There was once a woman who married a very powerful, influential man. This man loved her with all his heart, even though she held no status or money herself. After a few years, she began to get frustrated and disillusioned. When he asked her what was wrong, she replied, "Don't you love me?" He replied, "Of course I do!" She cried, "Then why haven't you given me more money? Why haven't you gotten my boss to give me a promotion? Why am I stuck driving an older, used car?" Taken aback, the man replied, "I've given you a house, food, transportation... everything you need to live your life." She shook her head and said, "No... I want more. I want more money, power, recognition... if you truly loved me, you'd give me these things. I thought that was why you married me!"
When put into this context, I imagine that most everyone reading this is probably a bit disgusted with the woman's behavior. Such is the behavior of those subscribing to the Prosperity (or "Health & Wealth") gospel. It is the behavior of a mercenary.
But we all instinctively know that if a relationship is truly based on love, then the reward for pursuing your spouse IS your spouse. We have a modern-day, pop culture term for people who pursue someone for more than just themselves: "Gold diggers."
Christ did not die to give you treasures that most & rust destroy. He died to give you Himself.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Not Every Hindrance is Sinful
Hebrews 12:1 - "Therefore... let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely..."
Not every hindrance is inherently sinful. Indeed, the enemy is often most able to hold us down with things that we consider harmless. This is why everything has to go ("sell everything and follow Me"), not just things that are inherently sinful. These things can be especially dangerous, because unlike blatant sin, we believe that we're OK, or that it's even helpful. What we don't see is how we take it to excess, or how God has been trying to get us to surrender it completely, but we tell ourselves, "there's nothing wrong with X". We are hindered and the hindrance is fully justified in our minds because we are focused on ourselves, not God.
We must guard against these things, because the hardest cancer to heal is the one that we don't believe is cancer.
Not every hindrance is inherently sinful. Indeed, the enemy is often most able to hold us down with things that we consider harmless. This is why everything has to go ("sell everything and follow Me"), not just things that are inherently sinful. These things can be especially dangerous, because unlike blatant sin, we believe that we're OK, or that it's even helpful. What we don't see is how we take it to excess, or how God has been trying to get us to surrender it completely, but we tell ourselves, "there's nothing wrong with X". We are hindered and the hindrance is fully justified in our minds because we are focused on ourselves, not God.
We must guard against these things, because the hardest cancer to heal is the one that we don't believe is cancer.
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