be happy, and so we rationalize that since it makes us happy (even if only temporarily) that it can’t be bad. Or maybe we see someone that is espousing a political side online that we don’t care for and are opposed to. We know that we’re supposed to speak the truth in love and approach these sorts of things in a fair manner…but then we think that God wants us to loudly shout down sin and injustice, and so we rationalize that we can start flaming people without sinning. Or perhaps we see a situation where a large group of people are under oppression or duress, and we know that the Bible tells us to reach out to those in need…but then we think about how some of those people might have done something sinful or could have ulterior motives and evil intents, and we end up concluding everyone in the group should be neglected and rejected because they deserved what they got. More often than not, this justification comes to the tune of Scripture. When taken out of context or not with all of the Word in mind, it’s easy to find something that can support these decisions, and therefore not only keep us from feeling bad about our choices but even telling ourselves we were justified.

This is the same situation that happens when Christians, often in large groups, degenerate into hate groups. This is what leads supposedly “Christian” parents to abuse their own children in multiple ways and denigrate the females in their household into indentured servants. This is what causes us to become the most isolated and judgmental people of all when we’re supposed to be building a house of prayer for all peoples (Isaiah 56:7). We become wrapped up in our own stereotypes, biases, personal fears, and desires, and then we try to get to those goals by acting under a mask of faux Christianity; cherry-picking a passage that makes it sound good and then acting on it.

In other words…we create a situation where “the means justify the ends”.

This was nothing new throughout history. In the Old Testament, King Saul used it to justify his slaughter of the priests in his pursuit of David (1 Samuel 22). What he truly wanted to do was remove the threat of a rival to his throne based on his obsessive jealousy, but he frequently wrapped his actions in a mantle of righteousness and God-blessed actions (1 Samuel 23:7; 1 Samuel 23:19-21). Before the Fall of Jerusalem, the people misguided themselves into thinking because the Temple of the Lord was maintained that it would protect them from incoming invasion, even though they carried out bloodshed, injustice, and idolatrous worship in addition to maintaining it (Jeremiah 7:1-15; Ezekiel 8:3-18). And, of course, there were the religious authorities in Jesus’ day, who put Our Lord to death out of jealousy and anger and cast the whole matter in the light of executing a heretical revolutionary (John 11:45-57), even to the point of freeing a murderer in His place (John 18:39-40).

The problem that led to these events ironically ties back to the original point of this episode. Too many people believe Christianity and salvation is a “state” or destination. It’s something that is arrived at and then is unshakable and impossible to lose. And once you’re in that state, suddenly all of your actions and decisions become “blessed” because you found a passage in the Bible or a decent-sounding sermon to support it. A lot of churches even preach a message similar to the idea of salvation being an immutable honorary title. However, the Bible makes it abundantly clear in the stories of the men and women in it that it’s a process. It’s a struggle. It’s something that requires constant work and refinement.

Abraham had to wait until he was 100 years old before God finally gave him the blessing he promised him, and a few decades later he still had to be put to the test before the covenant was fully ratified (Genesis 22:1-19). The ancient Israelites didn’t automatically get and retain God’s blessing and the Promised Land on leaving Egypt. They had to endure a 40 year journey in the desert full of trials and temptations (Deuteronomy 2:7). The disciples of Jesus didn’t immediately become like Him just from listening to Him or even from following Him around in His ministry. And even when they did receive the Holy Spirit, there were still times they were in the wrong (such as when Paul argued with Peter over his conduct to Gentile Christians [Galatians 2:11-14]).

Lord Jesus Himself stated: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) Carrying a cross is not an easy task. It’s a form of torture that precedes death. The fact that Our Lord said to do so “daily” implies that He never wanted us to think we had reached some sort of state in which we were “done” and now wielded perfect understanding and authority. When a Christian feels they have arrived and have nowhere else to go, they fall victim to complacency and self-righteousness. They start seeing their decisions as things to find justification through in the Bible rather than the other way around. They start feeling they can do no wrong by virtue of the fact that they’re a Christian, and that they need to wrap their own actions in the pages of select Bible verses to justify them rather than taking the time out to examine their actions each and every day.

Remember…even the Devil uses Scripture out of context to justify himself. (Matthew 4:5-7)

From a personal perspective, I feel that if you have reached the point where you can say: “There’s nothing about me I need to change”, then you’re in a dangerous frame of mind. You’re essentially stating that you’re perfect and have become “like Jesus”. A true Christian needs to constantly reevaluate themselves. They need to actively search for areas in their life they can improve upon or sins they need to nip in the bud. Christianity is not idle. It’s active growth, often uncomfortable and painful, and is a life-long journey.

If you feel that you’ve been stagnating lately in your own Christian journey, I would encourage you to start taking more time out to self-evaluate yourself and see what areas of your life have room for growth and improvement. And if you haven’t felt conviction about anything in a long time, I would encourage you to spend a bit more time in your devotional life and take a bit more critical look at your own actions. Lastly, as my personal recommendation, if you find yourself engaged in behaviors or practices where you find yourself frequently turning to one, and only one, particular Bible verse as justification, prayerfully consider it for a while. That might be a sign that your faith needs a “tune up”.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for both your promises and warnings in the Bible–vowing to bless us so long as we adhere to you, and cautioning us greatly against the sins of self-deception and self-righteousness. Grant that I will have a love for your whole Word and not just parts of it, so that I might avoid becoming righteous in my own eyes; and please help me to always be on guard against using your Word either for my own gain or to manipulate others. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”