Something awesome about being a Christian is that I can do home and watch as much porn as I want. I can drink as much alcohol as I want! Wait, are you confused? Is this some grace-type post? Nope! It's even better.
The Psalmist pleaded, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me!" (51:10) So beautifully, God promised in Ezekiel, "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (36:26)
That new heart is invaluable. 20 years after starting in AA, an alcoholic will introduce himself as still being an alcoholic—the desire is still there. As Christians, God's power can change our very desires, if we embrace it. We can go home and think, "There is no way that I'd want to drink. There's no way I'd want to ever watch porn!" Our heart can feel sick at the very thought. And that is a huge blessing.
"For the entire Law is fulfilled in in this one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."—Gal 5:14
What difference will one more sin make?
Many Christians let their past failures accumulate to the point where they have a hard time resisting temptation. They think, "What difference would one more sin make?"
There's a way to beat that. 2 Cor 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." That's a beautiful statement, but God alsosays, "you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Rom 6:11)
We ARE new creations. We ARE dead to sin. But we have to actually believe it—we have to consider it, buy into it, and act in faith on that. Do you really consider yourself as dead to sin? If not, start today.
How I want to forgive.
Micah 7:18 says, "Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love."
Man, I want to be more like that. I want to truly delight in having steadfast love. Praise the God of second chances who delights in forgiveness!
Samson's undoing.
Solomon was the wisest man ever, and yet he failed. Samson was strong beyond what we can ever be, and yet he failed. The common denominator was those that they let close to their hearts. Judges 14 records the beginning of Samson's fall. Ol' Sammy saw a hottie and told his parents to get her for him, and they replied, "“Is there no woman... all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”
But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she looks good to me.”
"Looks good to me," is like, "if it feels good, do it," or, "if it makes you happy, go for it." Let's not make the mistake that Samson and Solomon made. Let's aim for holiness first, and God's strength. The wisest man and the strongest man will both fall if they reject God's plan.
Shrapnel.
When people get hurt, they won't hesitate to have shrapnel and debris removed for their wounds. Sin is debris in the soul, and like the physical type, if left untreated it can fester and spread infection. God reminds us, "for sin will not rule over you, for you are not under law, but under grace." (Romans 6:14)
Let's live up to that and scrub out the sin.
An entirely different culture.
Christianity in its true form, is really at heart an entirely different culture—and that's what can make it so hard to actually embrace. Jesus even said that He did not come to bring peace, but a sword, in that,
"I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me." (Mt 10:36-38)
We have to leave culture behind, including the culture of our families. That's a tough thing to do—almost like boot camp.
A funny picture about drinking.
"Half the day I wonder if it's too late for coffee. The other half, if it's too early for alcohol." (From a FB picture.) Even many Christians use alcohol as an escape from their worries. That escape accomplishes nothing, though, and Luke 21 explains,
“Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life...But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (34;36)
Instead of going to a drug for escape, let's go to our Father in prayer!
A personal reminder about patience.
A personal reminder to me, today. Sometimes it's easy to wonder how in the world I can have patience with some super-bad sinner, but then I have to remember how much patience God has with me. I must "bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation." (2 Pet 3:15)
Dr. Wilson or: Cancer's Bad!
A doctor can't assist or help someone with cancer unless he confronts his patient with the unwelcome reality of the disease. Christians can't assist someone with sin (spiritual cancer) unless they have an initial confrontation; but at the same time, we have to keep in mind that we're not adversaries. In fact, we are required by God to admonish one another. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 says,
“We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.”
The word for "admonish" means to offer instruction through warning. "You do have cancer, but we can fix it." Would you? Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says of admonishment, "The difference between 'admonish' and 'teach' seems to be that, whereas the former has mainly in view the things that are wrong and call for warning, the latter has to do chiefly with the impartation of positive truth."
Cancer's ugly. Doctors don't like telling people that they have it. But it's the first step to assistance.
