Integrity
Genesis 3
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
I don’t often begin my articles with scripture, but this month I thought it would be best if I were up front about it.
Man’s first confession, "I did eat" is tainted. Adam points at Eve as the source of temptation. Even worse, Adam drags God into it by insinuating that somehow God must shoulder some of the blame, after all, "you gave her to me".
Sounds pretty lame doesn’t it?
That was mans new nature. One of the results of the fall was a loss of personal integrity. Anyone and everyone is responsible but me.
But now we live on the other side of the Cross of Christ. Having accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we have a new nature.
2 Corinthians 5
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Vine's Expository Dictionary Of New Testament Words
Reconcile – Reconciliation Strong’s number 2644
properly denotes "to change, exchange" (especially of money); hence, of persons, "to change from enmity to friendship, to reconcile." With regard to the relationship between God and man, the use of this and connected words shows that primarily "reconciliation" is what God accomplishes, exercising His grace towards sinful man on the ground of the death of Christ in propitiatory sacrifice under the judgment due to sin, 2 Corinthians 5:19, where both the verb and the noun are used (cp. No. 2, in Colossians 1:21). By reason of this men in their sinful condition and alienation from God are invited to be "reconciled" to Him; that is to say, to change their attitude, and accept the provision God had made, whereby thier sins can be remitted and they themselves be justified in His sight in Christ.
Don’t overlook one very important phrase in this definition, "to change their attitude and accept the provisions God has made".
1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Believe it. God will not allow you to be tempted above that which you are able to resist and made a way for you to escape. No excuses, no blaming Satan, no blaming God, no blaming of anyone but yourself because when it comes right down to it, if you choose to sin, you chose it and no one but you is responsible.
Yes there is forgiveness of sin. Yes God is faithful to forgive. This isn’t about forgiveness, this is about being freed from the power of sin in your life.
Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
I make reference to these two scriptures together because Ephesians doesn’t come right out and say it in so many words, but if you look to the examples, Paul is say, in effect, to put on Jesus. The classic vision of the warrior in armor is easy to envision but held more intimate references to the Christian of that day. If I were to make a modern day allegory to give the reader something that they could relate to in today’s society I might replace the sword with a weed whacker.
You don’t step into the weeds and begin whacking away at the weeds under your feet. You use it to clear a path before you. You don’t use the sword of the Spirit to get you out of trouble, you use it to keep from getting into trouble. This is what Paul was referring to in Romans 13, in that you have the power to resist and the sword of the Spirit will remove temptation.
The choice is yours, but you cannot wield the sword of the Spirit and a pornographic book at the same time. Neither can you wield the sword of the Spirit while you have your hands occupied in sin, such as adultery, drunkenness, stealing, etc. etc. etc. The list is as long as sin itself. It’s a choice. It’s a choice that you have to make. You can’t do both. You either, believe and obey God or you don’t.
One last little tidbit before I end this month’s article.
When applying a healing balm, do not put on latex gloves. Rub the balm deep into your own hands before applying to others.