If
we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and
do not live out the truth — 1 John 1:6
There
spiritual danger with the sin of not so bad. 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, our old nature
is actually debating with the our new nature.
Trying to convince the Spirit that we are not engaging in sin. My old nature was characterized by profanity,
smoking, alcohol, and self-indulgence. My
old nature has been crucified with Christ, but wants to rise up and take over if
it can, if I will allow it to. The same
is true for you.
Perhaps
you are trying to think of an excuse about why something you do is not wrong. This
is not a diatribe on the evils of drinking a glass of wine. I want to caution you to reject the practice of
acceptance that has become so common in the American Christian culture. Families struggle with the painful effects of
premarital sex … drugs .. alcohol … ours has, and yet Christians pay money to
watch those same acts 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 actually embrace in your mind by being a willing voyeur.
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. 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.
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. – 1 John 2:15- 17
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.
I
think I will let you debate with the Holy Spirit about whether that applies to
you. 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.
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. – Matthew 7:3-5
It's
a lot easier to see these issues in other peoples' lives. But, are you guilty of compromise? Have you taught your children to do the
same? Those who have ears let them hear. Those who have eyes, let them see.
Finally, brothers and
sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or
heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be
with you.
– Philippians 4:8-9
No comments:
Post a Comment