A crack in the sidewalk.
Walking down the sidewalk one day, I saw something interesting: a tree was growing out of a small crack, and it was breaking the concrete itself. In what would seem to be the worst place ever, life was growing, and overcoming the massive odds against it.
In the parable of the sower, the man throwing seeds threw them on all the types of ground. (Luke 8) We should do the same spiritually, because no matter how unlikely the place looks, even if it's paved over with concrete, you never know when that one tiny crack will allow a seed to sprout up with explosive, abundant, powerful growth. Those with the most stacked against them can be the strongest examples. Give them a shot.
Sleep intertia.
Have you ever been unexpectedly woken up, and found that you just couldn't get going—were you all groggy, feeling like your brain just wasn't working right, and neither was your body? This is a physiological state known as sleep inertia, and it can be brief, but it can also last for very long periods of time! Often people battle it with caffeine, which is a stimulant.
When we become Christians, we can have some worldly inertia, with sin and stuff just trying to resist any change, trying to move forward in our lives with us. Just like sleep inertia, we can battle it with stimulants. Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us what sort of stimulant to take, saying,
"Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." Take every opportunity to get over the grogginess that the world produces—start spending time every day with Christians.
Murders on college campuses.
Why would someone murder college kids? Isn't that pointless? Why would someone propose marriage? Richard Dawkins’ assessment of human worth may be depressing, but why on atheism is he wrong when he says, “There is at bottom no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pointless indifference...We are machines for propagating DNA...It is every living object’s sole reason for being?”
In a world where there is no objective good or evil, emotions in the moment ultimately rule supreme: there is nothing beyond them, and so marriage is no better or worse than how it makes someone feel, which puts it at the level of a mass shooting. There could not even be such a thing as free will, because human "will" is an intangible concept that supersedes the level of chemical reactions in the brain. Saying that someone can "choose" to do something else in the moment is nonsense—they are a mere physical machine, using chemicals instead of cogs, but cogs turn with pointless indifference.
Such confusion and such pointless indifference. There is no hope, only a desire for pleasure until death. 1 Cor 2:14 sums it up well, saying, "But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them, because spiritually they are discerned."
Two types of people. (And politics, too.)
Sometimes I see Christians spend tons of time worrying about evil government and its conspiracies who will be the next president, etc. This does not surprise me, but it is a tactic Satan uses to distract us. Let me make some simple points.
There was a conspiracy against Jesus, and it even killed Him. There were horrifically barbarous and evil governments full of plots. And the record is that Satan and his angels are often behind world powers (Dan 10; 11, Eze 28), and they are supernaturally strong forces that resist even God's angels. The record is also that yes, Christians may be killed by governments or evil men for their beliefs. (Rev 12:11, Rom 8)
But you know what Christ didn't do? He didn't talk about who took down the world trade centers or if Sandy Hook was a hoax. That would have been a distraction. Christ realized that the real struggle isn't against governments, because there are two classes of people: those in Christ, and those captive to do Satan's will. (Gal 3; 2 Tim 2) Indeed, we should expect all sorts of evil, but this thought should not overtake us with shock and awe.
You see, Christ's example and God's word are what we should follow, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Eph 6)
There is only one way to change the world eternally and spiritually, and that's by making less people captive to Satan to do Satan's will. Otherwise, no matter how it seems, it's a passing, fleeting change, and it's not going to be stored up in heaven. Don't let Satan distract you. Follow Christ's example, even if it initially upsets you to ignore Satan's machinations playing out in the flesh and blood.
Rattlesnakes and salvation.
Want an antivenin for the Serpent's poison? In Luke 4:13, Satan kept trying his tricks with Jesus, but he failed, so 'he left Him until an opportune time." Notice that Satan is looking for opportunities. Have you ever failed again and again? Seen a brother or sister who keeps failing? Let's talk about our part in giving Satan opportunity, and what we can do about it.
