Today’s reading is Romans 13:1-14:23.

“The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:12-14).

I needed to read this today. Thank you, God, for the reminder. Some days are harder than others. Some days are fraught with temptation. Today is one of those days for me. I needed this reminder that my job today is not to make provision for the lusts of my flesh. Today, I need to put on Jesus Christ. I need to wear Him like clothing, like armor of light. I need to surrender the works of darkness that are tempting me to Him. I need to throw them away from me and just let Him guide me into the next right thing.

As Galatians 2:20 says, I need to let Jesus live in me today. I need to work on increasing my faith in Him today. I need to understand that pursuing orgies, drunkenness, immorality, sensuality, quarreling, jealousy, et al, will not draw me closer to God, but drive a wedge between us. These will not make me the man I want to be but will lead me further down a path of guilt, shame, and slavery.

Today, I’m going to wear Jesus.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 23:1-24:27.

“And looking intently at the council, Paul said, ‘Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day’” (Acts 23:1).

How important this is. I understand this is Paul’s defense of his whole life. I also understand that our conscience can be wrong as Paul’s conscience allowed him persecute Christians at one time. But this verse reminds me of something I have learned. I have to live with a good conscience (cf. I Timothy 1:5), not simply because God requires it. Rather, I’ve learned that when I’m living in violation of my conscience, it sets up a dreadful cycle.

I violate my conscience. Even though I try to cover it up on the outside, my inside is in disparity. I may not even consciously know what is wrong, but something isn’t right on the inside. It is like a splinter is festering in my heart. There is pain, discomfort, depression, perhaps despair. Wanting to get rid of these feelings, but not wanting to face what is really going on inside, more sin becomes appealling to try to numb the pain I’m feeling. I sin. Having gone against my conscience again, the process continues in a downward spiral.

The only solution I’ve found is to face the reality of my actions. Confess my wrong to God and to another person, making amends with whomever I sinned against and then surrender my life and actions to God. God can and will purify my conscience. If I don’t have that good conscience, I’ve learned I’ll be a in a world of hurt. Today, I’m going to work on living with a good conscience before God.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 3:1-4:37.

“When they were released, they went to their friend and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them” (Acts 4:23).

It must have been a little frightening to be arrested for teaching about Jesus. They must have at least endured a little temptation to give up. What was the first thing they did? They went to their friends.

This is why choosing my friends is so important. I need to make sure that my best friends, the ones I’m going to lean on when trouble strikes, will support me in the right direction. If my best friends are in the world or, even as Christians, pursuing the flesh, when trouble strikes and temptation hits, the support I get won’t point me in the right direction. I need friends who are striving to walk by the Spirit who will lift me up and help me follow Christ even when I’m arrested for teaching in His name.

Praise God for the great friends I have who are walking by the Spirit, who can advise and pray with me. Of course, this means I have to do what these apostles did. I actually have to go to them when the trouble and temptation strikes instead of holding it on the inside.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Luke 3:1-4:44.

“And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone”‘” (Luke 4:4).

What?! I don’t just need bread? Of course, I need eggs, bacon, ham, etc. If you’re just giving me bread, I at least need some jelly. But I don’t think that is what Jesus is talking about.

Actually, I need this reminder often. Life isn’t about this life. Life is about eternity. The biggest question for me today is not what do I need to eat to survive until tomorrow. The biggest question is what is the next right thing for me to do to walk Jesus’ path to eternity. What do I need to do to survive temptation, sin, and Satan. I need to remember that my spiritual life is hanging in the balance today. Follow my own path and death awaits. Follow Jesus’ path and life, liberty, joy, and serenity will comfort me. What will I choose today?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Mark 1:1-2:28.

I was struck pretty early in today’s reading. When the Jews were going out to see John the Baptist, they were being baptized and confessing their sins.

I recognize, of course, that the confession that is part of becoming God’s child is not the confession of sin, but the confession of faith in Christ (Romans 10:9-10). However, this confession caught my attention. Perhaps it caught my attention because of something a friend said to me recently.

“I didn’t really grasp God’s grace, until I actually started confessing my sins.” It was when he began to list out what he was forgiven for that he began to realize exactly how much God had done for him and exactly how much God must love him.

By the way, notice they did more than simply confess that they were sinners. They confessed their sins. Let’s not argue about how necessary this is in order to be saved. Instead, let’s simply recognize how beneficial it is to see God’s love and forgiveness. I’m going to spend some time today considering what God has done for me, what God has forgiven me and be reminded of how much He loves me.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Romans 5:1-6:23.

