Then the Lord saw
that the wickedness
of man was great
in the earth,
and that every intent
of the thoughts
of his heart
was only
evil continually
Genesis 6:5
An axiom to live by is that God's patience is not His permission. This fact was aptly demonstrated when God saw that man was "continually" wicked, all their thoughts were wicked. Out God's mercy and love He saved eight people and certain animals in an ark. The LORD was pleased and said: "And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, 'I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done" (Genesis 8:21). This sinning surpassed all limits; for, having invented wickedness in the beginning as so involved themselves in death and corruption, they had gone on gradually from bad to worse, not stopping at any one kind of evil, but continually, as with insatiable appetite, devising new kinds of sins. Adulteries and thefts were everywhere, murder and raping filled the earth, law was disregarded in corruption and injustice, all kinds of iniquities, were perpetrated by all, both singly and in common. Wars with cities and nations filled the earth, and the whole earth was rent with factions, while each strove to outdo the other in wickedness. Even crimes contrary to nature were not unknown: "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due" (Romans 1:24-27).
Whether it be "good' or 'sin' what a person comes to believe is what he or she will demonstrate in the exercise of life. In either case, whether 'good' or 'sin' in the exercise of life those attributes begin in the smallest of manner; unfortunately for many they have not ordered their lives well and each generation becomes further in their disposition; this same change can be for the good and that is why we are told to teach our children, and to live our lives in the knowledge of Him. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6). Do we do this with our children? Have we actually set time aside to teach our children the truth and guide them so that they place God first in their lives? Recently I had the opportunity to be around Jehovah Witnesses, I disagree with their theology to the uttermost, but, so often Christians will blame them for their lives, the fact that they are faithful in what they believe. One such thing that is common among those people is that they do teach their children regularly at home. Playing soccer, or football, or being on a team is not the most important thing in their lives, it is raising their children. This is not true of most Christians, they are running too and fro taking their children to one event then another; there is sport practice, music lessons, and other such events that take up much of the time, in fact they seldom sit down to dinner together, prayer with the children is sporadic at best; and we wonder why so many young people leave the Church after high school Let me use an example of sin ever increasing over time if not checked by those who have the truth of God's word. Many of us can remember when on the television show "Ozzie and Harriet" aired and even though in real life they were married to each other, on the show they slept in separate beds. This may seem silly to many today who follow another form of morality as there is an openness towards sex, and there is a promotion of sexual behavior that can be found on the internet that feature sexual content, i.e., "So and so is wearing a see through blouse, this or that one is openly admitting their sexual preference towards the same sex,,,,etc. This behavior is inconsistent with Biblical principles that is nothing more than morals be degraded, or as some may thing, that this "new" morality is in some sense, more acceptable, man is more "sophisticated."
I am sure that you can see this fact that man has acquiesced and there is a from of evil that has become all too commonplace. Not that certain evils did not always exist, they did, only now even with the movies they find a way to make money sing these evils for that end; rather tan to hold high good and oppose the bad. This leads me to ask the question, to myself and to other Christians: "Do you rent or go to movies that you know have content that is in opposition to Biblical principles? Do we attend events that are principled in sin? Are you willing to forgo sensual pleasure of any type that is not Biblical. Do you, or me, use the things of this world, and receive our enjoyment from them rather than to use them to assist us in our Christian lives and not to receive enjoyment from which we are not a part of: "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:16). This is the prayer of Jesus Christ for all those that the Father had given to Him (John 17:6) asking that those given to Him would be one with Him and with the Father especially while we are here on earth. Is that prayer being slammed, discounted by our lives? Jesus is asking that we become sanctified: "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth" (John17:17). So often we are led to read literature that seems so "good" and so "holy" yet is so far removed from Biblical truth, such books as the "Secret" or the "The Shack," and have misled people. The truth we need is God's Word and that alone is where truth may be found. Don't be one who "steps" on the love of our Savior that became incarnate so that He might pay for our sins and lead us into the truth, enabling us to live by that truth. Therefore, the solution is the incarnation and this we must investigate and come to a Biblical understanding of the necessity for Jesus Christ to come to this earth and take on a human body, but also why He must not be an angel, but God. This is the next blog.
God was manifested in
the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
preached among the Gentiles,
believed on in the world,
received up in glory.
1 Timothy 3:16b
May God Give To You Grace--Your Daily Bread
Richard L. Crumb
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