Bulletin Articles
What About Me?
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to examine everyone else, but not so easy to examine ourselves? So, let’s pick someone to examine. Then we will compare ourselves to them. Let’s pick Job.
Job 1:1 (NKJV) There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.
The word "blameless" does not mean he was perfect. In fact,
Job 13:26 (NKJV) For You write bitter things against me, And make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
Job 14:16 (NKJV) For now You number my steps, But do not watch over my sin.
Job himself admits the iniquities of his youth. This character trait of blamelessness or integrity is pivotal in the book of Job.
Job 8:20 (NKJV) Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, Nor will He uphold the evildoers.
Job 12:4 (NKJV) I am one mocked by his friends, Who called on God, and He answered him, The just and blameless who is ridiculed.
It is the opposite of hypocrisy, pretending to be one thing on the outside but being something else on the inside. Timothy had to deal in Ephesus with the very opposite, men who had “the appearance of godliness, but were just pretenders in its power” (2 Timothy 3:5). Job had the appearance of godliness because there was real godliness in his heart.
As the drama develops, we might be tempted to think that Job is hiding something, that he is not as squeaky clean as he appears, that he is not blameless. We need to remember that he is blameless, not sinless.
Again, Job 1:1 (NKJV) There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.
This verse also says Job was upright. This shifts the focus slightly from Job’s own integrity to the way he treats other people. In his human relationships, Job is “upright,” straightforward—a man you can do business with because he will be fair to you, a man who deals straight. We shall see this upright behavior beautifully described in Job 31:13-23. These verses show three important things: compassion, caring, and character!
Character is such an important part of a Christian. Job's character was marked by integrity, his relationships by right dealing, and his religion was shaped by a humble heart. “That man was one who feared God.” We do not know how much he knew about the God he feared, but he had reverence and love, bowing down before the God who made the world, so that he honored God as God and gave thanks to Him (Romans 1:21). So what’s the lesson here for me? By examining Job, I don’t need to worry so much about somebody else; I see things that I can improve on for myself.
