Wednesday, 09 May 2012

• There's Something in the Cake: Living the Pure Christian Life

  I talk a lot about sexual matters and masculinity issues and teach on things that are not normally talked about within the church. I do this because I care about what's on God's heart and I know that he cares about these things. He cares about us and what we do here on earth. Yes, our little selves and the little things we do matter greatly to him. Nothing escapes his knowledge.

  I heard somebody once say that the Christian life and faith are like a chocolate cake. It's rich and delicious and you want to enjoy it and share it with other people. If you put a little bit of animal dung in the cake, just half of a teaspoon, you won't be able to taste the dung over the stronger and sweeter flavors present in the cake, but you wouldn't want to eat even a bite of it knowing what's in it.

  This is our Christian life. We can do wonderful things and read the Bible and love people with all of our hearts, but if we download music off the internet without paying for it, that's dung in our cake. We can worship God and go to church and preach repentance, but if we read erotic stories, even just once a month and think it's fine, that's dung in our cake. Do you think God can accept dung cake? You and I wouldn't eat it, so why do people think God can overlook it? 

  We must be sensitive to the little things that ruin our salvation. There will always be sins for us to repent of and purge from our lives, and we can't overcome every sin we have all at once. But as the Lord reveals these sins to us and convicts us, we must not dismiss them and think that we are okay without repenting. It doesn't matter how small of an issue it seems to be, what excuses we have for it, how justified we think we are in doing it, if other people are doing it, or if we've gotten away with it for years thus far -- it's dung and God cannot accept us if we hold onto it.

  Yes, there's grace, but not for the proud. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:9-10)

  Don't fool yourselves into thinking this thing or that thing is okay or that you have time and you can deal with it tomorrow. This is not a matter of being less good. If you hold onto even little sins and think they are okay, then you are calling God a liar when he convicts you of your sin, his word is not in you, and you are not saved. This Christian life is a race, and you can either keep running, or you can stop and walk off the track, but only those who finish the race will receive salvation. Don't stop running and running along the track marked out for you.

  Do you have little sins you try to excuse or get away with? How can we apply this idea of holiness and purity in a practical way?

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