From that time many of His
disciples went back and walked with Him no more. —John 6:66
{CHAMBERS} “When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a
clear vision of His will, you must “walk in the light” of that vision (1 John
1:7). […] Don’t look at someone else and say, “Well, if he can have those views
and prosper, why can’t I?” You have to “walk in the light” of the vision that
has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that
is between God and them. […] “for one’s life does not consist in the abundance
of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). If we don’t see and understand this,
it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.
[…] But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and
we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to
backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. […] … the
unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with
even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go
back as a deserter.”
ELGIN} There spiritual danger with the sin of not so bad. (James 2:10) “For whoever keeps the
whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” Have you ever heard someone say .. well that
is not “so” bad, it’s only ….. you can fill in the blank. What came to my mind was movies .. there is
only one time there is profanity … there is only brief nudity. Why do we say that? Because we want to
justify our actions. When we do, we are
actually debating with the Spirit.
Trying to convince Him that we are not engaging in sin. Unfortunately, that practice and acceptance
has become so common in the American Christian culture that accepting sinful
acts in the television and movies we watch is common place. Families struggle with the effects of
premarital sex … drugs .. alcohol … yet they pay money to watch it played out
on the screen or television and justify it by calling it entertainment. They argue that it’s just a movie. Think about this. Companies spend billions of dollars on
advertising every year. The reason is that
they want to influence your thinking. Do
you really believe that they would spend all that money if it didn’t work? Our culture “advertises” its values in the
same way. Behavior that you personally detest,
you submit to in your mind by being a willing voyer. And worse, you allow your
children to do the same.
When you compare the natural
life with the Word of God, the differences are glaring. It’s just that we refuse to look. And if we do, even though the Spirit in us
says “No”, our flesh says “yes”, and our mind says “It’s not so bad!” There are many other examples, other than the
visual media. All of it is temptation. (1
John 2:15- 17) “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone
loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the
world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes
not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away,
but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
Some of the most popular
television shows are about crime and crime fighters. Good overcoming evil. That is not so bad is it? But with the good we must accommodate sex,
violence, profanity, illicit relationships …. Many things that are contrary to
who we are as Christians and we would, hopefully, not participate in…. Well ..
I think I will let you debate whether that applies to you with the Holy
Spirit. The bottom line .. we need to
apply the same rigor in what we do and watch
as we do in our judging what other people do and don’t do. (Matthew 7:3-5) “Why do you look at the
speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in
your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of
your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite,
first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to
remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” It's a lot easier to see these issues in other peoples' lives. But, are you guilty of compromise?
Have your taught your children to do the same? Those who have ears let
them hear .. those who have eyes, let them see.
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