Verse of the Day: And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" —Luke 24:32
Memory of the Month: 2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Today's reading: NUMBERS 23-25 MARK 7:14-37
High Centered
Ike had a '55 Chevy that was painted with a spray can. It wasn't particularly fast but it was typical for those of us whose parents weren't wealthy. We nearly all had something to drive if we could keep them running long enough.
The ground around our home town was black ground which turned into slimy, thick wax when it rained. Most of our roads were not paved and so we got stuck if we got into the wrong place during a rainy time.
I was in that '55 one night as Ike slid all over the road that the county was working on and we found ourselves walking into town after he 'high-centered' the car in the bottomless mud. It took a day or two to figure out how to get him out but we did. There was probably five hundred pounds of mud stuck to the undercarriage. That was the hardest job-getting the mud off. When He drove into town, everyone knew he had been driving crazy in the mud.
To be high-centered you are earth bound. Gravity has pulled you down so far the bottom of the car between the wheels is stuck and mired to the earth. No matter how fast you make the wheels go, nothing is moving but the tires.
I have been there myself and have seen many 'high-centered' since that time. But after one has been high-centered one time, you try to steer clear of the deep mud. But, if you are going to drive when it is wet, keeping away from the deep mud is hard when the edges are slippery. If you go too fast or drive crazy, you can slip off and become earthbound.
Life and sin is basically that simple. We must be out in the slimy world to work and make a living. If we get too close to the edge and are not careful, we high-center and get sucked up tight to the earth.
Today, getting in and out of the mud is a sport. The folks and their trucks with lifts and giant tires are proud of all the mud they get on their vehicles and how many times they get in and out and how fast they can do it. It may be great fun but it is still mud and expensive gears still break.
My quote is this: "If you roll with the hogs, you will get mud on you-and before long, you don't even notice the stank".
The social world has become proud of their mud. Sin is celebrated. Being 'earthbound' is celebrated and admired. We are invited to live on the slippery slopes of sin and laugh with glee as we slide off into the deepest slush and the stink of it all is commonplace. If a person is not covered completely with mud, they are considered ignorant and classless and are outcasts.
Stop where you are before you slide off the edge and listen, if you will hear, what God breathed on this subject.
Romans 12:Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
1 Corinthians 6:18 ►Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
Phillipians 4-8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Titus 2:12 ►And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God,
Have you ever seen a character on a movie or other TV show look at another and say, "You smell of fear?"
This is one of the most consuming tricks of our earthbound enemy. They say things like, "Fear is a healthy thing". This is contradictory to scripture.(Do not think I am saying , "Throw caution to the wind". Recognize danger and ask God to plan against it and work His plan and trust Him.)
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
Right now there is a lot to bog us down in fear. There may be a war around the world, yes, so pray and give to the cause God leads you to but then take care of things in your own yard-keep the main thing the main thing-seeking God and His kingdom and righteousness-knowing Christ and making Him known.
For those with a nose, let them smell. Does your life stink? Are you high-centered and earth bound and covered in mud? Only you can answer this but tell it to God. Confess, get right. God loves you beyond all you have done or felt and His mercy endures.
No one in Christ has to be stuck and earth bound-only as long as it takes to confess.
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
I have let sin become the usual in my life. Forgive me God. Clean me up. Fill me with Your freedom. Thank You, God.
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