Here it is again, opportunity for Satan: "For you brothers were called to freedom, but not the freedom for an opportunity to the flesh. Rather, serve one another through love." (2 Cor 5:17) Ah ha! It's the counteragent to sin and letting Satan win, and it's serving one another through love!
Something so simple? Can it be? Yep! If you're busy studying with the lost, you won't be out DUI driving. If you're taking your brothers and sisters in Christ on a hike, you won't be getting an STD with someone you met at a bar. Jesus' entire life was characterized by service, and He was perfect. Are you ready and willing to serve?
The safest road to hell—by CS Lewis.
Have you ever seen a Christian let bad habits slip in—and then after a while they're just totally gone? CS Lewis said, "The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts"
It's rare that a Christian just plummets away from Christ. Instead, it's usually gradual. Often their fellow Christians don't even risk confronting the sin, being scared to lose a friend or to cause offense. Heb 2:1 and 1 Thess 5:21-22 say in part, "we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it," and "examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thess 5:21-22)
Let's pay close attention to what we've heard, and remember that part of what we've heard is that we need to keep out brothers and sisters from stumbling off alone into the darkness. Be there for them, even if it's tough.
CSI—ENHANCE THAT IMAGE!
Ever seen those CSI shows where they have some low-resolution digital photo and they tell the guy working the computer, "Enhance," and suddenly you can see all sorts of detail. That's not realistic. You can't take a few pixels of data and enlarge it to make it super clear, because you just don't have enough data to work with.
We can make that same mistake with the Bible when we grab just one verse and say, "See, it clearly means..." Satan did the same thing to Jesus, citing a snippet and taking something out of context, and Jesus' reply was, "On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Mt 4:1-11)
It's important (even when I'm reading and writing these) to make sure we're reading everything in context, and not playing proof-text potluck. The more information we have, the more enhanced our understanding of what God was saying will be. The only way we can enhance our image of God's intent is by expanding the data, and that comes by reading more. :)
A reminder about what you are.
Sometimes a reminder of who we are really helps us get back on our feet. Hebrews 9:23 says, "Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these."
As Christians, we are the heavenly things. As Heb 12 would say, "you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels." In Christ, we have received the best sacrifice and the best blessing. In Christ, we can accomplish far more than we ever thought possible. There's no reason to hold back from utter excellence, and to show up to others as something different than what the world has to offer—a truly heavenly thing.
I refuse to have my last emotion be anger.
Ever had bad blood between a brother or sister? My end goal when I have an issue with a brother or sister is not to see them get their just desserts, but rather to work with them as effective teammates, truly able to rejoice and love one another, embracing over successes in Christ, for Christ.
"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." (Rom 13:8)
When I die, even if someone detests me, I want to die having a love for them. I can never control how someone feels about me, but I can control one thing: leaving only a debt of love. No bitterness or malice will exist in heaven, and I don't want to try and bring any of that along with me.
God's program by women, for women.
Did you know that God has a program by women, for women? If you're young or old, are you in this program? It goes a little like this:
"Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children..." (Titus 2:3-4)
I find it interesting that women are to teach women to love this husbands and kids, and that a part of what makes a successful marriage is avoiding slander and being drunk. Does your assembly have a program like this? Do you think training centered around how to find a good Christian and have a good marriage would help some of your younger women?
What happens to the church in the long run if the next generation ends up married to non-Christians, routinely drunk, gossiping, etc?
Emotions follow our investment.
As a spiritual principle, our emotions follow our investment. If we're invested in Christ, we'll have romantic emotions for those in Christ, joy around those in Christ, and love when we work for Christ. This is summed up in Christ's teaching that,
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Our emotions follow our investment. If we find ourselves loving the things of the flesh, it's a sign that we need to invest more in the things of the Spirit. And when we do that, our love for the things of the Spirit will grow. Where is your treasure, and where is your heart?