Why Do the Wicked Prosper?

January 26, 2012 2 Comments

Why do the wicked prosper? It’s a question that goes back at least as far as the time of Job, a man who seems to have lived during the patriarchal age of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Job 9:24, Job says, “The earth is given into the hand of the wicked…” He follows that up in Job 12:6 by saying, “The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure…”

Asaph, who was a prominent singer and musician in the Israelite worship of King David’s time, also struggled with the question. In Psalm 73:3, he says, “For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” Later on, in verse 12, he says, “Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches.”

I’m sure that an entire book, or even a whole set of them, could be written in answer to the question, “Why do the wicked prosper?” So I won’t attempt to list every last reason in a simple blog post. Instead, I just want to offer one reason, and that one reason is this: Much of the prosperity of the wicked can be attributed to Satan, not God.

Now please don’t get all technical on me here. Yes, I know that Satan can’t do anything that God doesn’t allow. But, with that understood, I want to take you back to the story of Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness. You can find it in Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13. Do you recall what Satan’s third and final temptation was? Matthew 4:8-9 describes it this way:

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

You see, right there it is, proof positive that Satan has plenty of “stuff” to give those who do his work. By the way, if you doubt that he holds that much stroke in this world you should also read John 14:30, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, and Ephesians 2:1-2. Those passages teach that Satan is nothing less than the ruler of this world, and as such he has an abundant supply of money, power, possessions, and fame to dispense to suit his purposes.

So the next time you see someone who is obviously wicked and yet just as obviously prosperous, take a moment to consider that the person’s prosperity most likely comes from the hand of the devil. I’ve often used the line, “God won’t bless a mess.” But the fact is that Satan will and many times does.

Filed under Money, Prosperity, Satan, Temptation, The Devil Tagged with , , , ,

What A Bird’s Nest Can Teach Us About God’s Will

December 5, 2011 2 Comments

Snugly tucked away in the Old Testament book of Proverbs is one of the Bible’s most beautiful verses on the subject of the will of God. Proverbs 27:8 says:

Like a bird that wanders from its nest is a man who wanders from his place.

Tell me, are you right now in your place? Are you living where God wants you to be living? Are you working where He wants you to be working? Are you going to church where He wants you to be going to church? Are you engaged in those activities in which He wants you to be engaged?

A nest is the best place in all the world for a bird to be. It is nothing less than home. A bird in its nest is safe because predators can’t harm the bird there. A bird in its nest is at rest because no bird can fly incessantly. A bird in its nest is perfectly natural because a bird standing in the middle of a interstate just seems out of place.

Of course, the primary reason why a bird builds a nest is to raise a family. The mother bird lays her eggs. She incubates those eggs. When the eggs hatch, she feeds the baby birds. When they are ready she pushes them out of the nest so they can fly on their own and ultimately build their own nests.

By the way, this shows us that there is nothing wrong with a person moving away from the “nest” in which he or she was raised. Remember that it was God Himself who told Abraham to leave his hometown of Ur and move to a land that He would show him (Genesis 12:1). For that matter, most species of birds build new nests each year. So, obviously, Proverbs 27:8 isn’t the Bible’s way of forbidding us from ever leaving home or embarking on some new adventure in life. The teaching is simply that each individual should strive to live each day in the center of God’s will for his or her life. If His will means staying in the same spot where you’ve been for the last ten years, so be it. If it means making a change and building some type of new nest, that’s okay too. The key is to always be at your post in life, the post where God has you stationed for the time being.

We get ourselves into trouble anytime we prematurely wander away from a nest where God wants us to remain. And most of us have faced this temptation, haven’t we? “I’m tired of this job. I’m going to quit.” “This town is driving me crazy. I need to try someplace new.” “I’ve been playing this role long enough. It’s time for somebody else to do it.” “This marriage isn’t working. Surely there is someone else out there with whom I can be happier.” Watch out, little bird, are you sure that leaving that nest is really God’s will?

Perhaps today you are contemplating making a major change in your life. If you are, please know that I didn’t write this post to scare you out of going through with what you are planning. Like I said, there are definitely times when God’s will calls for us to change nests. Even a casual study of the Bible will offer evidence of that. But I am trying to warn you about the dangers of wandering away from a place where God wants you to remain (at least for a little while longer). A bird in its nest is safe and at peace. A bird that has foolishly abandoned its nest isn’t. That’s why we should always make sure that we are moving at God’s bidding and not our own. Keep this in mind as you consider whether or not to leave your current nest, and ask the Lord to always help you to be in your rightful place, wherever that might either keep you or take you.

