Last year I dealt with a situation in my life that I had to deal with a consequence of my sin. Let's be very clear, the bible says, "All have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God." So yes, I fell subject to a weight in my life that I hadn't take off yet. I began to cry out to God because I knew that it was my bad decisions that led me to this place. I was saved and suppose to be living a life that represented Christ, but it was one thing that I had taken off.
During that time, I had slowed down reading the word and praying. I think it was because I had allowed things that were evil, or maybe a better word would be carnal, to enter my life. Before, when use to read the word of God, conviction would fall and I would feel so bad about the things that I was doing that when the world talked about "sins to avoid" and "commands to obey", I was looking for ways to put those things into action because I truly had a desire to live in the light of Christ. I wanted to live honestly as a representation of the Christ inside of me as well as bear witness to his truth.
Reading my Good Morning Girls scripture this morning really had me thinking. In Ephesians 5:15-16, Apostle Paul write to the church in Ephesus. He tells them:
"Be careful how you life. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.
I know you have heard that song, "Everybody plays the fool sometimes." Well guess what, I can testify to that. We all have played and will play the fool sometime in our lives. God desires us, when we accept Christ, to take off our old man and clothes ourselves in righteousness. Many people struggle because it's hard to take off things that you have been accustomed to for so long. When you accept Jesus Christ into your life as your Savior you decided to make the decision consciously to live like him. Paul urges us in the book of Colossians that we are to live as light. Why light? Because light is what shines through darkness. Darkness has no ability to shine through darkness, but light creates a pathway for us to make it through darkness and it gives us a guide to a better lie.
Our lives before Christ represented darkness. Every desire was evil. Every desire was selfish. Every desire was sinful. Our acceptance of a new life provided us an opportunity to hold the flashlight through this path only if we desired to! And why would you not? I don't think anyone desires to walk down a dark alley at night without any light. You really don't have an idea what is lurking near or far. But what does make sense is to have some light to help you lead the way.
Do you even know what that light is? Let me share something with you, that light is Christ. Christ that lives inside of you, his spirit, that has taken a place in your soul to guide you through the path of life, unknown, and dark. Remember the scripture above? Paul says for us to be careful how we live. Why do you think Paul was so concerned? It's like when a parent tells their teenager to be careful going out at night. Why? Because it's dark outside and in darkness a lot of evil things can take place. This is what Paul is concerned about.
This world is evil and full of desires powered by evil. These desires sometimes are dressed in pleasing apparel, but they are designed to look persuasive to catch our attention. They manifest themselves in forms that look appealing, good, attractive, but the backend is really evil, sinful, and deceitful. It's mean to destroy you and cause you to make foolish decisions. Here we have an opportunity, like Paul said, to make the most of these evil days. We put on our googles of wisdom and we live by the power of the Spirit.
The Spirit of Christ in us is what gives us power to see what is moral and good. As people of light, our actions must reflect the one in whom we represent so that others can bear witness to his goodness. The spirit tugs on us to remember the word of God. It immediately goes into intercession for us because it know what we are up against.
During that time, I had slowed down reading the word and praying. I think it was because I had allowed things that were evil, or maybe a better word would be carnal, to enter my life. Before, when use to read the word of God, conviction would fall and I would feel so bad about the things that I was doing that when the world talked about "sins to avoid" and "commands to obey", I was looking for ways to put those things into action because I truly had a desire to live in the light of Christ. I wanted to live honestly as a representation of the Christ inside of me as well as bear witness to his truth.
Reading my Good Morning Girls scripture this morning really had me thinking. In Ephesians 5:15-16, Apostle Paul write to the church in Ephesus. He tells them:
"Be careful how you life. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.
I know you have heard that song, "Everybody plays the fool sometimes." Well guess what, I can testify to that. We all have played and will play the fool sometime in our lives. God desires us, when we accept Christ, to take off our old man and clothes ourselves in righteousness. Many people struggle because it's hard to take off things that you have been accustomed to for so long. When you accept Jesus Christ into your life as your Savior you decided to make the decision consciously to live like him. Paul urges us in the book of Colossians that we are to live as light. Why light? Because light is what shines through darkness. Darkness has no ability to shine through darkness, but light creates a pathway for us to make it through darkness and it gives us a guide to a better lie.
Our lives before Christ represented darkness. Every desire was evil. Every desire was selfish. Every desire was sinful. Our acceptance of a new life provided us an opportunity to hold the flashlight through this path only if we desired to! And why would you not? I don't think anyone desires to walk down a dark alley at night without any light. You really don't have an idea what is lurking near or far. But what does make sense is to have some light to help you lead the way.
Do you even know what that light is? Let me share something with you, that light is Christ. Christ that lives inside of you, his spirit, that has taken a place in your soul to guide you through the path of life, unknown, and dark. Remember the scripture above? Paul says for us to be careful how we live. Why do you think Paul was so concerned? It's like when a parent tells their teenager to be careful going out at night. Why? Because it's dark outside and in darkness a lot of evil things can take place. This is what Paul is concerned about.
This world is evil and full of desires powered by evil. These desires sometimes are dressed in pleasing apparel, but they are designed to look persuasive to catch our attention. They manifest themselves in forms that look appealing, good, attractive, but the backend is really evil, sinful, and deceitful. It's mean to destroy you and cause you to make foolish decisions. Here we have an opportunity, like Paul said, to make the most of these evil days. We put on our googles of wisdom and we live by the power of the Spirit.
The Spirit of Christ in us is what gives us power to see what is moral and good. As people of light, our actions must reflect the one in whom we represent so that others can bear witness to his goodness. The spirit tugs on us to remember the word of God. It immediately goes into intercession for us because it know what we are up against.
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