The
works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of
wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness,
revelries, and the like … those who practice such things will not inherit the
Kingdom of God … those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its
passions and desires.” Galatians 5:19-23a; 24 NKJV
In
last night’s study of Joshua, we encountered the battle of
Jericho. The city and much of what was in the city was “devoted to
destruction” (6:18). The people of Israel were warned to leave those
things “devoted to destruction” alone, tempting and harmless though they may
seem. One man, however, was so tempted; and having taken some of those
things “devoted to destruction”, he became himself “devoted to destruction”
because these forbidden things were in his possession.
So
the question was posed: what are things in our lives “devoted to destruction”,
yet we embrace without a thought or believe them to be harmless? Those
things we hold on to for any number of reasons and have taken for granted for
so long that we hardly notice these things and their potential for spiritual
destruction? I dare say there may be more in our lives than we probably
realize, and little has to do with ‘stuff’ though there is that as well.
When
The Lord returns, that which is “devoted to destruction” will be finally and
completely destroyed. So we are compelled, especially in the discipline
that is the season of Lent, to evaluate every facet of our lives, our homes,
our being to determine what we embrace that is clearly “devoted to
destruction”, and those practices or things that by our own doing lead us to
destruction. Of St. Paul’s list, little of it has to do with
‘stuff’. It has more to do with attributes, or “works”, of the flesh; the
things we do with hardly a thought. Yet “those who practice such
things will not inherit the Kingdom of God”! (Do
you notice St. Paul does not mention “chocolate” at all?? Nor does he
offer excuses or exceptions to those who claim to be “saved”.)
We
must not make light of spiritual practices and put forth no effort to learn
more about ourselves and our devotion to The Lord (or lack thereof).
Giving up chocolate or other such innocuous things for Lent means we do not
take the spiritual practices seriously, and we fool only ourselves. Those
things that directly contribute to our spiritual destruction or those things
that have potential to lead us and our children away from The Lord are those
things which much be seriously evaluated and, if necessary, intentionally
destroyed. .
So
what in our lives is already “devoted to destruction”? Those
things we must get rid of before The Lord gets rid of those things – and those
who embrace them?
Sorry
to be a little heavy, but sometimes we make too much light of things that must
be taken more seriously; and a life of faith is no joke nor a walk in the park
with no thought and no effort and with only fairies and magic dust; and sin is
no punch line. Marriages fall apart every single day because one spouse
took the other for granted for too long. Why would we think the marriage
between the Bridegroom (Christ) and the Bride (the Church) would be no different
by serial neglect?
We
must not redefine love in a vain effort to accommodate those things that
clearly drive a wedge between us and our devotion to The Lord and to one
another through the Church, and we must finally and completely reject the “bumper
sticker theology” that has no biblical merit but makes us feel good about
ourselves! You want people to stop laughing at Christianity? We
must stop playing ourselves as fools and jesters to be laughed at.
And
that is the plain truth.
Michael
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