Galatians
5:19-21 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, sedition's, heresies, Envying,
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you
before, as I have also told you in the past, that they which do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
To
start off, I'll answer the question people ask when they read these two
verses: What
is the flesh? The flesh is in
essence the carnal nature of man that is tempted. What is the carnal
nature of man? Carnal means
temporal, worldly, merely human, not spiritual. We all are living in the flesh
when we are born and as we grow up until we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost,
which is God's spirit coming into us, changing and dwelling in us. (Acts 2:38).
The Bible talks about living in the flesh can result in dying, not a literal
death but a spiritual death. Living in the flesh can cause you to turn away
from God and the things of God. Living in the flesh can cause temptations to occur and if you aren't careful you will give into those temptations. The
temptations could be something as small as lying or as big as fornication or
adultery.
Hatred is a big fleshly manner that a lot of people struggle with, including me. There was a time where someone said some rather rude comments about me on a social media site, and what was said was rather alarming and preposterous. At first I didn't really know how to react, all I could say was "Wow, you've got to be kidding me." But after a while, I started to meditate on what was said and tried to decipher why this individual thought it was appropriate to say such hateful things. Not only was this person filled with anger and hatred towards me, but I became full of anger and hatred toward that person. We are all human, we all become angry at certain things, and we even say "I hate this" or "I loath this person". After a while I brushed off the things that were said and I moved on with my life. But there is still a small part of me that is still "hating" what this person did and said. I don't always remember that the Bible teaches against holding anger against someone and hatred being of the flesh. It is important that we are always cautious about what we say and even think about certain things. Not only can we become full of anger that it overwhelms us and it takes over our live and changes how we think, but it can turn into hatred. Hatred is of the flesh, and whatever you do that is of the flesh, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. Of course, if you repent and ask God to forgive you of hating this thing or this person, and you are sincere about it, he will forgive you and it will no longer be an issue. But if you don't realize that you need to be careful and always live our life in a good and acceptable manner to God, then you won't have to worry about not inheriting the kingdom of God.
Idolatry is something that a lot of people think was just for the Old Testament when the people of Israel decided to make another god, which was a golden calf. You can read this in Exodus chapter 32. It is rather amusing to say the least, because when Moses has gone up unto the mountain of Sinai with the two tablets for the ten commandments. The people tell Aaron that Moses has been gone for a while and they don't know what's happened to him, so make them gods who will lead them. When Moses confronts Aaron and asks him how could the people do this, he said in verse 22-24 "Don't be angry sir, you know that these people are evil.They said to me 'We know not what's happened to this Moses who brought us out of Egypt. make gods for us. They will lead us.' So I told them to take off any gold they were wearing. They gave it to me, I threw it in the fire, and out came a calf!" I think it's rather humorous that Aaron was pretty much blaming the whole issue on the people and the only thing he did was throw the gold in the fire and the calf just appeared there. What this story can teach us is that God is a jealous God. He doesn't want us to live half for him and half for something or someone else. Whatever you put all of your time into is an idol. Whatever you love with everything in you is an idol. If you make no time for anything else other than this one thing, it's an idol. Technology can be an idol. Clothing can be an idol. Even a boyfriend or girlfriend can be an idol. If you spend all of your time with your girl/boyfriend and you give God no time, that person is an idol. You shouldn't be so consumed in your life that you forget the basic disciplines of being holy and righteous and living for God. My parents have always told me to put God as a top priority and whatever will follow God will take care of.
Matthew 6:33 "But, first, be concerned about his kingdom and what has his approval. Then all these things will be provided for you." (God's Word Translation)
Hatred is a big fleshly manner that a lot of people struggle with, including me. There was a time where someone said some rather rude comments about me on a social media site, and what was said was rather alarming and preposterous. At first I didn't really know how to react, all I could say was "Wow, you've got to be kidding me." But after a while, I started to meditate on what was said and tried to decipher why this individual thought it was appropriate to say such hateful things. Not only was this person filled with anger and hatred towards me, but I became full of anger and hatred toward that person. We are all human, we all become angry at certain things, and we even say "I hate this" or "I loath this person". After a while I brushed off the things that were said and I moved on with my life. But there is still a small part of me that is still "hating" what this person did and said. I don't always remember that the Bible teaches against holding anger against someone and hatred being of the flesh. It is important that we are always cautious about what we say and even think about certain things. Not only can we become full of anger that it overwhelms us and it takes over our live and changes how we think, but it can turn into hatred. Hatred is of the flesh, and whatever you do that is of the flesh, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. Of course, if you repent and ask God to forgive you of hating this thing or this person, and you are sincere about it, he will forgive you and it will no longer be an issue. But if you don't realize that you need to be careful and always live our life in a good and acceptable manner to God, then you won't have to worry about not inheriting the kingdom of God.
Idolatry is something that a lot of people think was just for the Old Testament when the people of Israel decided to make another god, which was a golden calf. You can read this in Exodus chapter 32. It is rather amusing to say the least, because when Moses has gone up unto the mountain of Sinai with the two tablets for the ten commandments. The people tell Aaron that Moses has been gone for a while and they don't know what's happened to him, so make them gods who will lead them. When Moses confronts Aaron and asks him how could the people do this, he said in verse 22-24 "Don't be angry sir, you know that these people are evil.They said to me 'We know not what's happened to this Moses who brought us out of Egypt. make gods for us. They will lead us.' So I told them to take off any gold they were wearing. They gave it to me, I threw it in the fire, and out came a calf!" I think it's rather humorous that Aaron was pretty much blaming the whole issue on the people and the only thing he did was throw the gold in the fire and the calf just appeared there. What this story can teach us is that God is a jealous God. He doesn't want us to live half for him and half for something or someone else. Whatever you put all of your time into is an idol. Whatever you love with everything in you is an idol. If you make no time for anything else other than this one thing, it's an idol. Technology can be an idol. Clothing can be an idol. Even a boyfriend or girlfriend can be an idol. If you spend all of your time with your girl/boyfriend and you give God no time, that person is an idol. You shouldn't be so consumed in your life that you forget the basic disciplines of being holy and righteous and living for God. My parents have always told me to put God as a top priority and whatever will follow God will take care of.Matthew 6:33 "But, first, be concerned about his kingdom and what has his approval. Then all these things will be provided for you." (God's Word Translation)
No comments:
Post a Comment