Filed under Choices, contentment, God's Will, Temptation Tagged with , , , ,

Physical Beauty

November 9, 2011 Leave a Comment

I walked past Tonya the other day as she was watching the Miss World beauty pageant. It didn’t take me long to notice that the host looked like a Keebler elf compared to those Amazons. I mean, really, if the girls all have to be in the 5’11-6’0 range, the show is going to have to hire a basketball player as the host. But I digress.

When I think of physical beauty, I think of the Bible’s Esther. She won a national beauty contest and became the Queen of Medo-Persia, the most powerful empire of that day (Esther 2:1-18). Working from that position she became the vessel through which God kept Haman (an Old Testament Adolf Hitler) from wiping out the entire Jewish race. Do you know what that tells me? It tells me that God can use physical beauty to accomplish His work.

Of course, there’s no doubt that Satan can use it to accomplish his too, is there? Every smut magazine, pornographic film, scantily clad model, and “sex object” starlet is evidence of that. Take beauty pageants for example. The only way they will ever have my respect is if they take out the swimsuit competition. Yeah, right, like that’s going to happen.

In Proverbs 31:30, the Bible says that “beauty is passing.” Likewise, Psalm 49:14 says that it shall be “consumed in the grave.” So the real issue is: How will a woman use her beauty during those years in which she has it? Will she be an Esther who uses it for God’s glory? Or will she use it to tempt, entice, allure, and manipulate men to accomplish the devil’s purposes? I’ll leave you with Proverbs 11:22, a verse that I think a lot of women need to heed these days. It says simply:

As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a lovely woman who lacks discretion.

Filed under Aging, Character, Dress and Appearance, God's Work, Personal Holiness, Sex, Sin, Temptation Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

What the Bible Teaches About Drinking Alcohol (9)

November 1, 2011 6 Comments

With this post, we’ll finish up this series. I didn’t plan for the series to run quite this long anyway, but as we’ve seen this is a complex subject that brings in quite a bit of scripture. People really do it a disservice when they try to simplify it and make it a one-size-fits-all, black-or-white kind of thing. And, unfortunately, the material that I’ll offer in this last post is going to complicate things a bit more. In the previous post, I explained the term “Christian liberty.” I won’t rehash all that information here, but I do need to say a few more things on that whole subject. Think of this as me now giving you the flip side of the “Christian liberty” coin.

It’s certainly true that the Bible teaches that a Christian has a sizable amount of God-granted liberty when it comes to, shall we say, “debatable” matters. However, the same Bible also lays down three rules for the use of this liberty. Let’s take them one at a time.

Rule #1: A troubled conscience always cancels out Christian liberty. The interesting thing about your conscience is that it can’t tell the difference between a rule that can be supported by scripture and one that can’t. Really, your conscience is only as good as the information sent to it by your brain. So the problem is simple: a faulty understanding creates a misfiring conscience. Well, let’s say that a Christian is raised in a home, city, and culture in which everyone considers the drinking of even one beer a mortal sin. As we’ve seen in this series, that rule can’t be supported by scripture, but until that Christian learns this he or she is left to believe that drinking a beer is a sin. And what does that set-up do? It allows that Christian’s conscience to send out all kinds of warning bells if that Christian even looks at a beer. Yes, they will be misinformed bells, alarms sounded from faulty information, but they will be warning bells nonetheless. And so at that point the Christian’s conscience will keep him from being able to evoke Christian liberty to enjoy a beer. We can describe this as sinning against one’s conscience. 1 Corinthians 8:7 talks about this kind of thing in regard to the ancient Christians eating meat that had been offered to idols. It says:

However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak (we might say misinformed), is defiled.

Romans 14:23 applies here as well. It goes so far as to teach that even if an act isn’t a sin, it actually becomes a sin for you if you can’t do it with a completely clear conscience:

But he who doubts (doubts the scriptural legality of the act) is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.

