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Verse:“And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” —Ezekiel 44:23
Many animals camouflage themselves by blending in with various features of their surroundings. Potential victims do it instinctively to hide from predators. On the other hand, predators camouflage themselves to surprise their victims.
For self-defense, some chameleons can adjust their colors in relation to the vision of the specific predator species by which they are being threatened.
Likewise, many Christians minimize the opposition of the world by attempting to blend in with the surrounding culture.
By doing so, they obscure the sinfulness of sin.
The June 15, 1876, issue of Signs of the Times carried an insightful article by Ellen White titled “Christ’s Teachings.” In this article, she warned, The greatest danger of the world is, that sin does not appear sinful. This is the greatest evil existing in the church; sin is glossed over with self-complacency.
Blessed indeed are they who possess a sensitive conscience; who can weep and mourn over their spiritual poverty and wanderings from God; who are poor in spirit and can receive the reproof God sends them; and who, with confessions and brokenness of heart, will take their places, all penitent, in humiliation at the cross of Christ.
God knows it is good for men to tread a hard and humble path, to encounter difficulties, to experience disappointments, and to suffer affliction.
Faith strengthens by coming in conflict with doubt, and resisting unbelief through the strength of Jesus. Excusing sin does not change its sinful nature; it only makes us more vulnerable to it. According to Ellen White, “Conformity to worldly customs converts the church to the world; it never converts the world to Christ. Familiarity with sin will inevitably cause it to appear less repulsive.” Addressing this conformity to the world, Ezekiel 44:23 says that the leaders of God’s people must teach them “the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” But before we can effectively teach this distinction to others, we must be able to recognize it and be convinced of it ourselves.