Holiness requires the surrender of all that is doubtful in addition to all that is sinful. Anything less that absolute surrender leaves us 'liable to defeat'. If we are holding on to things which God wants us to surrender then not all the prayers, bible study and fellowship in the world can save us – we will be defeated!
Willis Howell sent me a great quote the other day from John Piper:
""The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of the triviality we drink in every night.... And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable."
How many recently launched Christian lives have sailed out of the harbour of conversion and immediately crashed on the rocks of compromise? Usually the rock that sank the boat was something small and insignificant like a cup of coffee or a football game. It is the doubtful things that usually bring us down rather than the sinful things.
There is nothing in the bible that suggests that owning property or being wealthy is a sin, indeed some people have built a whole theology around the opposite belief but if Jesus thought the best way to survive the snares of this world and the attack of the enemy was a simple life of poverty then maybe that's the way wise Christians still choose to walk.
Father, save me from the trappings and distractions of this world, save me from the doubtful things, help me to identify the 'apple pie' in my life and lay it on the altar of consecration.
Today's scripture:
1 Chronicles 22:1-23:32
"Then you will have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and the laws that the Lord gave to Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged." (22:13)
Psalm 91:9-16
14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honour him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation."
1 Corinthians 2:6-2:16
12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
Grace and peace, A
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