And let us consider how to sir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.
and immediately, i am tested…
after a blessed retreat. after learning and being convicted that i need to man up… after being encouraged through prayer and praise… after being given ways i can live out a christian life on a daily basis… i am tested immediately.
it’s so hard. disheartening. frustrating. i feel like i’m just taking jabs to my gut. oh Lord, please come to my rescue.
i feel like dying.
please do not let me fall to sin. please do not let me become bitter, judgmental, or vengeful. please hold me through this.
how do we know aren’t perfect in Christ yet?
it’s because we still find things of this world… things that are created… things that are not edifying… we still are attracted to these things.
Lord, i pray that You would stir in us the wisdom to flee from these things… to take radical action to avoid these things… so that we know You are our all and all… so that nothing unholy has a place in our hearts.
dear proclaiming Christians (self included),
are you emotionally attached to anything that you ought not to? stop lying to yourself. it’s hard enough following and obeying Christ without it. why would you actually want something that would distract yourself or even cause you to forsake Christ all together? stop lying to yourself! you have to count that as loss… and gain Christ!
for so what if at best you are happy for the rest of your life with your heart set on something sinful? what will that save you on the day you stand before the Lord? will your memories from all the places you’ve traveled to save you? will all your education? will your money? will your sweet, handsome, beautiful, funny, caring non-christian boyfriend/husband save you? no.
stop lying to yourself! you say, “well i can be the change, and i will not be led astray.” or you say, “even if i do this, Jesus will forgive me.”
the bible says it is unwise. the bible says to guard your heart and not love the world. the bible also has plenty of accounts where a person who loved God got tempted and led astray into sin because the devil is cunning. your heart is deceitful. you will be in too deep before you realize it. and the bible says you cannot love two masters. it says that tolerating sin in your life is a sign of unbelief. you don’t have to be perfect, but you must hate and be warring to expel the sin within you. so toleration of sin is disobedience and a sign of unbelief, and unbelief means that your faith is not in Jesus. who will save you when you stand before God and you do not have faith in Jesus?
do not love anything that you know you ought not to! you must fight it! it is a war! no matter how charming, innocent, satisfying, beautiful, kind, entertaining, this might be… if it is not of God… do not set your heart on it… do not even become emotionally attached to it.
please count it as loss… and gain Jesus. so what if you lose that and have Jesus. He is everything anyway.
“charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.”
(Source: rebekahlcook)