Rule #2: The Christian commits sin if he exercises his liberty in a way that causes someone else to sin. Let’s say that a friend and I go out to eat at a restaurant that serves delicious ribs that just drip with sweet barbecue sauce. So we each order a plate of ribs. Then my friend listens in astonishment as I order a beer. Well, he was raised to believe that drinking a beer is a sin, but he thinks to himself, “Russell is a preacher, and so if he says that’s it alright to drink a beer, it must be.” So my friend then says to the waitress, “I’ll have a beer too.” But the problem is that as soon as those words fall from his lips his misinformed conscience starts gnawing at him. And by the time the beers come and he and I each take a sip, he is in full-blown sin. Now what happened there? I wrongly used my Christian liberty to lead my friend into sin. Listen to the words of 1 Corinthians 8:9,12:

But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak (misinformed)…But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

And then there is also Romans 14:15-16, 20-21:

Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food (or for our topic, drink) you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food (drink) the one for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let your good (the fact that your conscience is operating off correct information) be spoken of as evil…Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food (drink). All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man (your friend with the misinformed conscience) who eats (drinks) with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.

Rule #3: Even though some acts might be allowable under Christian liberty, the Christian shouldn’t engage in them if they are not helpful to him. It’s hard to see how a Christian who is a recovering alcoholic or who has at least had several bouts of drunkenness in the past is going to be helped by drinking one beer, one glass of wine, or one shot of liquor. If a dog has bitten you in the past and sent you to the emergency room, why keep trying to pet it? If your track record shows beyond a doubt that you have a natural bent toward becoming addicted to a certain thing, why go out of your way to place yourself in the path of temptation? This third rule isn’t about categorizing an act as “sin” or “not sin.” The act in question is clearly “not sin.” But the point is that the act simply isn’t helpful (spiritually constructive, edifying, and empowering) for that specific Christian. Particularly, this rule applies to acts that have the potential to lead to addiction, a list which can certainly include the drinking of alcoholic beverages. In 1 Corinthians 6:12, the apostle Paul puts it this way:

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Now, in closing, let me say that by abiding by these three rules the Christian can keep himself within the banks of using his Biblical liberty to engage in a “debatable” act such as drinking alcohol. Christian liberty must never be used as a license to sin, but when it is rightly understood and lived out it will be a wonderful source of blessing for the Christian. After all, “liberty” is a good word, right? It’s not something to shy away from or fear; it’s something to embrace and enjoy. Just be careful, Christian, that you don’t forget these three rules. God wants you to enjoy life, but He doesn’t want you to do it like a half crazed wild-man who has no scriptural moorings. Remember that liberty walks hand in hand with responsibility. You’re not a child. So don’t act like one.

Filed under Addiction, alcohol, balance, Choices, Christian Liberty, Influence, Personal Holiness, Sin, Temptation, Uncategorized Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

What Does the Bible Teach About Drinking Alcohol? (4)

October 14, 2011 4 Comments

I used yesterday’s post to condemn the sin of drunkenness. Now I want to share a few thoughts on addiction to alcohol. All drunkenness is sin, but there’s a difference between getting drunk once at a party and being a full-blown alcoholic.

I take no joy or pride in admitting that alcoholism runs on both sides of my family. So, trust me, I could write an encyclopedia on the subject. Isn’t it amazing how easily one glass of wine or one can of beer can turn into decades of hard drinking? The old saying is so true: “First the man takes a drink. Then the drink takes a drink. Then the drink takes the man.”

I think this explains why I haven’t been getting much feedback on these posts. The viewing numbers are down, and no one is hitting the “like” button. Why? It’s because many of us know all too well the incredible damage that alcohol can do to a life. That’s why we shy away from the subject. We fear that if we give ground on having even one glass of wine with a plate of lasagna at Olive Garden, one bottle of beer at a July picnic, or one shot of liquor on a cold night, that we will fan the flames of the already raging bonfire of alcohol addiction in this country. That’s why so many of us want to either ignore the subject altogether or try to cling to our fortress retreat in the high, unsoiled mountains of total abstinence. Our problem, however, is that neither approach lines up with the totality of what the Bible teaches.

