July 5, 2018
Watch out for people
who are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk
and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Romans 16:18
Christians are not
supposed to be satisfying themselves, but satisfying The Lord.
“You’re worth it!” … “You deserve a break today” … “Calgon, take me
away!”
Those are some classic promo lines of commercials many years
ago, that supported the idea we each need some “me time”. It’s considered both appropriate and healthy
to have some personal time, doing the things we enjoy and satisfying our own
appetites. The only problem is that
someone forgot to tell God about it.
Apparently Lordship is not defined that way in His book – He sees
Lordship as living for Him, not living for ourselves!
Now … before you read this and start defending your own
hobbies, let me be clear! God GAVE us
life and breath and everything that is good.
Hobbies, entertainment, and activities are not in themselves bad things. In fact, used properly, they touch the heart
of everyone when it matches what we were designed for. However, turning a hobby into an expectation
is how idols are formed in our lives, and soon Jesus is no longer Lord of our
lives, but a scheduled activity in our lives.
Satisfying our own appetites is often the bait that hooks us into
Satan’s deadly traps of sin. SO BE
CAREFUL!
Notice something about all of those things --- when we start
participating in those activities regularly, you will hear The Voice of Justification start speaking! Deep in our spirits, we’ll start questioning
ourselves, and The Voice starts
trying to convince our minds that we deserve it, or we’re not so bad, or it’s a
good thing that makes us happy. Then, The Voice shows up in our friendships,
as we surround ourselves with others who ALSO enjoy those hobbies, giving us
leverage to believe indulging ourselves is acceptable. Finally, The
Voice starts talking through convincing people or even partial Scriptures,
turning true advice into half-truths, and affecting our beliefs about God,
life, and our own purpose.
The Voice has
great power – flattering us and deceiving us into thinking our preferred
activities deserve priority in the schedule, first dibs on our money, and all
of our best energy. You know The Voice is working well when worship
is no longer the priority, giving is not the first action, and serving God
becomes an obligation.
But the bottom line is always the same --- when satisfying
our own appetites becomes more important than satisfying God’s appetite, we
have switched Lords! And that’s when you
know The Voice has taken over.
If you claim Jesus as your Savior, then make it your
appetite to please Him as your Lord.
Don’t listen to The Voice any
longer – listen to His Word! Find the
happiness and joy in satisfying HIM in your activities (yes, even occasionally
the righteous activities He created you to enjoy). But instead of doing them to satisfy
yourself, find out how God wants to use them to help satisfy His desires.
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