10:12 - I heard Sheldon say the other day that when you believe there is no possible way you could ever commit a certain sin, that is win you leave yourself vulnerable to attack. To think that you stand tall...that your purity will keep you from certain forms of evil is to invite danger. We must always stay on guard, fighting daily for purity and desperately chasing after Jesus Christ. We must never assume that there are some sins we will never stoop to, because we will let our guard down.
10:13 - I have always taken great heart in this promise from God...but it also brings me great pain. I love that I have a faithful God who will never allow me to tempted beyond my ability to resist, but I hate the sinful human nature within me that frequently fails to accept the way out that God is offering. Do you see what Paul writes - that God offers, "a way out?" God doesn't swoop in and stop me from sinning...he calls to me and offers a way out - the choice is mine whether to accept the way or not. Sadly, I have refused God's offer of escape many times.
10:21ff - How often do I dabble in the demonic realm? I know that sounds insane for a minister to be saying, but by Paul's explanation here...any form of worship that you offer to anyone or anything other than God seems to fit within the demonic realm. Do the things that I choose to listen to or watch or chase after honor God or dishonor him? There are only two sides in his great struggle: God's and Satan's. How often do I provoke the awesome jealousy of my God by chasing another?
10:31 - Sums this entire chapter up. Whatever you are doing...eating, drinking, laughing, crying, watching, listening, looking, playing, working, serving, worshipping...whatever, it had better be done with the glory of God in mind.
2 comments:
Msg – “…And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did…” Ever think that is exactly what we are today – it should always be about being the Body of Christ – not just a program.
Paul even states that these things were written down so that we would not repeat previous mistakes – but most have problems applying Scripture to everyday life. We need to be able to show that there really is nothing new under the sun – that it has all been done before.
Love this part – “Because there is one loaf, our many-ness becomes one-ness—Christ doesn't become fragmented in us. Rather, we become unified in him. We don't reduce Christ to what we are; he raises us to what he is.” Christ comes down to our level, no matter how low that might be – that is a love that I just cannot comprehend, but I am glad it is there.
j
I love this idea of Christ accepting us where we are. It gets confusing though when you see something else like the idea of "that's the one sin I will never be a part of." As a new-believer, you see someone who is pretty ahead in their walk, and you measure how far that is. There comes a point where this person then says, "that's too hard. I'd rather not do it." What we need to understand is that we didn't get there - Christ got us there! And where we were when we began is very similar to where this new believer is! May we do everything we do for the sake of Christ, keeping Him first in everything we do!
The other thing that stuck out, and encouraged me, is keeping my guard up. My biggest fear in life is the possibility of one day falling to the black widow - the sad sin of adultery. It's a fear because I'm a man and that is what has been my struggle growing up and throughout the course of my life. This is encouraging because I know that throughout this fear I have actually been led to take extensive precautions to make sure that I am never in that situation. It is this fear and maintaining our guard up that usually propels us to success, regardless of how subject we may feel to a particular sin. At the same time, Father allow me to maintain my guard up with temptation and sin I don't hold as high right now.
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