Is alcoholism a very real problem? Of course it is. But does everyone who drinks become addicted? Believe it or not, no they don’t. Maybe your uncle Joe did. Maybe your cousin Sue did. Maybe your child did. Maybe you did. But that doesn’t mean that everyone does. You see, in one way alcohol is like food. When used appropriately it can be viewed as a blessing from God. It makes this difficult life a little more enjoyable. It brings pleasure to the taste buds. It can even help settle the stomach. But when it is used to sinful excess, the good turns to harm. Just as overeating creates the sin of gluttony and causes all kinds of physical, emotional, and psychological problems, drinking too much creates the sin of drunkenness and causes the same kinds of problems. Is it any wonder then that the Bible so frequently links the sins of gluttony and drunkenness together? (Deuteronomy 21:20; Proverbs 23:21; Ecclesiastes 10:16-19; Isaiah 22:12-13; Amos 6:3-7; Luke 12:19; 1 Peter 4:3)

And so how should we deal with addiction to alcohol, or any addiction for that matter (food, drugs, pornography, sex, etc.)? Well, it sounds like a cliche but the cure for every addiction is Jesus. I can think of two passages that say it all. First, there is John 8:34,36:

Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin…Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

And then second, there is Luke 4:17-18:

And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

And so we see that Jesus is the liberator for anyone is enslaved by or held captive by addiction. He is the Moses who can lead that person out of that Egypt. He is the David who can slay that person’s giant. He is the Solomon who can erect a shining new temple of holiness in that person’s life. Addiction doesn’t intimidate Him in the least. He has released scores of captives from its grip already and stands ready and willing to do it one more time.

Filed under Addiction, alcohol, balance, Choices, Christian Liberty, Drugs, Gluttony, Personal Holiness, Sin, Temptation Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

What Does the Bible Teach About Drinking Alcohol? (3)

October 13, 2011 Leave a Comment

Okay, now that we’ve taken the Bible and established that it does allow for some drinking of wine (see part 1 of this series) and other alcoholic drinks (see part 2), we really need to hit the sin of drunkenness head on. Of course, we certainly won’t have any trouble finding scriptures to do so. God’s written word is chocked full of such texts. Here is a small sampling:

1. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. (Proverbs 20:1)

2. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18)

3. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

4. Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. (Joel 1:5)

5. Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pressing him to your bottle, even to make him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness! (Habakkuk 2:15)

6. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (Romans 13:13-14)

7. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. (1 Thessalonians 5:7-8)

As you can see, the Bible comes down like thunder on the sin of drunkenness. So even though the drinking of alcoholic beverages is allowable, the allowance is limited. It’s not a “get out of jail free” card. It’s not a sanctioning to drink yourself into a stupor. There is a line that shouldn’t be crossed, and it’s a line that comes into play pretty quickly.

Actually, the Bible even describes some situations in which drinking alcoholic beverages was forbidden altogether. They were as follows:

1. Israel’s priests weren’t allowed to drink either wine or strong drink when they entered the tabernacle (temple). (Leviticus 10:8-11; Ezekiel 44:21; Isaiah 28:7)

2. It wasn’t good for rulers (kings and princes) to drink wine or strong drink because it might impair their judgment. (Proverbs 31:4-5)

3. Any Jew who volunteered to take the “vow of a Nazarite” had to completely separate himself or herself from all wine, strong drink, vinegar, and grape juice. (Numbers 6:1-3; Judges 13:1-5; Luke 1:13-15)

But to get back to the point, even with a certain amount of alcoholic consumption being allowed among the Jews, the problem began when a Jew abused the privilege and got drunk. This explains the various passages which differentiate between acceptable drinking and crossing the line. Here are some of them. The words I’ve put in boldface mark the line between drunkenness and acceptable drinking:

1. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine. (Proverbs 23:29-30)

2. Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink. (Isaiah 5:22)

3. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities. (1 Timothy 5:23)

4. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to (addicted to) wine… (1 Timothy 3:2-3)

5. Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to (addicted to) much wine… (1 Timothy 3:8)

And so we see that it doesn’t take much to drink yourself right into sin. This is why I felt such trepidation as I wrote those first two posts of this series. Frankly, it would be a whole lot easier for me, as a preacher, if God just outlawed wine and strong drink completely. But He doesn’t do that. What He does do, though, is load the Bible with very clear warnings about the danger of drunkenness. I can only hope that you will heed them.

Filed under Addiction, alcohol, balance, Christian Liberty, Sin, Temptation Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Bobby Leach

September 8, 2011 1 Comment

Englishman Bobby Leach lived an interesting life. On July 25, 1911 he became the second person to pull off the stunt of going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. The feat didn’t come without some injury, though. He spent the next six months in the hospital recovering from two broken kneecaps and a broken jaw.

Upon his recovery, Leach, who had once been a performer with the Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey circus, toured as a celebrity throughout Canada, England, and the United States. He made a good living speaking in the vaudeville shows and lecture halls of the day. He would show off his steel barrel, talk about his experience, and pose for pictures.

