Wednesday; September 6

Through the years of my spiritual development I have noticed a trend that seems to be rather unique to our times.   After the 1940s and 1950s there seemed to be a philosophy shift toward what might be called “real-life Christianity”.  While I believe that the Word of God is relevant to all times and places, this theory seemed to pursue a path toward a gritty, earthy tone.  Instead of lauding the values of avoiding sin and temptation, many people believed that the blessing of Christianity was in just how close it could come to the edge.  Rather than trying to extract people from sinful situations and placing them in the idyllic pastoral setting of churches, they marched into the battle zone of good and evil and assisted people dealing with life and death struggles.  While there is value in this, sometimes the lines tended to be blurred and there was a willingness to accept situations that were not tolerated by the Scriptures.  To appeal to people in turmoil the message of coping overshadowed the need for transformation.  Rather than promoting the idea of purity and holiness, the emphasis was placed on doing battle with satan in his backyard. That’s a noble quest, but too often the wounded where never extracted from behind enemy lines.
Yes, I am an idealist when it comes to spiritual living.  As such, I do not believe that the goal of Christian living is to look as much like the world as we can while still holding on to the basic beliefs.  When we repent (change) we need to begin to look and act significantly different than the world.  After Peter called the early Christians a special people, a royal priesthood; he challenged them, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” (I Peter 2:11)  Let’s be willing to go into the fires of sin to save a soul, but let’s make sure that we return us and them to the safety found in the purity of God.
          Think About It!

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