• Dene's Blog
  • About Dene
  • Contact Dene
  • Dene's Recipes
  • Dene's Books
  • Dene's Classbooks
  • Gallery
  • Recommended Sites
  • FAQ & Tutorial
  Flight Paths

The Debt Ceiling

3/29/2017

0 Comments

 
During the last presidential term I heard a lot about “the debt ceiling.”  A lot of my brothers and sisters are outraged over having it raised.  It makes no sense.  We all want this country on sound economic footing again.  How in the world can going even deeper into debt do that?

            Yet we ask God to raise our debt ceiling to him again and again.  Instead of coming to grips with sin and learning to overcome it, we whine about being “only human” and how we “just can’t help it.”  “Just a little more forgiveness today, God,” we ask, and the day after, and the day after, with no sign of effort on our parts to improve.

            The problem may be that we really don’t want to repent.  Peter says that in the times past we lived like we wanted to, immoral and fulfilling every sinful desire.  Now we are to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God, 1 Pet 4:3. Enough is enough, he says (“times past suffices”).  Change!  You can’t “make Jesus the Lord of your life” without repentance.

            Or maybe the problem is laziness.  It is hard to fight the Devil.  God never promised otherwise.  He calls it a war in more than one place.  Take up the whole armor of God that…having done all, you may be able to stand, Eph 6:13.  “Having done all,” he says.  That means when the battle is over, not when I get tired or even wounded.  You keep on, even when you wonder if you can take another step or land another blow.  Just exactly how tired do you think the Lord felt after a night of torture?  Resist the devil, James says, and he will flee from you.  He won’t run away if all we do is stand there waggling our fingers in our ears chanting, “Nanny nanny boo boo.”  He won’t run away if we give up after the first time he knocks us down.  You have to fight, really fight, and keep on fighting until the end.

            But just maybe our biggest problem is that we don’t trust God to do what he says he will.  Pray that you enter not into temptation, Jesus told his apostles, Luke 22:46.  The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, Peter reminds us, 2 Pet 2:9.  With every temptation he will make also the way of escape that you may be able to endure it, Paul says, 1 Cor 10:13.  Don’t we believe that? Maybe if I don’t pray those prayers I can say there was no escape and excuse myself once again.  Maybe I can say that God made the escape route even more difficult than the temptation.  Maybe I can say he hid it too well.  Maybe, maybe, maybe…

            So, which is our problem?  Are we unwilling to repent?  Are we a bunch of spoiled children who want it all handed to us on a silver platter?  Or do we just not believe like we say we do?  How high do we expect God to make that debt ceiling?  Do I want it higher and higher so I can sin as long as I want to? Do I want to excuse my sin instead of working hard to grow up in Christ, to endure the trials, and to control myself! 

            Every time we sin, we are asking God to raise our debt ceiling.  If anything, the debt ceiling we want is far more outrageous than anything Washington could ever come up with.
 
For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. Rom 6:10-13.                                                                       

Dene Ward
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Author
    Dene Ward has taught the Bible for more than  forty years, spoken at women’s retreats and lectureships, and has written both devotional books and class materials. She lives in Lake Butler, Florida, with her husband Keith.


    Categories

    All
    A Wives Series
    Bible People
    Bible Study
    Birds & Animals
    Book Reviews
    Camping
    Children
    Cooking Kitchen
    Country Life
    Discipleship
    Everyday Living
    Faith
    Family
    Gardening
    Grace
    Guest Writer
    History
    Holiness
    Humility Unity
    Materialism
    Medical
    Music
    Prayer
    Psalms
    Salvation
    Trials

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly