White Washed Tombs

Read: Matthew 23:27-28

In my early years as a Christian, while talking with our Associate Pastor’s wife, I concluded a very lengthy monologue. She responded by summarizing my description, “Then what you are telling me is that you are a white washed tomb.” 

A tomb? Me? But…as I reflected on what I just told her, I realized that she described me perfectly. I was a white washed sepulcher (Matthew 23:27-28)!!! 

Although I already repented of my sin and believed in Jesus Christ for my salvation, presently busyness pervaded every moment of my life. These distractions prevented the Holy Spirit from using me as He so desired. I appeared clean on the outside by Jesus’ blood, but actually putrifying sins and attitudes occupied my inner, carnal nature. The horrible fact about this ungodly predicament is that I had absolutely NO idea how to change this situation in my life!

I knew God; yet, I did not know how to be one with Him. For years prior to this day, I spent my time trying very desperately to please God. I knew my eternal Salvation was guaranteed by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, but I still tried to earn God’s love by my works. I was so active FOR God that I could not squeeze a personal relationship with Him into my busy schedule.

After all, I had three children and a Pastor husband who brought with him the responsibilities of a growing inner city church. Everyone in the family looked to me to match socks, find shoes, and have hot meals on the table three times a day. The phone rang constantly with church members calling for me to quote the price of mushrooms at the grocery store, to head some committee, to start some new program for the church, or to give them counsel on some malady. When did I have time to do more? I never even had time for myself, unless I stayed up late at night, which I often did.

Henry David Thoreau, in his book, Walden, mentions the “mass of men leading lives of quiet desperation.” This quiet desperation threatened to strangle the life from me. I realized that I needed to get serious with this problem, before it got serious with me!

Someone said, “The good things can become the enemy of the best things.” Sometimes we forget that the good we do often robs us of time that we could be doing the best thing. Our goal in life as Christians is to be led by the Holy Spirit moment-by-moment throughout the day. This is the only way to possess ultimate fulfillment and an intimate relationship with the true and living God.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for caring enough to show me that busyness robbed me of intimacy with You. Thank You for teaching me to spend quality time with You every day and for drawing me closer to Your heart in the process.

Thought for the Day:

Making mistakes is part of living; but thankfully God forgave them all by dying.

Renewing Our Mind

Read: Ephesians 6:10-18

Read this verse very carefully:
"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure."

- 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)

Many people misinterpret this verse by saying that God will not give us more trials than we can bear. Clearly, this is not addressing hardships, but is about the temptation to sin. Every recognized version of the Bible, which you read will give you this same word…tempted.

God does not diminish our trials, because He uses trials to work character in our life (James 1:3). He does, however, strengthen us to resist the temptation to sin. He wants us to walk away from temptation as victors, rather than to succumb to Satan’s trickery as his victims.

Temptation is common to all of mankind (1 Corinthians 10:13) and does not affect our Salvation. The first unholy thought is not a sin; it is a temptation. It is Satan’s tool to draw you away from spiritual pursuits. We only sin when we agree with and entertain those ungodly thoughts and quests. When we are tempted, God always gives us His wisdom to see right through Satan’s lies, if we will just take the time to pay attention.

One way we withstand temptation is by renewing our mind (Romans 12:2) with the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Another way to outsmart the devil is by pursuing eternal matters rather than allowing issues in the earthly realm to consume us. This is easier said than done.

Since we live in this world, its shackles continually pull us back to earth. Some people are spiritually immature and do not recognize Satan’s wiles. They give in to a wider range of fleshly, degenerate, fraudulent behavior that ends up bringing God’s judgment on their lives.

Others are less overtly sinful; yet, they are still excessively preoccupied with worldly pursuits. Some people are just idle gossips or full of anxiety or prideful about their own accomplishments. These are all sins, however, that God always gives us a way to escape from, if we will listen to His still, small voice.

If we make a commitment to follow Christ, then withstanding temptation gets easier every day. As we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, read the Bible, listen to the preaching of God’s Word, worship with fellow Christians and share with others what Christ is doing in our life, then Satan will find very little that he can use to tempt us to sin. This is especially true if we renew our mind by putting on the mind of Christ (Psalm 27:11).

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for the tools You give us to live a faithful life, which is victorious over sin. When Satan attacks, prepare us to do battle using Your armor (Ephesians 6: 11-14) as our defense.

Thought for the Day:

Our defense against temptation is to be fully dressed for battle (Ephesians 6:10-18).