To Live Above Reproach

I have such an issue with this whole living above reproach concept. I know, I know, it’s in the Bible so Heaven forbid I have a problem with anything. Yes, I do believe God is a ‘my way or the highway’ kind of God (in the most gracious way that phrase can possibly be used), but I also and more importantly believe we need to excavate the area surrounding scripture.

To live above reproach. I’ve always wanted to buck it. Why should I have to change just so that someone else will not think I’m doing something wrong? What if it’s not wrong? I so often take the words verbatim and never consider the life of Christ, never consider Biblical consistency and cohesion, never consider how our world has skewed phrases or pulled out little things and made them disproportionate to how they were intended. This may or may not be such an all-encompassing case, but it holds a valid argument enough for me to get my frustrations off my chest.

“Pilate said to them, ‘Then what shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?’ They all said, ‘Let Him be crucified!’ And he said, ‘Why, what evil has He done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Let Him be crucified!’” (Matthew 27:22-23). If someone wants to hurt you, they’ll find a way. They didn’t have a valid argument to kill him (“for Pilate knew it was out of envy that they had delivered Him up” v18). They weren’t being logical or rational. WE are not always logical or rational or even sane sometimes. If someone wants you portrayed in a certain light because of whatever motive, they’ll find a way.

“And they took offense at Him” (13:57). The crowd took offense at Jesus because of His wisdom and ability to perform miracles although He was from that same rough, small town they were. You may say that’s ridiculous, but it’s true. He did only good to and for them there, but they took great offense.

So people are going to do all the crazy things they’re going to do and make the crazy assumptions they want to make, so what difference does it all make? I detest the idea of being legalistic. “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God” (Mark 12:14a). True and we should live like this. Look at who Jesus was- a friend of tax collectors, prostitutes, drunkards, outcasts. A friend to the friendless, to the unworthy. But if you think about it, He also caught flack from everyone about possibly living a double life due to His close relationship with these people. So what’s the difference? Jesus was above reproach. He hadn’t committed any sin and spent time with these types to communicate the life-giving and freeing power of God. He wasn’t justifying having a little more fun, wasn’t validating His wrong actions, wasn’t feeding his addiction all in the name of do-gooding. Jesus had pure motives.

When Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council, plenty of false witnesses tried to come and testify against Him. I bet they said all kinds of things like, “He’s a drunkard” “He’s a liar” “He doesn’t do the things He says He will” “He’s a deceiver and a manipulator”. But none of them were right and so He had no need to defend His way out. I try on different occasions to adhere to this ‘live above reproach’ concept in our world and here’s the conclusion I just drew. To live above reproach is to attempt to live with as much integrity as Christ. To live in such a way that everything we do honors God. Yes, we fail miserably, but the times we fail it’s because we’re trying to honor ourselves by getting farther in life by career, money or friends. To live above reproach is to abide in the Law of God and yet have the abundant freedom offered within its parameters.

I learned a great deal about Christianity over the weekend. I learned that God has a great plan to bring us closer to Himself through the most unlikely means. I learned that God loves to see us having fun as He rejoices in our joy as we acknowledge that fun as glorifying to Him. Jesus was accused of being a drunkard. Jesus was accused of sleeping around. Jesus was accused of being a very rotten person. I think of this ‘live above reproach’ concept and I realize that it’s not always about not going places or being apart of situations because people might think badly of you. It’s always doing things that glorify God so that in those pure motives we can work out our own salvation. Yes, it sometimes can mean abstaining to benefit another, but I think we miss the important part that living above reproach is about living blamelessly so that when the accusations come, as they will, we can stand before God as those called righteous. Those that did not break the Law of God set in place for our benefit. And those who lived with great integrity and freedom because our God loves to see His children exclaiming the satisfaction they find in Him through means some may label differently.