Perversion of the World becomes Perversion in Our Heart

My oh my, I’ve seen plenty written on facebook concerning last night’s Super Bowl, and I must admit that I did not watch any of it. First, I have no interest in football and secondly, I saw enough of the reviews concerning advertisements either rejected or the ones that were going to show that I could not bring myself to watching it even for the commercials. Isn’t that the excuse that many use for watching?

Some have commented as to why these half-time shows are getting so perverted as well as their beloved commercials? Indeed, why? The only answer to such questions is found in God’s Word. If you have read either of my books, or followed my writings for any length of time, you will know that I go back to certain Scriptures and this is no different. First, let’s look at 2 Kings 17:14-15:

“But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the Lord their God. They rejected His decrees and the covenant He had made with their fathers and the warnings He had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do,” and they did the things the Lord had forbidden them to do.”

I now will refer to the “Charles Stanley Life Principle Bible” commentary concerning the above passage. “We likewise disobey God when we do not believe either what He promises or what He instructs—and destruction follows. We reap what we sow, more than we sow, and later than we sow.

If we read the Bible daily, through the Bible in a year, we start gaining an understanding of His instructions for our daily living. We start to understand how to apply His Word to our lives. One such Scripture that God impressed upon my heart a long time ago was, “I will set before my eyes no vile thing.” Psalm 101:3 This leads me to Psalm 119:37, “Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to Your Word.” When we look at worthless things, we start feeling worthless as it says in 2 Kings 17:14-15.

Charles Stanley also reminds us, “God is the Shepherd; we are His flock. He is our Father; we are His children. He is the creator; we were formed by His hand. When we remember these basic truths, we will honor Him and will have more motivation and confidence for whatever situation comes along.”

We must understand that we need to live differently as Christ followers! Ephesians 4:17-19 explains the heart of the lost,

“So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.”

This Scripture explains how people (even those who call themselves Christians) can watch the filth of the Super Bowl half-time. Their hearts are hardened just as pharaoh’s heart was hardened…both live a compromised life concerning the Word of God. Satan tried to get Jesus to compromise and he daily tries to get people who say they belong to Jesus to compromise. One such compromise would be watching something that you know isn’t pleasing to God. We cannot trust our own wisdom or think that we can handle exposing ourselves to sin because it just hardens our heart all the more.

If you still are not sure as to what you should do that pleases God, He has a list in Philippians 4:8:

“Finally, brother (and sisters), whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—thing about such things.” (Please know there are more lists in Scripture.)

God is encouraging us to fill our minds with holy and acceptable things from Him (His Word). We need to make important choices and know that we cannot expose ourselves to the filth of the world and not be affected by it. God knows us, He knows what is best for us. But, He still gives you the choice.

History Repeats Itself IF…

Exodus 1

The Hebrews came to Egypt as a means of survival, they needed food because of a great famine. God had already sent Joseph ahead and prepared him to be only second to Pharaoh.

They lived on the best Egypt had to offer. They lived separate from the Egyptians, continuing to speak their own language, continuing to carry on their own traditions, and they worshipped the Creator of the Universe not the Egyptian gods. Although they lived in the land of Egypt, they were not a part of the Egyptian culture. They didn’t want to be and were not expected to do so. For they knew they would, at some point, go back to the land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The Bible teaches us to pass our history on to our children and their children for one purpose. If we do not learn then teach future generations those lessons, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren are prone to repeat our same mistakes. They will experience the same pain and perhaps even worse…because we did not follow the Lord’s instructions. We are directed to teach the little ones God’s Word, so they know right from wrong.

“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons (and daughters) and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:6-9 NAS

“We continue to need the reminder of how to live a Godly life, including “do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Deut 16:19-20 NIV) Wise words then and we would do well to follow them today. As we fall further away from the Lord, we see more injustices happening and people turning a blind eye. We see babies being killed, homosexuality being accepted, money being given in exchange for favors, the government providing for the needy where the people of God should be walking alongside these people, and we are accepting such sin. This should not be!” (“Faithful Promises of God, Day 46, 2 paragraph) By the way, I wrote this in 2015.

May God purge the evil from this land and may it start with each one of us repenting of our part in this sin. May we only look to God for any change in this country and fall on our faces in surrender to serve only Him. Yes, God uses men to fulfill His will and we are to be obedient to our government, as long as it is following Biblical guidelines.

Perfection or Obedience?

Off and on in my adult years, I have had the joy of gardening. Years ago, I was introduced to banana peppers and found them to be a tasty treat. So, I decided to grow them in my garden. It is so fun to watch as the little seed is planted and soon sprouts a tiny green shoot. As time goes on, you have a plant that starts producing fruit. With the first little pepper, I was so excited. It grew and almost seemed to be the perfect pepper, some of its siblings were bent and mangled but that first one was perfect. I gave it the name, Perfect Phil.

Perfect Phil grew and grew and only looked better with each passing day. Then the day came when I picked Perfect Phil, I could hardly wait to taste the first pepper I’d ever grown. I took Perfect Phil to the kitchen, washed this vegetable that I’d grown from seed and then cut into it. Oh no! It wasn’t nice inside, in fact, it appeared nasty and rotten!

People can be like Perfect Phil. They can look good on the outside. In today’s world, a person’s looks are so important or the way they present their house or car but once we take a look at the inside, it’s another story. You may have to get to know the person to some extent before you realize that they aren’t so nice inside. You know, a person can only pretend to be nice for so long before their true colors come flowing out…usually out of their mouth.

Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Life and death, that’s powerful words. You can see this oftentimes in marriage. A marriage can flourish when kind words are abundant. When one or both people build one another up on a daily basis. Not only do they enjoy being around each other but others like being around a couple who lets the Spirit of God act as a cooling salve for their partner.

“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45 As we read the Bible daily, it is seed to help us change our speech. It seems that today many people use cursing in everyday speech and don’t even care if it offends those around them let alone that God instructs us “but among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.” Eph 5: 3-4

We may not understand why God is asking us to act a certain way, but perhaps it is not for us to understand. If we are obedient to His Word, blessings will come. Can we know what God is asking of us if we do not read the Bible daily? To seek Him at all times so as to be obedient?

Ephesians further tells us, “Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.” (5:8b-12)

We have a choice to make, we can be a Perfect Phil where we look good on the outside but are rotten inside or we can be intentional in living a life pleasing to Christ. When we please God with our behavior, we will please those around us. And if those around us are not pleased, it is probably best not to be around them.

You still have plenty of time to start reading the Bible for 2020. Don’t worry about getting “behind”…that is for human terms. God will have you right where he wants you.

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