Paul’s Blog: Not All About Rabbits

“…For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give my thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. …” - Ephesians 1:15-23

Paul the apostle wrote this to the church in Ephesus some time after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I think it is a good prayer for people to pray for each other, so that everyone could have a spirit of wisdom and knowledge of the Father, who is God who created the whole world and everything in it and is in control of everything, and to have eyes that can see God’s work in the world and see past the obvious things.

What is the hope that the Ephesians were called to?
What are the riches of his inheritance?
What is the immeasurable greatness of his power?

I think these questions are still relevant to everyone today. Some of what Paul wrote there is conditional ‘in the saints’ ‘toward us who believe’. I think the answers can be found in the bible, in our eperience of living in knowledge of god, and we will see our hopes fulfilled by God at the proper time. What is it that you hope for? What is it that we can and should hope for because God has promised it?

I think Paul starts to answer about the greatness in the next part. The same power that raised Christ from the dead, which is more powerful than anything on earth, above any authority here. That is the same power God can use for the good of people who believe in him, and he promised it because he said “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” - John 6:40. This means that even though everyone dies, the people who believe in Jesus, will be ‘raised up’ and given new life when Jesus returns to earth, which he will.

As it is the 7th day of the month, Today i am reading proverbs 7

There seems to be a main point to it and that is do to avoid going nearan adulterous or seductive woman (or you can put man there if you are a woman I guess) I think its an analogy for avoiding all kinds of sin. It may be too late to turn back at the last minute…

keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend, to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.
(Proverbs 7:2-5 ESV)

Dont go there

One part of wisdom to bind on your fingers (as it says) is to avoid even going near this womans house. Or dont even take the first step on something that is going to lead to sin.

This reminds me of some new testament verses:

“Flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:1

“Flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14)

“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

Dont deliberatly go where temptation is, like the young man in proverbs 7 does. Dont go there with your mind or your body. As soon as you feel yourself start to go that direction pray and ask god for help at that time, not once you are in the situation of the young man in proverbs 7:21

The lies

Something else i wanted to blog about was the lies that are part of sin.
It is mentioned breifly in this proverb:
“he does not know that it will cost him his life.” (Proverbs 7:23)

Why doesn’t he know? I guess that part was convieniently left out of the woman’s seductive speech.
Personally I find that whenever I am tempted the lie is ‘this will make you feel better’ or ‘this will make you satisfied’. Thats probably slightly different for different people.
So sometimes you have a choice between doing the right thing, and sinning. Sin will always try to make itself look like the better option. As people, we weigh up choices and try to choose the ones that benifit us the most. This is above the issue of self control. Self control is looking at a choice and decided not to do it,even though it is very appealing, because you know its wrong. Sinful things often do look appealing, but the appeal is a lie! Sin never tells you about the consequences or punishments (but god does) and whats more, you dont even get what you thought you were getting. Most times you are NOT satisfied, and you DONT feel better in fact you feel worse.

Heres an example: Someone is rude to you
Sinful response: be rude back to them
The lies: ‘you will feel better for it’ ‘you will win‘ ‘you will teach them a lesson’
The truth: you will feel worse, they will feel worse, you might have a fight on your hands. No-one wins. You lose some self-control.
The godly response: Well what do you think?

I could think up heaps more examples but I dont want to look like im dictating peoples behaviour.
Now Jesus Christ has taken the punishment that we all deserve for each of our sins, but we still have to try to avoid sin.
Avoiding sin is not a lifestyle of sacrifice to please god, It is for our own good. There is no gain from sin, because every gain that we are told or imagine that we would get by sinning, is a lie. But we are not losing anything by not sinning!

Comments Welcome