We choose life or death every moment, almost
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God,
which I command you this day:
And a curse,
if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God,
but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day,
to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
Deuteronomy 11:26-28
Sounds easy enough, right?
It’s not
Following Jesus is a struggle against our flesh
Every single day we are to take up our crosses
Daily, He said
Choices
We choose what we think about
and what we decide to ponder in our hearts and minds
what we are going to do
what we are going to say
We give ourselves permissions
Permission to do this and permission to do that
We justify
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh:
and these are contrary the one to the other:
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Galatians 5:16-17
And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh
with the affections and lusts. Galatians 5:24
Sounds easy enough
We can do that, but it’s a constant war
We battle our own flesh or lie down and let it take us captive
It could be anything, but we’ll use pornography as an example
It is very wicked and evil
We all know that
Those thoughts go inside a person and can take over
Jesus said it is not what goes into a man that defiles a man
but what comes out Matthew 15:11
So, the lust and ugliness is already there
pornography just feeds it
Choices again
What do you choose to spend your time thinking on?
What do you justify?
Will you let Him cleanse you?
If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me John 13:8b
Where does Jesus rank in importance in your life?
Many choices
Constant choices
The key is to cut off those things that cause us to sin
Like Jesus said in a harsh metaphor,
if your eye causes you to sin, cut it off
Or your hand, cut it off
That means cut off anything that keeps drawing you, luring you
Could be the computer
Could be the TV
Could be friends who speak of fleshly lusts
and influence you in a harmful way
Or maybe the two of you together influence each other negatively
Whatever it is, cut it off
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,
and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof:
but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
1 John 2:15-17
It is pretty clear from many bible passages
that we are to resist the lust of the flesh with God’s help
Choices again
If we continue to choose the world, we are playing with fire
We are to be single-minded for the Lord
putting off the old man and living in the newness of life
Sound too hard?
It is
It is impossible
It is too hard and impossible in our own strength 2 Chronicles 16:9
We have a savior who can help us to put to death
those lusts of the flesh
Committing those desires to Him
and drawing on His strength, which is also a choice Ephesians 3:16
Will you let Him?
That too is a choice
Carry it on your own or let Him help
You will have much more success with the latter
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you,
that I have set before you life and death,
blessing and cursing: therefore choose life,
that both thou and thy seed may live:
That thou mayest love the Lord thy God,
and that thou mayest obey his voice,
and that thou mayest cleave unto him:
for he is thy life, and the length of thy days
Deuteronomy 30:29-30a
Scriptural References:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust
after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee:
for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish,
and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee:
for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish,
and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Matthew 5:28-30