Flying too close to the Flame.
I am amazed at how far people will go to rationalize their reasons for continuing in whatever habit or sin they have integrated into their life.
I was speaking to a young man yesterday about my reasons for leaving Florida and moving to Kentucky. I was explaining how rampant drug use is in South Florida and although I know there’s drug use here just as there is everywhere, I felt that it wasn’t as widespread here than what I have experienced in Florida and that I also wanted a more manageable environment to raise my kids in. He went on to warn me about how the younger generation in Kentucky is abusing pills, especially in the school system. They grind up pills like Oxycontin and Percocet and then snort them. He told me he used to have a bad drug habit a few years ago but he doesn’t any more… he just does it a couple of times a month now, and that he has also learned to stay away from cocaine. He feels he is much wiser now that he is older… he told me that before when he had a drug problem he used to snort several pills a day, but now he can take one Percocet and make it last all day… (ARE YOU KIDDING ME!) I know first hand no matter how little you do, the more you do, the more you want to do and eventually its all you want to do… sin and drugs have great parallels, one way or another the sin you allow into your life will eventually consume you.
I don’t care what your vice is! Satan’s first goal is to make you believe you can control it or that you have it under control... “Every one else is doing it, its not that bad”… “Go ahead, just try it this one time”… “It won’t hurt anything if you do it every now and again”… “You’re not that bad you can control it, there are lots of people who are worse than you”… “I can stop any time, and one day I will”... The progression is always the same!
Some one once said; “Sin will always take you further than you wanted to go, make you stay longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you were willing to pay!” No matter whether it’s pornography, drug use, alcohol abuse, gossip, (…you insert your favorite habit) it doesn’t matter; eventually what you once took pleasure in no longer satisfies and now you need to go a little further… a little deeper… be a little more twisted… to chase the feeling you used to get.
It’s like the bug in the bug zapper, flying ever closer and closer to the light… His little bug friend cries out; “DON’T DO IT BOB; DON’T LOOK INTO THE LIGHT”... as he flies ever closer and closer, then… ZAP!
(James 1:13-15) 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.
That’s exactly how sin traps us, ever closer and closer, continually rationalizing our ability to handle it then ZAP! Eventually Satan has us completely in his grip.
If you are contemplating jumping off the fence and “Trying it Just This Once”, or are already deeply caught in the trap of your sin, the only way of escape is to replace it with something else… just walking away or quitting won’t work, you will eventually find yourself drawn back to it again. You must find something else to take up the void that the absence of your sin or the allure of the sin you are contemplating has left. I have also been on this yo-yo. Many people dive into sports or physical fitness, some pursue education or pour themselves into their work… but once again all these are just temporary replacements. I know from experience that the only thing that you can replace your sin with that will completely deliver you is what Jesus has offered us. By realizing that you are powerless in front of the adversary you face and dropping naked (metaphorically speaking) before a loving God who is waiting to deliver you and surrendering not only the sin you are struggling with to Him, but the rest of what you have… and all of what you are to Him and His will for your life alone. I’ve seen bumper stickers that say; “God is my co-pilot”. That is so far removed from the place God wants in your life. He wants to be the pilot, your only obligation is to sit down, shut up, and hold on. The only time you do or say anything is when He tells you to.
You will never be free of your sin unless Jesus has filled the Void that is left by sins departure. If He isn’t there, living inside of you then when sin comes knocking again you will have less resolve to resist and most times you will be far worse off than before when it regains control of your life.
(Matthew 12:43-45) “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.”
Only by becoming completely His and His alone, by becoming His Bondservant… (To put it literally) to become the SLAVE of a loving God… Only then will you truly know what it means to be free!
(John 8:36) So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.
I am amazed at how far people will go to rationalize their reasons for continuing in whatever habit or sin they have integrated into their life.
I was speaking to a young man yesterday about my reasons for leaving Florida and moving to Kentucky. I was explaining how rampant drug use is in South Florida and although I know there’s drug use here just as there is everywhere, I felt that it wasn’t as widespread here than what I have experienced in Florida and that I also wanted a more manageable environment to raise my kids in. He went on to warn me about how the younger generation in Kentucky is abusing pills, especially in the school system. They grind up pills like Oxycontin and Percocet and then snort them. He told me he used to have a bad drug habit a few years ago but he doesn’t any more… he just does it a couple of times a month now, and that he has also learned to stay away from cocaine. He feels he is much wiser now that he is older… he told me that before when he had a drug problem he used to snort several pills a day, but now he can take one Percocet and make it last all day… (ARE YOU KIDDING ME!) I know first hand no matter how little you do, the more you do, the more you want to do and eventually its all you want to do… sin and drugs have great parallels, one way or another the sin you allow into your life will eventually consume you.
I don’t care what your vice is! Satan’s first goal is to make you believe you can control it or that you have it under control... “Every one else is doing it, its not that bad”… “Go ahead, just try it this one time”… “It won’t hurt anything if you do it every now and again”… “You’re not that bad you can control it, there are lots of people who are worse than you”… “I can stop any time, and one day I will”... The progression is always the same!
Some one once said; “Sin will always take you further than you wanted to go, make you stay longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you were willing to pay!” No matter whether it’s pornography, drug use, alcohol abuse, gossip, (…you insert your favorite habit) it doesn’t matter; eventually what you once took pleasure in no longer satisfies and now you need to go a little further… a little deeper… be a little more twisted… to chase the feeling you used to get.
It’s like the bug in the bug zapper, flying ever closer and closer to the light… His little bug friend cries out; “DON’T DO IT BOB; DON’T LOOK INTO THE LIGHT”... as he flies ever closer and closer, then… ZAP!
(James 1:13-15) 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.
That’s exactly how sin traps us, ever closer and closer, continually rationalizing our ability to handle it then ZAP! Eventually Satan has us completely in his grip.
If you are contemplating jumping off the fence and “Trying it Just This Once”, or are already deeply caught in the trap of your sin, the only way of escape is to replace it with something else… just walking away or quitting won’t work, you will eventually find yourself drawn back to it again. You must find something else to take up the void that the absence of your sin or the allure of the sin you are contemplating has left. I have also been on this yo-yo. Many people dive into sports or physical fitness, some pursue education or pour themselves into their work… but once again all these are just temporary replacements. I know from experience that the only thing that you can replace your sin with that will completely deliver you is what Jesus has offered us. By realizing that you are powerless in front of the adversary you face and dropping naked (metaphorically speaking) before a loving God who is waiting to deliver you and surrendering not only the sin you are struggling with to Him, but the rest of what you have… and all of what you are to Him and His will for your life alone. I’ve seen bumper stickers that say; “God is my co-pilot”. That is so far removed from the place God wants in your life. He wants to be the pilot, your only obligation is to sit down, shut up, and hold on. The only time you do or say anything is when He tells you to.
You will never be free of your sin unless Jesus has filled the Void that is left by sins departure. If He isn’t there, living inside of you then when sin comes knocking again you will have less resolve to resist and most times you will be far worse off than before when it regains control of your life.
(Matthew 12:43-45) “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.”
Only by becoming completely His and His alone, by becoming His Bondservant… (To put it literally) to become the SLAVE of a loving God… Only then will you truly know what it means to be free!
(John 8:36) So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.
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