The Giant of the Flesh

Truth be told we all have a problem with walking the Christian walk. It is not easy for us because we are faced daily with the difficult decisions that surround us. The world is in our face constantly and the desires take over. We have open sexuality all around us. We can't even watch a moment of TV without it being flaunted in our face. We have the desire for wealth taunting us with the latest gadgets, vehicles, houses, and clothing. We see others living as they chose to live having a seemingly enjoyable life and we are sitting there struggling and wondering why. We see others in our churches doing the same thing and we wonder why is God allowing them to have such a great life here on earth while I am sitting here struggling so we cut back. We cut back on what we should be giving to God. We cut back on our time. We cut back on our service. We cut back on our worship and instead of getting better it only gets worse. Our churches are filled with people who are not there to seek God's face but to simply look good and it is creating a void in the world. Our kids are walking away from the church and we are not doing anything about it and we must ask ourselves why it is happening. If we do not generate a desire for God in our own lives then we cannot expect others to do the same. The giant of indifference has all but destroyed our churches and the lives of believers today. The problem begins with us as individual believers because we have forgotten that the Christian walk is not simply going to church but a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. We wrap ourselves up in busyness so as to limit the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I know this to be true because I am just as guilty as everyone else. We have a form of godliness as Paul states in 2 Timothy 3:5 but we deny the power thereof. We think we can be friends with the world. You know just keep that little side sin and everything will be alright but we are denying the power of the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us. We forget that we can't serve two masters because we will eventually come to hate the one while serving the other. The question then becomes what are YOU going to do about it? All we really have to do is to consider what we really want. God tells us His thoughts on the subject in the book of Revelations, chapter 3 verse 16: So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth (KJV). In other words because you are lukewarm I will vomit you out of my mouth. This is the same thing that Peter was facing when he wrote 2nd Peter and he gives a very simple guide to keep it from happening. As I began to read this book of Peter for the umpteenth time the first thing that struck me was Peter's opening. You see in the past I was simply reading it. I wasn't looking for anything to really affect me because I wasn't wanting to be changed by God's word, but this time I was looking for and expecting God to speak to me. To open my eyes to what was really going on in my heart and life. So as I began reading I am thinking of the Peter of the gospels. The rough and tough burly fisherman who had a habit of putting his foot in his mouth but that wasn't who I saw this time. This time I saw a man who was humbled. A man who despite his position considered himself a servant, not only to God but to his flock. Immediately Romans 12:3 came to mind; ....not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. I realized then how much Peter had changed over the years and in doing so his authority became so much more apparent in his writing. He doesn't mince words after his greeting because he had the sense of urgency that time was short. Not only because this is written shortly before his death but because the influences of the world were infiltrating the early church much in the same way it has gotten into ours today. He begins speaking truth. Not simply in hate of the sin but for the love of the sinner. As I got to verse 3 I saw a giant being destroyed. The giant of disability was completely dismantled before my eyes. The excuses that are so readily given were completely torn down in that verse. "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:" When we recognize that it is only by Him and thru Him that we are anything at all then we see ourselves as what we truly are; nothing. You see He did not save us because we possessed some great gift that He couldn't do without. He saved us because He loved us. We are His creation. Everything that we have and need comes from Him. Oh, we might have worked for a paycheck but it is because of Him that we have the ability to work. The other thing is that all that we need to live a life that honors Him is provided to us. The true knowledge of Him acknowledges that we do not merit His gifts or favor on our own or by anything that we might do. It is only thru Him who has provided us with a life to live influenced thru Jesus Christ and when we fail to do so it is because we are unwilling to surrender our will to Him. He gives us these gifts not so we can puff ourselves up to look good to our neighbors but so that He might be seen thru us. Look at verse 4: "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." However In order to escape the corruption we must do something. Just like if we expect to receive a paycheck we must complete a task, if we expect to be able to live a life that honors and glorifies God we must work at it. That is the giant that is defeating us today. The giant of laziness. We don't want to have to work at it. The problem is that there is also another giant at work against us and that is the giant of indifference. I think that I am going to end this here. There is much more to go over but we can do it another day.