Junk food. Y'all know what I'm talking about. You know, Micky D's, Burger King, Chinese Buffet, Oreos! Mmm...and let's not forget that oh so tasty Breyers ice cream! Oh yes! But y'all know that right after you eat it, you feel sooo guilty. You're guilty because you know that mess just ain't good for your body. After eating the junk you feel soo "luggy" and lazy to the point were all you can do it roll over and SLEEP! (I know, it's that "itis" LOL!) Don't you hate when that happens? Well, if that's the case, why is it that we do it with our spiritual lives? We neglect to allow God's love letters to touch our hearts through genuine study while allowing the garbage of the world inundated us with everything contrary to what God intended us to represent.
Why am I commenting on this? Well that was my experience today. So today all I did was Facebooked, Myspaced, IMed, watched foolish youtube videos, and read online gossip articles. I mean, I'm not gonna lie to you, it felt pretty good. But it's the end of the day now and I feel like crap. (well, felt like crap--until i prayed and read the Word.) Why? Because I neglected to allow God to touch me. I neglected to dedicate myself to His Word and to ommune with Him. I neglected to die to the SELF.
Although I was feeling good, filling my mind with spiritual junk food, I was yearning for communion with God. I was like man, I really need to do this, it'll make me feel better, but for some reason I wont. Ugh! Funny, right? I think the Apostle Paul says it best in Romans 7:17-19, “..As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”--You wanna do good--press forth toward the goal of perfection in Christ, but you don't because of sin.
This goes to show how serious sin is. It clouds our eyes of the Truth. The truth that we were made to glorify and represent God, the creator. Sin is our nature now. It is the core of our fleshly lusts. Is what I'm saying non-sense to you? Well, let's take a look at the human psyche. Sigmund Freud, this crazy Psychoanalyst came up with the these three basic constructs of the human mind: the Id, ego, and superego. The Id represented the basic human nature--the part of you that will do just about anything to "survive", literally. The ego is the side of you that will carry out your fleshly desires, but in a more "normal" and socially acceptable way. Then you have the superego which is your moral side, the side where you put aside your personal desires and agendas for the sake of morality. From a spiritual perspective, the Id can be your sinful nature; do whatever you want, when you want it, and get it how you want it without any regard. The ego can be your same sinful nature plus Christ. Now that you are a new creature in Christ you no longer do things the way you used to do it. Your superego is akin to the "upward calling" that Paul talks about in Philip. 3:11-14--perfect spiritual being--what God originally intended us to be. Isn't it funny how relatively modern science explains what the bible has been explain for eons? I digressed. Please excuse me!
Anyway, all this to simply say that today I identified sin in action.
Sometimes I get discouraged. I feel like man, forget this being like Christ thing, I can't do it! But then I realized that it's the sin in me and not the new me. So do not be discouraged brothers and sisters in Christ! Just continue to die to your fleshly desire and run the good race! Forget the "junk food"--Garbage on TV, Gossip on Facebook and Myspace, contradictory music--and feed on that which is healthy and good--GOD'S LOVE LETTERS TO YOU (the bible)
With that I leave you with this scripture:
Phili. 13:12-15 "12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained."
My prayer
"Lord, help me to die to myself daily. Help me to feed my spirit man with that which is nourishing and uplifting. Help me to understand sin nature. Help me to understand that it was meant to separate me from You. Thank you for making this clear to me."
Amen!
Isn't God good? He reaches out to commune with us, even though we do not deserve it. Hallelujah!
Selah!--Pause and Reflect
~Jay
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