Sunday, May 30: The balance of your Christian walk

Living in this world after becoming a Christian is like walking on top of a fence. On one side of the fence is the world while on the other side is heaven. Hebrews tells us that we are seated in the heavens already, for God is outside of time and sees us in our future home. Yet while we are in this temporary dwelling place, and in these earthly tents, we are being constantly attacked through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. (1 John 2:16) There are times when we fall from the precarious position of balance into the world, but the Lord pulls us back, just as Jesus reached His hand down to rescue a drowning Peter, after Peter had walked on water like the Lord.


Having saved us from the world, the Lord doesn’t want us to feel the pressure of following the Law, as even though the 10 Commandments were perfect, they were designed as a tutor to show us that we could not follow them all the time. Instead, the Lord gave us a system designed with our flaws in mind. That system is Jesus, the only perfect man, who died for our sins, spilling His innocent blood instead of ours to pay the price for each of us. If you have accepted the Lord as your personal Savior, you are no longer a slave to sin, but you will continue to sin until the day you are in His presence. Some people who claim to be Christians miss the point, and continue in their sinful practices, knowing the Lord will forgive them. Doesn’t that dishonor the work on the cross of Jesus rather than honor Him?


15 To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
Titus 1:15


We honor Jesus through our works and through our lives. Yes, we are sinners, saved by His grace, and we will continue to make mistakes. Yet Jesus will teach us through those mistakes. Each day, we should become more like Him. There are many Christians who argue about sin. Is it a sin to smoke? Is it a sin to drink? With half of Christian couples in the United States getting divorced, is that a sin? If you feel that any of those are wrong, they are!


14 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Romans 14:14


Be careful that you don’t venture into “moral relativism,” or the belief that we decide what is right or wrong by how we feel about an issue. That is not what the Lord is telling us in His Word:


21 It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. Romans 14:21


Instead, understand the bigger picture. If anything we do causes a fellow Christian to stumble, we are to walk away from it. It doesn’t matter if the Bible specifically mentions that action as sin or not. Smoking is certainly a great example, as it is never mentioned in the Bible. We know the addictiveness of nicotine, and the fact that smoking is frowned upon by even a majority of non-Christians. We also are aware of the fact that the body is the temple of God, and smoking certainly is bad for that body. Recent statistics show that one-third of all smokers will die because of that habit. When a fellow Christian sees you smoking, can it cause them to stumble? Could they rationalize their own sinful behaviors through your action? ”If he can smoke cigarettes, then I can smoke pot. God never mentions marijuana in the Bible and it is grown naturally.”


There’s an easy answer to those weak arguments. Don’t do it if it causes your brother to stumble. If this sounds a little black and white, it is! Through the writings of Paul, God took the gray areas and brought them to His side. Walk in the light for God is Light! We should desire to resemble Jesus rather than the Madison Avenue idea of what is cool or acceptable.