I am an increasingly rare breed—a native Floridian. I never saw snow until we lived two years in Illinois. Talk about culture shock—I won’t soon forget the feeling in the pit of my stomach when one of my worried sisters in the Lord asked if I had a heavy winter coat. I showed it to her; it looked new because I seldom wore it down here. She called it a nice “spring coat,” and advised me to go shopping. I soon learned to appreciate the luxuries I had grown up with in winter: warmth—up there we often had lows below zero; sun—I had never before lived in a place that went as long as two weeks with sunless skies and dusk arriving about 4:30; and green! Sure the grass may frost off for a couple of weeks down here, and some of the trees lose their leaves, but we still have plenty of green for a lot of the winter. I even learned to appreciate humidity after my entire body chapped through my clothes and I started blowing blood out of my nose.
Of course, I realize that a lot of this depends on what you are used to. We met a man from Massachusetts last February in one of our state parks who told us, “It was almost uncomfortable today.” The thermometer might have topped out at 72. I am sure if I had stayed in Illinois longer than two years, I would have become acclimated to the weather and the things I needed to do to make myself comfortable in a different climate.
Becoming accustomed to things can affect our spiritual lives as well. Paul reminds us in 1 Cor 5:9,10 that we cannot remove ourselves from the world. In fact we are encouraged to spread the Truth of the Gospel among those very souls, but we are supposed to keep the influence going one way only. When I am no longer shocked at the world’s behavior, in fact, when I consider it “normal,” the influence has taken a two-way street.
One of the most scathing indictments in the Bible is Jeremiah’s accusation in 8:12, They were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Nothing the prophets said could touch these people. They continued in their own stubborn way and never thought anything about it. Many years before, had they seen the direction they were headed, they probably would have been horrified; but they changed so gradually—got used to it--that they did not even realize their sin. Despite that sin, they still stood at God’s Temple and worshipped, sure of their good standing with Jehovah, Jer 7:10.
How about us? Have we gotten so used to sin around us that it no longer disturbs us? For the danger, you see, is that because we no longer consider it so reprehensible, we might be tempted to fall into it ourselves. We would never do anything bad, and this is no longer all that bad, so why not?
Historians say that the downfall of any society begins with that society’s acceptance of rampant immorality as “the norm.” The prophets preached the same about Israel and Judah, and Paul warns the church, Christ’s bride, A little leaven leavens the whole lump, 1 Cor 5:6.
Do not forget how to blush!
Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past may suffice to have wrought your desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revelings, carousings, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange that you do not run with them into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you, who shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the living and the dead. 1 Peter 4:1-5
Dene Ward
Of course, I realize that a lot of this depends on what you are used to. We met a man from Massachusetts last February in one of our state parks who told us, “It was almost uncomfortable today.” The thermometer might have topped out at 72. I am sure if I had stayed in Illinois longer than two years, I would have become acclimated to the weather and the things I needed to do to make myself comfortable in a different climate.
Becoming accustomed to things can affect our spiritual lives as well. Paul reminds us in 1 Cor 5:9,10 that we cannot remove ourselves from the world. In fact we are encouraged to spread the Truth of the Gospel among those very souls, but we are supposed to keep the influence going one way only. When I am no longer shocked at the world’s behavior, in fact, when I consider it “normal,” the influence has taken a two-way street.
One of the most scathing indictments in the Bible is Jeremiah’s accusation in 8:12, They were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Nothing the prophets said could touch these people. They continued in their own stubborn way and never thought anything about it. Many years before, had they seen the direction they were headed, they probably would have been horrified; but they changed so gradually—got used to it--that they did not even realize their sin. Despite that sin, they still stood at God’s Temple and worshipped, sure of their good standing with Jehovah, Jer 7:10.
How about us? Have we gotten so used to sin around us that it no longer disturbs us? For the danger, you see, is that because we no longer consider it so reprehensible, we might be tempted to fall into it ourselves. We would never do anything bad, and this is no longer all that bad, so why not?
Historians say that the downfall of any society begins with that society’s acceptance of rampant immorality as “the norm.” The prophets preached the same about Israel and Judah, and Paul warns the church, Christ’s bride, A little leaven leavens the whole lump, 1 Cor 5:6.
Do not forget how to blush!
Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past may suffice to have wrought your desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revelings, carousings, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange that you do not run with them into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you, who shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the living and the dead. 1 Peter 4:1-5
Dene Ward
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