Don't Play with That
I did something really crazy today, really unlike me. I didn't buy a sweater.
That may make no sense to you but it is not my everyday choice. You see I've found myself lately a very tempted person. I really like new clothes and on-line shopping. Surfing my favorite shopping sites and then when a big sale hits I can swoop in for the kill. I love the email in my inbox saying it's on it's way and when the package comes, opening it up and trying it on. It hangs in my closet like another conquest.
Lately I've felt like this has too big of a hold on me. I've started looking online when I'm bored, upset, or need a distraction from something I don't want to face. Sometimes like a fabric bulimic I do a big order and then feel really guilty because I don't need all those clothes so when my order comes in I return most everything I just bought. I've binged and I need to purge. That twinge of regret when I take a lot of clothes to consignment because this investment I made didn't really have lasting value to me after all. I'm sticking within my budget and can pay for everything I buy so it's not a sin right? Sin is anything that promises contentment but leaves you feeling restless.
They lurk secretly for their own lives...so are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the lives of it's owners. Proverbs 1:18-19
Recently I started a plan to get through the Bible in a year. I tend to read through it every few years as I love how studying this way allows God to speak to you through those parts you don't regularly turn to. He is so faithful to have something jump off the page to me that I need for the day ahead and reveals things in my heart. Four days ago this was my verse. He is wanting to show me the heart issues that will be life giving to me if I deal with them. Greed is one he has brought to mind, as well as vanity. I seem to be on a constant hunt for image broadcasting. Trying to make the outside of the cup attractive hits me especially when the inside of the cup is filthy. Jesus said this about posturing what people see: for you clean the outside...but inside [you] are full of greed and self indulgence...you [are]blind...first clean the outside that the outside may be clean (Math 23:25). Above, Proverbs told me that greed takes my life away so these words from Jesus are to give life. I'm constantly living life backwards: I'm trying to change the inside by decorating the outside.
It's easy to focus on the "what we shouldn't do" things in life; this is called legalism and was the group of religious zealots, the Pharisees, that Jesus was addressing in Mathew's verse. If I wanted to feel self-righteous I could justify these things away because I am being a "good steward" of my possessions and not being in debt. It's inexpensive so I'm being frugal. It's practical because I can wear it to work and I need clothes for work. One indicator of temptation is you start to justify your actions and put a spin on them that seems reasonable. The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise (Genesis 3:5). Eve took the apple and ate it. It's only an apple. It's only a sweater. It's still sin.
It's choosing something other than God that takes life away. Many people think sin is "being bad" or "breaking rules" but at the heart sin is choosing something other than God. When I give into sin, I'm taking my own life away from myself. The sweater is too costly--and not in a financial sense. If God has warned me and I take what I want anyway, I lose a part of the life he's offered me. See it's never in the doing or not doing--that lies at the surface. We must look deeper into the motives of the heart and analyze if what we are doing is drawing us closer to God or moving us away from Him.
When Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these you once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with it's practices and have put on the new set, which in being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3: 4-10.
Today the life of Christ appeared when I clicked on that same app and saw there was a crazy good sale. Sin shimmered in front of the glory of Christ, but it is like a firework in front of the sun. His glory is brighter and I can see both so the choice is in front of me. "Don't play with that, put it to death." So that dance begins on why it isn't a big deal, why it's okay just this one more time, then I won't buy anymore or look anymore. I'd already decided to stop shopping for awhile four days ago but that's before I knew about this sale and this item I'd seen in the store when I was buying Abby school clothes. Colossians warns us not to lie to one another but here I am lying to myself. The lie is trying to stretch my old self over my new skin, That it's possible to feed my old habits and still be the new woman that I want to be when sin isn't dangling in front of me. But this new self I really am can see the image of my Creator that I'm being renewed in and I have to choose. I can choose. I am empowered to put off the sin that so easily entangles me (Hebrews 12:1) and not get tripped up again. Then a little bit of that glory of Christ, comes to life in me.
So overindulging in shopping may not be your issue but I know you have one. It may be a social media addiction, gossip, or binge-watching Netflix. A habit that's hard to shake. A temptation around the corner. What we see is a symptom but it's not the root, it's not the disease. Praying for you and me to have eyes to see how it destroys our vitality and instead choose the abundant life that Christ longs for us to take hold of.
