I love how the apostle Paul can pack so much wisdom in so few words. There’s no way one post can do this verse justice, but I’d like to point out just a few things that stood out to me from an incredible sermon we were blessed with last week at our church.
Stay away from things in life that don’t matter.
Whatever we do, God calls us to reflect His glory (I Corinthians 10:31). When you think about that responsibility, you don’t have time for most things.
Charles Spurgeon put it this way:
“Run away from them; it is no use contending with them. Fight with the devil. Resist the devil, and make him flee, but never fight with the flesh. Run away from that. The only way to avoid the lust of the flesh is to keep out of its way. If you subject yourself to carnal temptations and fleshly lusts, remember it is almost certain that you will be overcome by them. “Flee youthful lusts”, and as you must keep going and have something after which to follow.
What would you think of a man who went as near as he could to burning his house down, just to test how much fire it would stand? Or of one who cut himself with a knife to see how deep he could go without mortally wounding himself? Or of another who experimented as to how large a quantity of poison he could take? These are extreme follies, but not so great as that of a man who tries to see how much sin he may indulge in and yet be saved.”
Spiritual maturity is a big deal.
Why? Because people will look at you way before they will look at a Bible. Life is an ongoing mission trip, yet we often don’t recognize that fact. We get all fired up to go on a mission trip, but forget to look for everyday opportunities to show we live boldly for Christ.
How do you know if you’re spiritually mature? Simply put, mature people don’t do immature things.
What you spend most of your time doing is who you are.
Does the way we live our lives reflect that we’re pursuing righteousness, faith, love and peace? Or does your life not look much different than those who are far from God? This verse can be a constant check & balance that we are truly living for God with our actions.
We’ll never be perfect, but living with the reminder of our call to pursue holiness guiding our actions is a great way to ensure our lives point others towards God.
Watch the entire sermon by our friend, @stuarthenslee, below:
