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Round and round in the same circle.
They soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for His counsel. In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test. So He gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them.--Ps 106:14-15
Round and round.
Actively loving God, then complacent, then rationalizing sin, then worshiping idols, then subjected to bondage, then rescued by God, then back to actively loving God again.
They never quite got it, did they? I wonder why?
I should know, after all. I do it, too.
So do you.
Nobody lives in a constant state of awe and humility before God. Nobody always credits and adores Him for life and love and faith. We all cycle through our own sinful tendencies.
And He knows this. So God gave us a conscience. And He put up danger signs, so we don't have to retrace the same sickening circle all the time.
Do you know your danger signs?
I know mine.
My danger sign is rationalizing.
Here's what rationalizing sounds like:
First comes that prick of conscience, the annoying one, the one I want reason to ignore. Then the justification--
"God won't mind that second, or third, piece of cake. He wants me to be happy and satisfied. He says so."
"I can stay a little later. My husband won't mind."
"I'm so tired. The kids can make their own breakfast. I need to take care of myself, after all."
And I can find a Bible verse to support every one of these.
The bottom line, though, is that I don't want to give up my pleasure and I want God to agree with me.
Sounds a lot like "Did God really say...?", doesn't it?
Rather than using my Bible to teach and enlighten and bring me into God's throneroom, I use it to justify myself.
Here's the beartrap:
The minute I go to my Bible to get more of earth rather than more of God, I'm in trouble.
I have entered my own cycle of sin.
When this happens, this is the next place I must go:
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy Name and glory in your praise.--Ps 106:47
It's all God. All God.
Ouch, so true! We do go round and round. Thanks for the reminder to be aware. :)
ReplyDeleteWe really do go round and round!
ReplyDeleteThanks for popping by my blog to day and linking up!
http://www.howtosurvivelifeinthesuburbs.com/2013/05/its-blonde-its-dude-its-doll.html
I think every Christian struggles with rationalizing their sin, which is why God says he judges our motives. We all should question our own motives daily because it's easy to twist scripture to "fit" what we want, ignoring what God wants.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding. Part of it is being familiar with the whole Scripture, with all of what God reveals, not only the part that suits our own ends.
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