Weighed and Turned

Kings rise from the dust and forget who raised them. The rich spread their tables and boast. Idolaters drink from holy vessels as though judgment were asleep. Job sees the wicked flourish for a time; Daniel sees the hand already writing on the wall; Paul sees a church that has truly turned. These are not different lessons, but one.

God is not mocked by long delay. A house may stand for years in arrogance, yet still be measured in a single night. The prosperity of the ungodly is not proof of God’s favor; it is often fattening for the day of slaughter. Therefore do not envy those who prosper by pride, impurity, or false worship. Their ease is light as dust. Barnabas says they are “even as chaff, which the wind sweeps away from the face of the earth.”

Against this stands the church: not flattering itself, but turning. Tertullian says, “For we read: "How ye turned from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus."” To wait for the Son is not idleness. It is to cast away idols, to endure reproach, to keep the hands clean from theft and the mouth from boasting, to use common cups with thanksgiving and not holy things for vanity, to remember the poor while judgment tarries.

Belshazzar was weighed and found wanting. Let us weigh ourselves now, while repentance is still offered. Better to judge our own deeds, confess our sins, fast, pray, and amend our works, than to be judged unready at the appearing of the Lord.