In 1920 Leach attempted to bolster his declining fame by swimming Niagara Falls’ whirlpool rapids. He made several attempts but was unsuccessful each time. What made the attempts all the more incredible was the fact that by then Leach was his sixties.

Then came 1926. While on a publicity tour in New Zealand, Leach slipped on an orange peel, took a bad spill, and broke his leg. Infection set in, and eventually the leg became eaten up with gangrene. The leg was amputated in an attempt to save Leach’s life, but it was to no avail. He died two months afterward.

Isn’t it ironic that Bobby Leach survived his daredevil attempts at Niagara Falls, but saw the end of his life begin when he slipped on a simple orange peel? In Knight’s Book of Illustrations, Dr. Stewart Anderson uses Leach’s life as an illustration of spiritual truth. He says:

“Some great temptations, which roar around us like Niagara, may leave us unharmed. But a little, insignificant incident may cause our downfall simply because we are not looking for it.”

The truth is, we get into trouble when we don’t have our spiritual guard up, aren’t paying attention, and think we’ve got everything under control. That’s just when some “little” temptation will bring us down. Keep this in mind as you move through life, and be sure to watch out for those orange peels!

Filed under Personal Holiness, Sin, Temptation Tagged with , , , , , , ,

When the Stick Breaks

August 29, 2011 2 Comments

Here’s a true story. A man caught a large rattlesnake and kept it in a cage. One day he got brave with the snake and decided to use it to jokingly give his wife a good scare. He opened up the cage, firmly placed a stick directly behind the snack’s head, caught the snake, and put it into a bag. Then he carried the bag into his living room and dumped the snake out onto the floor in front of his wife. Naturally, she shrieked in horror and fled the room as the man enjoyed a hearty laugh.

Then came the job of getting the snake back into the bag. The man took his stick and again placed it behind the snake’s head even as the rest of the snake’s body writhed and twisted. Everything was going as planned until the man made the mistake of pressing down too hard on the stick. Suddenly the stick snapped and broke in the middle. This freed up the snake’s head and with lightning speed the snake turned and struck the man’s index finger. As the deadly fangs plunged deep into the finger, in rushed the poison.

So how does the story end? Well, thanks to good medical treatment the man’s life was saved. The finger, however, had to be amputated. For the rest of his life when someone would ask the man how he lost his index finger he would say, “A snake bit me.” And when he was asked, “How did a snake bite you?” he would answer, “The stick broke.”

Alright, now let’s move to the spiritual application of this story. Just as that fellow had a pet rattler, you have a pet sin. This is the sin to which you are most vulnerable and susceptible. (I promise not to ask what your pet sin is if you promise not to ask what mine is!) But what I will do is implore you to resist the temptation to play around with your sin. Don’t trust whatever “stick” you’ve got that you think enables you to enjoy the sin while avoiding its poison. Believe me, sooner or later that “stick” will break and your pet sin will bite you. And when it does, you’ll inevitably pay a high price because of it. Consider yourself warned.

Filed under Addiction, Backsliding, Choices, Personal Holiness, Sin, Temptation Tagged with , , , , ,

Addiction

August 26, 2011 Leave a Comment

A group of scientists set about to train a chimpanzee to talk. For fifteen long years they pampered the chimp and taught him different sounds. Finally the day came when he was to verbalize his first words. With anxious anticipation the scientists gathered around the cage to listen to anything he might say. As they all leaned in closely the chimp looked them squarely in the eyes and spoke actual words for the first time. He said, “Lemme out!”

No matter how nice the cage is, it’s still a cage. It’s not freedom. It’s not limitless possibilities. It’s not the way to live. Sadly, many people are trapped in life’s cages. These cages have names such as drugs, alcoholism, gambling, pornography, etc. Perhaps these people enjoy fleeting moments of joy in these cages. Perhaps they know brief waves of contentment. But in the end, a cage will always be a cage, and it will never be the way God intends for the person to live.

I don’t mean to undermine or devalue the good work that is done by any group who helps people deal with addiction. Still, with that said, a relationship with Jesus will always be the best way to conquer an addiction. If an addict objects and says, “I don’t need Jesus to be my crutch,” a good response is, “You’ve already got a crutch; you just need to trade it in on a far better one.”

In John 8:34, the New King James translation reads as follows:

Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.”