That may make no sense to you but it is not my everyday choice. You see I've found myself lately a very tempted person. I really like new clothes and on-line shopping. Surfing my favorite shopping sites and then when a big sale hits I can swoop in for the kill. I love the email in my inbox saying it's on it's way and when the package comes, opening it up and trying it on. It hangs in my closet like another conquest.
Lately I've felt like this has too big of a hold on me. I've started looking online when I'm bored, upset, or need a distraction from something I don't want to face. Sometimes like a fabric bulimic I do a big order and then feel really guilty because I don't need all those clothes so when my order comes in I return most everything I just bought. I've binged and I need to purge. That twinge of regret when I take a lot of clothes to consignment because this investment I made didn't really have lasting value to me after all. I'm sticking within my budget and can pay for everything I buy so it's not a sin right? Sin is anything that promises contentment but leaves you feeling restless.
They lurk secretly for their own lives...so are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the lives of it's owners. Proverbs 1:18-19
Recently I started a plan to get through the Bible in a year. I tend to read through it every few years as I love how studying this way allows God to speak to you through those parts you don't regularly turn to. He is so faithful to have something jump off the page to me that I need for the day ahead and reveals things in my heart. Four days ago this was my verse. He is wanting to show me the heart issues that will be life giving to me if I deal with them. Greed is one he has brought to mind, as well as vanity. I seem to be on a constant hunt for image broadcasting. Trying to make the outside of the cup attractive hits me especially when the inside of the cup is filthy. Jesus said this about posturing what people see: for you clean the outside...but inside [you] are full of greed and self indulgence...you [are]blind...first clean the outside that the outside may be clean (Math 23:25). Above, Proverbs told me that greed takes my life away so these words from Jesus are to give life. I'm constantly living life backwards: I'm trying to change the inside by decorating the outside.
It's easy to focus on the "what we shouldn't do" things in life; this is called legalism and was the group of religious zealots, the Pharisees, that Jesus was addressing in Mathew's verse. If I wanted to feel self-righteous I could justify these things away because I am being a "good steward" of my possessions and not being in debt. It's inexpensive so I'm being frugal. It's practical because I can wear it to work and I need clothes for work. One indicator of temptation is you start to justify your actions and put a spin on them that seems reasonable. The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise (Genesis 3:5). Eve took the apple and ate it. It's only an apple. It's only a sweater. It's still sin.
It's choosing something other than God that takes life away. Many people think sin is "being bad" or "breaking rules" but at the heart sin is choosing something other than God. When I give into sin, I'm taking my own life away from myself. The sweater is too costly--and not in a financial sense. If God has warned me and I take what I want anyway, I lose a part of the life he's offered me. See it's never in the doing or not doing--that lies at the surface. We must look deeper into the motives of the heart and analyze if what we are doing is drawing us closer to God or moving us away from Him.
When Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these you once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with it's practices and have put on the new set, which in being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3: 4-10.
Today the life of Christ appeared when I clicked on that same app and saw there was a crazy good sale. Sin shimmered in front of the glory of Christ, but it is like a firework in front of the sun. His glory is brighter and I can see both so the choice is in front of me. "Don't play with that, put it to death." So that dance begins on why it isn't a big deal, why it's okay just this one more time, then I won't buy anymore or look anymore. I'd already decided to stop shopping for awhile four days ago but that's before I knew about this sale and this item I'd seen in the store when I was buying Abby school clothes. Colossians warns us not to lie to one another but here I am lying to myself. The lie is trying to stretch my old self over my new skin, That it's possible to feed my old habits and still be the new woman that I want to be when sin isn't dangling in front of me. But this new self I really am can see the image of my Creator that I'm being renewed in and I have to choose. I can choose. I am empowered to put off the sin that so easily entangles me (Hebrews 12:1) and not get tripped up again. Then a little bit of that glory of Christ, comes to life in me.
So overindulging in shopping may not be your issue but I know you have one. It may be a social media addiction, gossip, or binge-watching Netflix. A habit that's hard to shake. A temptation around the corner. What we see is a symptom but it's not the root, it's not the disease. Praying for you and me to have eyes to see how it destroys our vitality and instead choose the abundant life that Christ longs for us to take hold of.
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