Can religion become an addiction? Can it offer an escape from reality? Worse yet, could it give someone a false sense of security concerning their relationship with God? What would a religious addiction look like? And could churches today be full of people suffering from religious addiction?
Also, read about how the Israelites tried to justify living life their own way and then tried to avoid the consequences of doing so. Could we be doing the same thing today?
“I’ll just sin now and ask for forgiveness later.” Have you ever been tempted with that thought?
The deceitfulness of sin tells us that we can go ahead and sin even though we know it’s wrong, then we can ask God to forgive us and that’s all there is to it! But that’s rebellion against God and you can’t be both rebellious (determined to go your own way) and repentant (turning to go God’s way) at the same time. But there’s an even bigger problem with this kind of thinking. What is it?
Also, in today’s post, read about chocolate-covered dirt, foolish talk, and dirty jokes.
James compared God’s Word to a mirror and anytime we look into the mirror of the Word it can help us see where we need to change and grow. As we meditate on the character of Christ, we can see where we’re not like Him. Today’s reading has two lists: the fruit of the Spirit and the deeds of the flesh. We may think we know which one describes us, but let’s look again.
Nehemiah 8.10 says, “… the joy of the Lord is your strength.” How did the people in Nehemiah’s day go from brokenness over their sin to joy? Why should we find joy for the same reasons?
Also, read about the importance of different spiritual gifts, why it’s so important to understand the character of God, and how God uses the storms in our lives.
I don’t have to tell most of you that life can get messy. Much of that messiness is the result of our own choices. Those messes and the consequences are often what God uses to get our attention. As a result, we experience sorrow and regret. But is sorrow or regret what God requires? Rather than regret, He calls us to repentance. But what exactly is that? Is sorrow, depression, or something more?
And on a wider scale, have you taken some time to think about your plan to grow spiritually this year? We are never standing still with God. We are either growing or slipping backward. Let’s always be growing.
False religion and prosperity can both have an intoxicating effect on men and women.
In its extreme, false religion enables people to become suicide bombers, terrorists, and even radical defenders of abortion or gay rights. But there are other forms of false religion that can be just as dangerous to us personally.
Prosperity, on the other hand, can lull people into a materialistic stupor that renders them blind to what’s really important.
Also …
When we experience sorrow over sin, is it worldly sorrow or godly sorrow? This is important to understand because one leads to life and the other to death. And, finally, what do we have in common with lions, greyhounds, goats, and kings?
Blended Families Part 12: Seven A’s of Confession In last week’s post, Blended Families Part 11: How to Start Dealing with Ex’s, we talked about some of the reasons for conflict and the beginning steps of working toward a...
