Enjoying a movie one Sunday afternoon, suddenly it dawned on
me just how much obscene language was in it and, even though the storyline was
very interesting I decided to change the channel.
You see, it made me think of how easy it is to allow the
things of this world to pollute our minds, and I felt, that as a Christian, it
was disrespecting the Holy Spirit of God living inside me.
Perhaps we’ve grown so accustomed to the corruption of this
world that it’s now considered the norm and our senses have become numb to it.
Too often we, as Christians, compromise – saying things
like, “it’s just a little bit of cursing, or vulgarity, or obscenity, or
whatever the case may be” – but it’s time to take a stand. Oftentimes our
response to sin and those things that can cause us to “fall into evil” (see
Proverbs 17:20) are diluted to an attitude of indifference. That’s not good
enough, it’s a cop-out. It’s either God’s way or the world’s way, we cannot be
carnal lukewarm Christians, neither cold nor hot, like those Laodiceans in
Revelation 3:15-16 to whom Jesus said,
I know your deeds, that
you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So,
because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my
mouth.
God hates evil (see Proverbs 6:16-19). He hates the sin but loves the sinner
with a redemptive love as we see in Romans 5:8, where Apostle Pauls says,
“But God clearly shows and proves
His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us.” (AMP)
Proverbs 8:13 (AMP) tells us, “The [reverent] fear and worshipful awe of the Lord includes the hatred of evil”.
Beloved, if our reverential fear of God is genuine then we need to be very mindful about what we give access to, hating sin as much as God does (see Psalm 97:10); it’s not any and everything we should allow to enter into our hearts. Yes, it’s difficult to avoid certain images and influences but we need not have them cling to us. We must be vigilant to turn our eyes away from all those worthless and meaningless things that distract (see Psalm 119:37).
Understand that Satan is very skillful in disguising sin – he makes it interesting, inviting, and entertaining. A master of subtlety, he wraps sin up like an irresistible present, making it so appealing that you commit sin without even realizing that that’s what you’re doing. But sin is gift-wrapped garbage designed to lure, corrupt and eventually destroy.
Today, as we continue our peregrination on the road to
Pentecost, let us pray that God will give us the power of discernment, so that
we may quickly recognize Satan’s gift-wrapped garbage and not be deceived by
its shiny packaging. Let us pray that God would teach us His way of hating sin
yet loving the sinner, for we have all sinned and fall terribly short of His
glory, but praise be to God, by the gift of His grace, we are put right with
Him through Jesus Christ (see Romans 3:23-24).
Amen †
Shelley Johnson “On the Road to Pentecost: Beware of Gift-wrapped
Garbage” © 2016 revisited May 31, 2025
No comments:
Post a Comment