The fact is, though, this rendering doesn’t totally capture the full bloom of what Jesus said. Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest’s expanded translation of the New Testament gets more to the real point Christ was making. It translates the words “whoever commits sin” as “everyone who habitually commits sin.” You see, that more precise translation of the Greek takes us into the realm of addiction. Jesus isn’t talking about the man who sees a scantily clad woman on t.v., lusts for a moment, and then changes the channel (even though that moment of lust is a sin). He’s talking about the person who lives his life eaten up by lust and actively seeks out scantily clad women on t.v. or the internet so that he can stare at them for long periods of time and fantasize about them. Do you see the difference?

The good news is that right on the heels of talking about those who are such slaves to sin, Jesus gave the cure. He said:

“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36, New King James translation)

You ask, “But how can Jesus offer such sure liberation from the addiction?” He can do it because He alone has the power to change the addict’s nature rather than just the behavior. In John 3:1-21, He explains how those who place their belief in Him as Savior are “born again.” To be “born again” is to have God the Holy Spirit literally take up residence inside your body (Romans 8:9). The Spirit will not obliterate your inborn, sinful, addictive nature, but He will bring to you a contrasting nature, a nature which is nothing less than the nature of God. 2 Peter 1:4 says that believers become “partakers of the divine nature,” and 2 Corinthians 5:17 describes this as becoming “a new creation.”

So, do you find yourself in some kind of cage right now? Is some addiction getting the best of you and ruining your life? Do you feel helpless to break free from its grip? If you answer “yes” to these questions, let me urge you to turn to Jesus. Maybe you need to genuinely place your belief in Him as Savior and become “born again.” Maybe you’ve already done that, but your fellowship and daily walk with Jesus have grown so anemic that you are severely limiting the indwelling Holy Spirit’s influence upon your life. Whatever your case may be, just know that your addiction is not bigger than Jesus, and that’s not just a cute little cliche that a preacher is supposed to say. Jesus stands ready right now to set you free from your cage. Will you let Him?

Filed under Addiction, Backsliding, Belief, Change, Homosexuality, salvation, Sin, Temptation, The Holy Spirit Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

What Two Wrong Clocks Can Teach Us About God’s Will

August 4, 2011 Leave a Comment

Did you know that a clock that is five minutes off is more dangerous than one that is five hours off? Think about it. If a clock is five hours off, you will see that it is obviously wrong and not use it to tell the time. But a clock that is just five minutes off will fool you, and the deception can cause you to burn a meal, miss an important appointment, or be late to pick up your child (and, oh, the trouble that a kid can get into in five minutes!).

This same idea also holds true for God’s will for your life. Oftentimes the most dangerous alternative to that will is not the one that is five hours off but the one that is five minutes off. For example, let’s say that it’s God’s will for a newlywed couple to buy a specific house, but the couple insists on looking at two other houses as well. One of those other houses is everything they ever wanted in a home, but it’s price is so far beyond their budget that it’s obvious they can’t afford it. So when they look at the house, there is a lot of oohing and aahing, but that’s as far as things go. They understand the house is a pipe dream for them.

But the second alternative house is one they can afford. It’s about the same size and style as the house that God wants them to buy and the prices are comparable too. Really, the main difference lies in the neighborhoods of the two houses. You see, what the couple doesn’t know is that the house that God wants them to buy sits in a neighborhood that features godly neighbors, solid churches, and schools with teachers that will better reach the two children that God knows is in the couple’s future. While the neighborhood for the other house is respectable enough itself, it simply isn’t as good a fit for the young couple and the plans that God has in mind for them.

But the question is, which of the two alternative houses offers the greatest temptation for the couple to miss God’s will in house-buying? It’s the one that is the most like the house that God wants them to buy. That alternative is just five minutes off while the other one is five hours off. It isn’t hard to discern the problems with a clock that is five hours off, but it is very hard to do so with one that is five minutes off.

Keep this in mind whenever you find yourself trying to discern God’s will regarding multiple opportunities. Very few people step out of God’s will by chasing opportunities that are hopelessly far-fetched, but many people step out of it to chase those that are very doable. It’s the difference between driving a Ford or a Dodge, between attending one in-state school or another, or between working in an office building on 1st Avenue or one on 2nd Avenue. But God knows that just that little bit of difference can make all the difference in the world.

Filed under Choices, Desires, God's Will, Temptation Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

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