January 22

Blameless but not unblamed

“That ye may be blameless and harmless . . . without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation” (Phil. 2:15).
“To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God” (1 Thess. 3:13).

The word “blameless” means free from every form of willful wrong or intentional misdoing against our fellowmen; the word “harmless” means sincere, simple, without admixture of sin and vileness in the sight of God. To be the first is far, far the easier. It would not be so if the word “blameless” meant “unblamed,” for no man, however blameless, can escape being blamed. The experience of ages has shown that the shield of innocence, which a good man carries with him through the world, cannot be so white that none will throw dust at it. Some of the holiest and noblest men that ever lived have been—and sometimes all through their lives—very targets for the arrows of abuse. So long as Envy has restless eyes, and Calumny a fertile imagination, and Malice a myriad of voices which bellow in the shade—so long will there be enemies, persecutors, and slanderers of the very saints of God.


The stainless purity of Joseph saved him not from infamous accusations, nor the noble meekness of Moses from bitter criticisms, nor the splendid services of Samuel from open ingratitude. Of the stern self-denial of John the Baptist they could only say, “He hath a devil”; of the boundless sympathy of the Savior of mankind, they dared to mutter, “Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.” If ever we feel discouraged at the thought that there are natures which guilelessness fails to disarm, or unselfishness to win, let the Cross reveal to us the high lesson that we may still be utterly blameless, though it may be that we live no day unblamed.—Dean Farrar.

You have no enemies, you say?
Alas, my friend, the boast is poor;
He who has mingled in the fray
Of duty, that the brave endure,
Must have made foes! If you have none,
Small is the work that you have done:
You’ve hit no traitor on the hip;
You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip;
You’ve never turned the wrong to right;
You’ve been a coward in the fight!
—Charles Mackay.

Read full article...