Sunday, August 29, 2010

The Devil Made Me Do It!

James 1:12-18 “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”

Technology has come so far. Here I am writing from my Cruise ship stateroom at sea, with a Wi-Fi connection to a satellite Internet Connection. Truly amazing.

On Wednesday nights, our Men’s Bible Study group has been reading through a book on becoming the man that God intended us to be. Not my favorite writer, but his book has generated some great discussion in the group on God’s Word, God’s Will and God’s Way. A section on lust prompted a discussion on whether a Christian can be a lustful man (willfully sin, but not sinful). The verse above clearly states that we (men & women), by our own evil desires (our sin nature), tempted when he is dragged away and enticed. Who tempts us? Surely, not God! The enemy of the Christian is the “unholy trinity” of the flesh, the world system that is contrary to God and the Devil, and many are quick to blame their less than godly behavior on someone or something else. Claiming, "It's not my fault!" See Romans 7:14-25 says: “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature, For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” But do some use the unholy trinity as a cop-out for their sinful behavior or even permission?

Are we not responsible for their actions? Are we not accountable for our behavior? Are we not to repent of sin in our life and grow into the likeness of our Lord and Savior, who died for those sins? Comedian Flip Wilson used to say “The Devil made me do it!”, but are we the one’s saying this line today? Christ paid the penalty for our sins (past, present, and future), when we surrendered our sinful life to the Redeemer & Savior and He took our sins upon Himself, but that is not a “get out of jail free” card to continue in sin. Debts are not forgiven in order to start new debts. Paul tells us in Romans 6:1-3 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” or 1 Corinthians 6:13b-15a says:“The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?"

That which is against the Lord’s holy, just and pure Word, Will and Way is not to be the desire of our regenerated hearts in Christ, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, which was given to indwell the Believer’s heart to guide thoughts, words and actions, the desire of our hearts are to repent of our sins and please our Lord God always and forever. How? We battle the temptations of the flesh, the world and the Devil’s realm daily. But we are not alone and have a choice to put on the full armor of God, to take up our Cross daily, walk in the Spirit, pray unceasingly, depend on the Good Shepherd and the providence of God above. Galatians 5:13-18 “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. Life by the Spirit So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” It's a battle that we fight.

This side of Heaven, on our Christian walk (our Pilgrimage), as a Child of the Creator towards our eternal home on the Kingdom of God, we know that the road will have hills to climb, valleys with obstacles find ways over and around, snares of temptations to avoid and trials to endure along the path. But we know that we have been put here, right now, for such a time as this for a godly purpose in God’s Devine plan. May we run the race set before us, with joy and purity, to win and receive the crown waiting from our Lord, who died that we may life the abundant life today, tomorrow and forever, and we shall give an account someday soon. May the Lord say then: “Well done good and faithful Servant”, and May we never say, “The Devil made me do it”.

In Christ, Brian

1 comment:

Karen said...

Thank you for this good word today. May I run the race! God bless you.