What a great reminder I received today:

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:12-14). 

Paul goes on to ask if we should sin because we are under grace and the answer is “By no means.” 

Paul gives a great reminder. I’m under grace now, but that doesn’t mean I can keep submitting myself to sin. Sadly, some become Christians and act as if that means any sins we commit are just wiped clean. They forget the power of sin. Sin destroys and dominates. If we have been set free from sin by Jesus Christ, let us not willingly surrender ourselves to sin again. If we think we can control and enjoy sin now that we are Christians, we are very much mistaken.

Today, instead of presenting my members to sin to obey its lead, I must submit myself to righteousness to obey its command. Since I am under God’s grace, I can actually accomplish this. Apparently, if I’m just under law, presenting myself to righteousness doesn’t work quite as well. However, since I am under grace I can live in such a way that sin won’t have dominion over me. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ who delivers me from the enslavement to sin that I so willingly walked into throughout my life.

But again, that freedom doesn’t mean sitting on my thumbs and just waiting for God to take my sins away. It means surrendering to His righteousness (that comes by faith in Jesus Christ). That’s what I’ll be working on today–surrendering to Jesus’ righteousness.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get from today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Romans 5:1-6:23.

Romans 6:17-19 says, “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”Romans 6:22 says, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”

Freedom and slavery. We have both one way or another. If we submit ourselves to sin, we are free from God, His law, and His righteousness. However, we are slaves to sin. We may think we will only go so far, but it won’t happen that way. Sin will take over. It will take control. We cannot control sin. It will control us. However, if we would through Jesus Christ be free from sin’s control, we must submit ourselves as slaves to obey God’s righteousness.

Sadly, it seems that some folks today have the idea that being free in Christ means being free to do what we want. Not so. Being free in Christ means being set free from the power of sin, but we can only be set free from the power of sin when we are willing to completely surrender our lives to God. He gets to call the shots. We do not. Here is the great benefit. Just as committing sin leads to more sin, obeying God from the heart will lead to more obedience and through that to sanctification.

Please, do not miss the subtle paradigm shift we need to have here. For most of my life, I’ve had the idea that I needed to get my life under control. That is not what Paul says. Paul says I need to quit trying to control my life and instead hand the control over to God. What that means to me is instead of me trying to have all the strength to do what I think is right. I need to just do what God says. When I submit to God, He will fill me with strength to grow even more in what He says. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” 

Many of us want complete freedom. Paul points out that it just doesn’t exist. We will be enslaved to something. The question is will we be enslaved to sin? Or will we be enslaved to God? The former may seem like a greater freedom because I seem to get to do whatever I want. But it leads to death. In time you will recognize that you have actually lost control and sin is taking you where you didn’t want to go. The latter may seem like real slavery because someone else is clearly calling the shots and even reining us in from where we initially wanted to do. However, in the long run, this path leads to life and takes us where we all ultimately want to go.

***Question: Why do you want to choose slavery to God over freedom to sin?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Acts 5:1-6:15.

To me, Acts 5 contains one of the most shocking stories of the entire New Testament. Ananias and Sapphira lied about the price of their property when they laid the money at the apostles’ feet. With very little time to repent, God took extreme measures and killed the couple. Admittedly, that seems a little harsh to us. Death for lying? When some read this today, they believe God is immoral, hateful, cruel. That is sad, because they are missing the point.

The story is not to teach us that our God is an immoral killer. The story is to teach us exactly how bad sin is. Ezekiel 18:20 had said, “The soul who sins shall die.” Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” 

Here, at the beginning of the new covenant, God gave a great demonstration. Our sins are not light matters. Our sins make us worthy of death. God, as judge of the universe, has every right to meet out that judgment immediately. The fact is with every lie we’ve told, we deserved death from God for sinning against Him. When we think that is harsh, that doesn’t mean we are more enlightened than God; it means we lack the understanding of how tragic every sin really is. Have you ever lied? Then you need a Savior.

What is truly amazing is not that God struck down Ananias and Sapphira immediately. Rather, it is amazing that the pages of Scripture are not covered with the blood of sinners. It is amazing that you and I are still standing, having been given time to repent and receive the free gift of God which is eternal life (Romans 6:23). The pages of the New Testament are not covered with the blood of sinners because they are covered with the blood of Jesus who died so we don’t have to. Praise God!

***Question: What are some other shocking things you find in Scripture and what do you learn from them?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Revelation 17:1-18:24.

