Admiring Without Coveting

 

The greatest fallacy of our current world is covetousness. The "haves" and the "have nots" are polar opposites. Many of those who do not have, believe there is nothing wrong with taking from those who do have. Theft and murder, home invasions, are on the rise.

Thieves do not even wait until the cover of darkness, they will break into a home in the afternoon when everyone is at home. They tie people up, gag them, force one of them to go to the bank and empty their accounts and turn everything over to the thief.

Admiring a person's wife or personal possessions is not enough for them (Deuteronomy 5:21). They want, without working for it, what the other person has; and they want it now. At times, desperation will fuel a person to use desperate means to provide for their family; however, some people are just too lazy to work.

The Bible encourages us to rejoice when someone rejoices and to show empathy when someone suffers loss (Romans 12:15). Did someone buy a new home with unusual architecture and modern conveniences? Rejoice with them.

Did someone inherit a large sum of money and use it wisely to better their circumstances? Rejoice with them. Did someone find a great deal on a new car? Rejoice with them.

There is too much tragedy in our world to add to it by coveting what our neighbor or family member has. Weep with them; but we also rejoice when someone is blessed, even if it is a greater portion of blessing than we received.    

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that every good and perfect gift comes directly from You. You are the Father of Lights and You bless those who walk in your ways (James 1:17). You even bless the sinner, which causes grumbling among the ranks of those who faithfully serve You. Yet, through this You show us that You willing allow Your rain of blessings to fall on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).

You show Your love to thousands of generations, which proceed from those who love You - blessing our children and their children throughout the years, even beyond our day of our death - which is our deliverance from the ties of this earth (Exodus 20:6). Your ways are perfect and we want to have more of the mind of Christ and less of the mindset of this world (Philippians 2:5), so that we can rejoice in another's good fortune.

Thought for the Day:

People who seek wealth often fall into a snare and their foolish, harmful desires plunge them into destructive behavior and its consequences, which causes them to fall away from their faith in God and to reap grief and sorrow for themselves. - 1 Timothy 6:9-10

Sinner or Saint

 

If Christ dwells in our Born Again spirit, our body and soul cannot live in a lifestyle of sin, because it grieves God's Spirit to be a part of anything remotely sinful.

What is a sin? Sin is missing the mark of God's perfect holiness. The main sin is that of unbelief (John 3:18). We condemn our self to hell by our unbelief. No one sin is more grievous to God, than unbelief (Romans 14:23).

The Bible gives us several lists of other particular sins, such as fornication, witchcraft, strife, envy, murder, alcoholism, homosexuality, backbiters, disobedient to parents, proud, unmerciful, covenant breakers, profane, whoremongers, liars, divorcing one's mate, thieves, foolish talk, jesting, covetousness and blasphemy to name a few (Galatians 5:19-21; Romans 1:26-32; 1 Timothy 1:9-10; Revelation 21:8; Matthew 19:18-19; Ephesians 5:3-7, 18; Mark 7:21-22; 2 Corinthians 12:20).

The Body of Christ will welcome most sinners into the ministry with carte blanche forgiveness, except someone who has been divorced. They act as if divorce is the unpardonable sin; even if the otherwise qualified man did not want the divorce.

Yet, we see that there are other characteristics which should exclude someone from the ministry. Consider an alcoholic, a murderer, a liar, a permissive parent, or a sex addict. These are all equal qualifications, and yet often ignored (1 Timothy 3:1-13).

The good news of the Gospel of Christ is that while we still lived in a lifestyle of sin, Jesus died for us all (Romans 5:8, 11). Jesus became sin for us all, so that we all could become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The only unpardonable sin is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31). All other sins are forgiven and covered by the blood of Jesus for everyone with the courage to call on His name to be saved.

Prayer:

Father God, You consider anger just as sinful as murder, and lust as hateful as fornication. There are no mortal and venial sins in Your eyes. One sin is as disgusting to You as another (Matthew 5:22, 28,32). Thank You for Your sanctifying work in our life, which sets us free from sin and death (Romans 8:2).

Remind us that if we say we are Born Again, and yet we sin with immunity and no negative side effects, we are deceiving our self (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8). A Born Again Believer may dabble in sin for a season, or carry a sin with us into our Born Again life, but we cannot tolerate sin for very long. This is because Your holy presence within us cannot dwell in a sinful environment.

Thought for the Day:

The sanctification process takes us through our season of unrighteous living, and changes us step by step to exhibit more Godliness than unrighteousness; we live as an example of a Godly Believer, full of love and spirituality.

Why We Need Jesus

As we view the Ten Commandments, we realize that we break the heart of God in sin whenever we worship anyone or thing other than Him, use His name as a curse word, disregard Sunday as a day to worship the Lord, disobey our parents, murder, have physical relations with someone to which we are not married, steal, lie or covet what belongs to someone else (Matthew 5-7).

Jesus taught us the nuances of some of these commandments when He stated that anger is as vile as murder, and lusting as sinful as adultery. He even said that when we belittle one another we are in danger of going to hell (Matthew 5:22-28).

Paul goes into even more detail when in Galatians 5:19:21 he list as sins: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft, rebellion (1 Samuel 15:23); hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

He also stated that whatever we think, say or do that is not coming from faith is a sin (Romans 14:22-23). John tells us that all wrong doing is sin (1 John 5:17). James says that when we know the right thing to do and we omit doing it, we are sinning (James 4:17).

Under the law, Saints had to keep every word of the law or be cursed to an eternity in hell (Galatians 3:10). Reading these lists may cause us to feel condemnation from Satan; but thankfully, if we stop doing them, we are free from condemnation (Roman 8:1).

That is why we need Jesus as our Savior. He is the blameless Lamb of God who takes away our sins (John 1:29). With his dual nature as God and man, He could do what we could never do. He lived in sinless perfection.

Now, Christ lives in us with this same divine power and nature (2 Peter 1:4). Through His sacrifice on Calvary's cross, He exchanged our sin for His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

By faith in God's saving grace, we receive His Spirit to cleanse our spirit from Adam's sin and our own (Galatians 3:13-14). God's Spirit also gives us both the desire and the power to live in holy communion with God at all times (Colossians 1:27; Philippians 2:12-13).

Prayer:

Father God, while we were still lost in our sin, You loved us (Romans 5:8; 1 John 3:1). Even though we do not deserve it, You faithfully forgive us for every sin from which we repent and turn away (1 John 1:9). You condemn no one, but we condemn our self by refusing to believe in Jesus (John 3:16-18).

Remind us that You know that the rewards of sin are actually wages that we have to pay for partaking in this destructive behavior. Teach us that we reap what we sow, and You want to spare us from the degradation and suffering caused by sin.

Thank You for desiring instead that no one will ever perish in hell, but that everyone who truly repents and surrenders their life to You will enjoy eternity with you in Heaven (2 Peter 3:9).

Thought for the Day:

The sins listed for us in the Bible are there to help us to realize that without Christ we can do nothing. - Philippians 3:14; Galatians 3:24