Sunday, August 25, 2019

Called To Holiness

Bobservations Column
By Pastor Bob Lawrenz

Today in our reading we read what I think is one of the scariest verses in the entire Bible. God’s chosen people, whom He has called the apple of His eye, have turned their back on Him repeatedly, and He says He leaving them until such time as they come to their senses. He’s leaving them!
Reading in other passages, we know God draws them back, but how could we live without His daily presence, especially after once knowing Him? 

What is it that keeps us turning away from God? We have read it in the Bible: it’s that lie that Satan spoke to Eve. Genesis 3:5 – “For God knows that in the day that you eat the fruit of that tree, your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like gods, knowing good from evil.“ But such Godly knowledge must first be accompanied by Godly wisdom to make it apply to daily living!

Rejecting God takes place everyday. We hear it among our youth and among the strong-willed. Feeling immortal in so many ways, they say “You’re not the boss of me; nobody’s getting hurt here, we’re all consenting.” It is the rejection of authority, and the rejection of God’s warnings. 

Our culture has barred God from having access to our children, our next generation. And even among churched families, Sunday School is not enough; the parents must hold true to teaching their children of God’s plan of salvation, and His laws regarding Godly and ungodly behaviors. There is an epidemic of sin in today’s world: heroin and opioids, crack cocaine, marijuana, and an array of sexuality choices like we’ve never seen before. Yet God’s Word stands as it is, giving warning. Those that eat the fruit of THIS tree shall surely die. 

I wonder how many fentanyl victims, how many heroin victims, how many users of LSD, cocaine, practitioners of a free-love lifestyle and AIDS patients might ask for a “do-over” had they just seen the consequences of their choices. 

“Being as a god” is beyond the finite human mind, but some are not convinced until it’s too late. There’s too many choices, and too much wisdom that we lack! We can be grateful that Christ Jesus saved us from all that, and from His wrath in the future, and we find that God’s Word is absolutely true:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the
knowledge of the holy is understanding.”  ~~ Proverbs 9:10

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