Babylon, the great, the city which was the center of attack against Christianity is fallen. Among those who realize this book is about the persecution those early saints were facing, some suggest this city is Jerusalem and others Rome. Sadly, some today are trying to figure out which city of our future this will be. That is a mistake. But no time to discuss that now.

What I couldn’t help noticing was why so many were enamored with the city. I couldn’t help noticing why so many chose this prostitute over the holy mother of Revelation 12. 

Revelation 17:11-17 shows the merchants mourning because there was no more cargo. The delicacies and pleasure were gone. We are often enamored with the harlotry of sin because of the momentary pleasures. Let’s face it. Sin is fun. It’s exciting. It offers a lot in the moment. We may even hang out there a while enjoying the spoils and pleasures of our immorality. But its end is death and judgment. Don’t be fooled.

Revelation 17:17-20 shows the shipmasters mourning because they could no longer get rich off the cities harlotry. We are often enamored with the harlotry of sin because it can grease our pockets with material goods. I can’t help but think of the e-mail I received this morning about Apple accepting pornographic apps for the iPhone now. Very sad. Folks don’t traffic in this harlotry because it is healthy, they do so because it can make them wealthy and they know it.

The key, however, is that all those who are enamored with this harlotry will be judged in one hour. One hour they will be living the high life (maybe) and the next, they will be judged.

Of course, there is an interesting verse in Revelation 17:16. “And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire…” That is interesting because these are the ten kings are integrally connected with the prostitute. They hate her but they will mourn for her in Revelation 18:9. How does this make sense? I see it as the trap of sin. It promises so much and so we are enamored with it, but it delivers so little. Therefore we hate it. But we keep thinking the next trick will provide the satisfaction. It’s a trap. We hate it and love it all at the same time. When we are trapped in the harlotry of sin, we see the damage it causes and want to stop. But we are enthralled with its promises and so we push farther in it, constantly disappointed. 

So, those enamored with Babylon the Great, may not be living such a high life. They may be caught in the ever spinning ratwheel of sin trying to catch the carrot of sinful satisfaction but only getting exhausted and falling into despair. Yet, they just won’t get off the wheel. Then judgment will come and they’ll mourn.

Remember, sin promises much. It provides little. And if you continue to be enamored with it, you will eventually mourn its destruction and your judgment.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

Today’s reading is John 21:1-25; I John 1:1-10.

I John 1:6, 8 provides an interesting balance. It’s a balance we Christians today need to remember. In my experience it’s very easy for us to fall off one side or the other of this middle path.

In I John 1:6, John says, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” Then I John 1:8 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

On the one side of this middle path is the danger of acting like we are so righteous and sinless. With the exception of one nutball I talked to on a radio program I used to do, I don’t think I’ve ever met or talked to anyone who would consciously claim they didn’t sin. However, I’ve seen us Christians subconsciously act that way. I’ve seen Christians talk down their noses about someone who has sinned, perhaps someone mentioned on the news, perhaps someone at work, perhaps someone in their family, or perhaps some struggling brother or sister in the church. Often these Christians will offer a throwaway statement that says, “Oh, I know I’m not perfect,” but all the while their conversation says, “But at least I’m not like them.” John wants us to remember that we are all sinners. We have no right to look down on anyone no matter how great we think their sins are. If we act like we are above them, we are liars and the truth is not in us. By the way, while I have no doubt John is saying “the truth” in reference to the information that is true, I can’t help but recognize up in I John 1:2, his reference to Jesus was “the life.” Jesus said He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” If the truth is not in us, we are not just saying true information is not in us, we are saying Jesus is not in us.

On the other side of this middle path is acting like since everyone sins, walking in sin is no big deal. We can’t claim to have fellowship with Jesus while simply continuing in our sins. I don’t believe John is talking about the struggle with sin that we have while we grow in Christ adding virtue and self-control and growing within them (II Peter 1:5-8). In my mind, the concept of walking in sin is that continual devotion to sin. Once again, I doubt many of us would admit to being continually devoted to sin. Yet, I’ve seen Christians, I’ve been the Christian, who claims to simply be a struggling grower who really wasn’t doing anything to overcome a sin. It is easy for us to tacitly just let sin have control and repeatedly excuse it because, “Nobody’s perfect.”

The important thing is God recognizes both sides of this. Jesus died because “nobody’s perfect.” However, His death is not a license to sin for those who want to walk the path with Jesus. Let’s walk on the middle path with Him, neither puffing ourselves up as if we are the righteous ones in the midst of the rabble or excusing ourselves for our own sins.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?