Leonard Ravenhill asked "is the world crucified to you tonight, or does if facinate you?" He has a good point there. Many people don't stop to think about that. I recently was talking with a friend of mine who claims his sins have become habitual. Allthough he does not want to do them, he claims, they were a part of his life that he can not give up anymore. So basically his sin is become his god. He claims that he knows Christ, and even after a lengthy talk with him he still held strong to the belief that his sin was merely a "habit" and that Christ was still his true God. But is this even possible.
Revelation 20:11-15 "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire."
1 John 2:15-17 says "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in them. For everything in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever."
So basically my question is, are you enslaved to the things of this world? Paul Washer answers this question with a question--What consumes your thoughts? If some worldly item or idea, or way of life, or sin is flooding your thoughts throughout the day to the point that it pushes Christ out, that is your god. I'll put it another way, this truth, the thing that most consumes your thoughts is your god. Whether that be Christ, or whatever little, petty worldly thing that may be. For many people it's a sport, fishing, soccer, football, whatever it is. To others it may be a job. I recently read an article of a man who was a work acholic. This man worked in the morning, came home for lunch, worked at night. It wasn't very long before he realized that he was throwing his life away, wasting it. For what? What was the end to his means?
What do we lack? While we are still in the flesh we must, "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:14 He is not calling us to a selfish gain, or an immoral end to the immoral means. We are to serve Christ.
Now I must say that according to God's word we can not serve two masters. Are you enslaved to sin? What is your god? Everything that you live for, does it reflect God's will for your life, or have the things of this world been elevated in your life to the status of an idle.
The kingdom of Christ is coming. Paul Washer says that, "with one hand Christ is holding back the judegement of almighty God, and with the other he is pleading for you to come to him. And you know that someday both hands will drop." Are you living for Christ, or is your god of this world?
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