Adapt or Die...

The world as a whole looks for opportunities to find benefit from any given situation as sin takes a hold of men’s wills. Our carnal nature’s far stronger than the mind’s will. The law informs the mind what is right from wrong and yet even with that knowledge we still cannot do what is right! - The Apostle Paul had this to say about it; “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.” (Romans 7:7-8) 

Do you recall the story of the scorpion and the frog? “…halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs. "You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?" The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drowning’s frog's back." I could not help myself. It is my nature." Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river. Self-destruction - "It’s my Nature", said the Scorpion…”

We are so self-centred, that we all seem engulfed in our own things and if it does not put us out, only then we will consider giving to those in need.  

A man works so that his family may eat, not to put bread on his neighbour’s table. “Adapt or die” seems to be the slogan of the day for so many. Life and the pressures of it seem to cry “now”! And yet we are hard pressed with such negativity at times; the pressures of life most certainly an enemy of the cross and as a matter of fact an overarching enemy for so many; in fact it is exactly the pressures of life that will cause “the love of many to wax cold”! Pressures of life will strain relationships for those who are overtaken by it. Our carnal natures will always choose self above others! Without Christ’s Spirit it will be an impossible task to change our habit in this area of our lives. Sin is far stronger than our wills! “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18-19)

Therefore without the “Spirit of Christ”, without a born again spiritual existence it will be impossible to achieve a genuine laying down of one’s life, there may be a will to want to do it but we will never achieve it.   

I now address the Christian; in order for us to achieve the fruits of the spirit in our daily lives we need to be surrounded by like-minded people; “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25) – The harder life becomes the more we must make it our endeavour to meet with Christians so that we may encourage one another to press on in our hope, eternal life and to ever be with our Lord and Saviour is our ultimate goal. We must Share one another’s burden, we are our brother’s keeper!

 

When we learn to use the “pressures of life” to our advantage it will be well with our souls! How so? Firstly we must look to others to find inspiration and who better to look to than our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. This was His experience; “And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."” (Luke 9:58) – What I find very interesting here is the evidence of men’s hearts; we always have an excuse for not doing something; “To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."” (Luke 9:59-60)

The Bible teaches us that when we are weak we are in fact strong; Irony personified! And yet what does this actually mean and how can we use it to our advantage? What must we do to hear God’s voice in our lives? We must listen! How do we listen, He will not speak as it were with an audible voice as in times past. That was something He chose to do a very long time ago. He now speaks to us through His Son, who is the WORD of God. We will hear his voice when we explore the scriptures, or someone else explores them for us. Sitting under ministry when the bible is used to exposit a text, or when we in our quite time read and study the scriptures. This is the only true test to hearing correct coaching. When someone says God spoke to me we must ask the question, “How did He speak to you?”

Here is some doctrine to back up my train of thought; “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” (Hebrews 1:1-2) - In other words in the Old Testament God spoke to men through prophets, He used them to reveal his will for men. Moses a man chosen by God and appointed by God was used to free the Israelites from Egypt. He used an audible voice when instructing Moses and used many signs and wonders to prove His power to them. Ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea and the tumbling down of the walls of Jericho. It was such an amazing manifestation of God’s power that those who witnessed it had no doubt that God was behind it all! “If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses: with him I will speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches.” (Numbers 12:6-8)

However in this dispensation under the New Testament, these “last day” as they are called by the writer of Hebrews, the gospel’s special consideration! It is the final finishing revelation from God for his creation. It is complete and it is final, nothing is to be added or taken from it. The cannon of scripture has now been settled and sealed! The New Testament is the final revelation which God has given us by His Son. It is the most excellent message that has and ever will be sent into the world. Far above all that has gone before, God has appointed Him heir of all things. And more than that because He walked upon the earth as a man and suffered as a man He learnt to experience the frailty of the flesh, so that He is now touched with the feeling of our infirmities; “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Finding grace in time of need will be an almost impossible plight without the help of our brothers, we need one another and the only way we will be able to encourage each other is if we have fellowship one with another. Fellowship is the vehicle that will help get us home! We must learn to spend more time with brothers in Christ! The day is just over the horizon where many will retract from fellowship; let all who name the name of Christ, run to it!

Signing off

Tyrone