Exhort one another...

(Hebrews 3:13)  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

To all the Christians out there I too would like to echo the sentiments of this verse’s encouragement and call on us all to daily exhort one another. For, there is a day coming when darkness will soon be upon this world as Satan causes havoc and misleads an already blinded world deeper into it’s sin and hate for God. Not that he hasn’t already corrupted this world for millenniums now, causing mayhem amongst the nations across the globe. But a day will eventually arrive when he will claim what God has already predetermined from before the beginning of time which was always part of His “production” (the plans of God unfolding in accordance with His Sovereign will).

Satan’s power will always hinge on deception, a lie that will always twist the words of God to have his way. In fact, because we have now been tarnished with the brush of sin there isn’t too much work needed on his behalf, our own sinful natures drive us away from God and His will. The Lord Jesus made reference in scripture to those in that state as sons of the devil. Let us not be fooled, if we are not for God’s will then we are against Him. Prior to salvation we were all under Satan’s sway and influence; and yet there is an interesting phenomenon that God in His brilliance had already singled out certain individuals to walk in the mind of Christ from before the beginning of time. Men and women born under the curse of sin with all the baggage that goes with that, selfish and sinful traits attached to our lives as we are swayed by our sin and yet even in that state kept by God who eventually brings us to an understanding that we were in desperate need to be saved from ourselves.

Sure, Satan has his part to play, but because we are naturally sinful by nature, we didn’t need much assistance along our journeys to prove that we were haters of God. Sin in and through our flesh (our natural sense) was alive and well, never needing steroids to fatten up that beast. From birth we produced the fruits of the flesh without any wilful effort attached to it; “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21) – Note; the evidence of our behavioural patterns is obvious if we are honest with ourselves; but how many people claim to be good people and yet it is clear they are in breach of the sinful pattern above by the way they live. Sin even tricks us into believing that we will be ok with God on judgment day even when the Word has clearly stated that some will stand condemned. Do you understand how powerful sin actually is? Hence the reason for God sending His Son to conquer it as a man in the flesh; a mammoth task accomplished!

Every person ever born outside of the person of Jesus Christ has been tarnished with that brush, we are sinful by nature, so when we start to look for our own justification before God it is hopeless and it will never free us from our wicked selves. This was not our choice; we are all born sinners and are sinful by default. However, Eve our great great… grandmother; was not created as a sinner but chose sin instead of life; sin was made alive and we have inherited the consequence to their (Adam and Eve) disobedience. Cry foul as much as you like, that is the way it is and we need to deal with the matter at hand. The intention of Satan and his workers is to keep feeding you the lie “All will be well when you die”! There is a judgement coming and for us to escape that judgement we need forgiveness for our sin and we need God’s Spirit to give us life. We need to be born again! Without both of these events taking place in our lives we will remain enslaved to our sinful patterns, which is very easy to deduce from scripture; “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.” (Romans 7:18)  

     

It is the ones that are alive in Christ that Satan seeks out and lures with sin. Now sin’s traps are often disguised as something pleasurable with an echo to make one wise. Knowledge often puffs up with egotism. Pride is often a tell sign linked to sin filled behaviour. We need the grace of God fully operational in our daily lives if we hope to overcome. Pride on the other hand exalts the individual to believe that grace isn’t required; even if our understanding is not consciously aware of that truth; “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."” (James 4:6) – Life is all about learning to put on the mind of Christ, we already have His mind; “"For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.’” (1Corinthians 2:16) - And through testing we need to implement that God given gift.

How do we understand His mind? We must all study the scriptures, by the prompting of God the Holy Spirit and finally in and through our application of faith towards God.

We must be mindful as Christians that sin in any form will harden our hearts and lead us away from God’s will for our lives instead of towards it. Let us not be fooled into believing the lies that oppose the Word of God. May God give us eyes to understand the importance of the implementation towards His will for our lives for I am convinced that when we see with the eyes of the Spirit it will be well with our souls!

Signing off

Tyrone