As I said in the thread, I used to think that I couldn't ever be an idolater... when I was first saved, I thought idolatry was when you believed in and worshiped some false god like the old roman gods... you know, like Athena, and Zeus. It wasn't until I'd studied God's Word more that I began to understand that it's idolatry whenever you put anything ahead of God in your life. It doesn't mean that we have to pray to someone or something else or even think of them as a "god" in order for it to be idolatry. That really blew me away when He showed me that and changed me quite a bit too. It had to change me because there were a lot of things that I had put before Him without even realizing it. But I wrote about all that in that thread.
The Lord had yet another lesson for me though. One I'd studied before, but certainly hadn't applied it to myself - about adultery -spiritual adultery.
I knew that venerating people or objects or dabbling in the occult, was spiritual adultery, and I certainly didn't do that, so I didn't think I had anything to worry about as far as that was concerned. I knew that worshiping idols was also spiritual idolatry but again, I wasn't guilty of that either.
It started to get personal though when I discovered that "friendship with the world" was also considered spiritual adultery. Adultery is something that violates the covenant commitment to our spouse, and spiritual adultery is something that violates our covenant commitment to Christ. Friendship with the world, isn't just doing the things that are very obviously wrong, but it's what we might consider the little things as well. Even when we hang out with unbelievers and just laugh at their coarse jokes, or swear and use foul language like they do, both are friendship with the world. It's when a wife insists on being the head of the home instead of encouraging her husband to do so. It's also when a wife refuses to submit to her husband. It's when we cheat on our taxes, gossip with our neighbors (or about them), It's when we put down others who have hurt us, instead of forgiving them and loving them anyway; it's when we hold a grudge. It's whenever we consistently do things the worlds way instead of God's way. I don't mean when we slip up once in awhile, or even when we're first learning that something is a sin, and we still mess up a lot as we haven't yet completely overcome it. I'm talking about when we do those things habitually. When those things are part of our way of life, of how we live, of who we are. Because when we do that, we're not being faithful to our Husband.
We're committing adultery, because we know our husband has commanded us not to do those things. He's told us that we're brand new people and that we're to put on our new self and get rid of the old one. So when we hang on to our old ways, our old selves, or parts of our old ways or selves, we're committing spiritual adultery.
When we have a strong focus on or drive for material possessions, money, or immaterial ones like beauty, looking or acting young, or just a strong focus on our physical bodies, (like someone who might obsess about losing or gaining weight all the time, or other similar things, those are all ways of committing spiritual adultery. All of those things are putting God at least second in our lives because we spend more time focused on them then we do on Him.
Adultery is something that violates the covenant commitment to our spouse, and spiritual adultery is something that violates our covenant commitment to Christ. So anything that we spend more time on, including time spent thinking about them, then we spend on the Lord is something that we may very well be committing spiritual adultery with. And I had to admit that I could see myself in a number of different things.
I've found as that devotional said, "If we follow Him with our entire being—setting aside all that stands between us and Him—the world will look different." - or at least our little part of it, because we'll be different. Seriously though, everything begins to look different to us, the more we set aside the things that stand between us and the Lord. I doubt if I've found everything in my life that's between me and the Lord, but I'm keeping my eyes open, and I've asked the Lord to show me anything that needs to be removed or put in it's place, and I know He will. He always does when He knows we're serious. It seems like a constant battle sometimes, because as soon as I figure I've got it all under control, bam! Something else shows up and I realize I've allowed something I thought I'd taken care of to creep back in. But like Paul said, all we can do is keep plugging away, doing our best with His help and looking forward to that day when our salvation will finally be complete and we'll no longer have to deal with a sin nature. Come soon Lord!
Matthew 6:24 —“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. *
Ephesians 4:22–24 —You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; *to be made new in the attitude of your minds; *and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. *
Colossians 3:9–10 —Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices *and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. *
John 14:15 —“If you love me, you will obey what I command. *
John 15:10 —If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. *
The Lord had yet another lesson for me though. One I'd studied before, but certainly hadn't applied it to myself - about adultery -spiritual adultery.
I knew that venerating people or objects or dabbling in the occult, was spiritual adultery, and I certainly didn't do that, so I didn't think I had anything to worry about as far as that was concerned. I knew that worshiping idols was also spiritual idolatry but again, I wasn't guilty of that either. It started to get personal though when I discovered that "friendship with the world" was also considered spiritual adultery. Adultery is something that violates the covenant commitment to our spouse, and spiritual adultery is something that violates our covenant commitment to Christ. Friendship with the world, isn't just doing the things that are very obviously wrong, but it's what we might consider the little things as well. Even when we hang out with unbelievers and just laugh at their coarse jokes, or swear and use foul language like they do, both are friendship with the world. It's when a wife insists on being the head of the home instead of encouraging her husband to do so. It's also when a wife refuses to submit to her husband. It's when we cheat on our taxes, gossip with our neighbors (or about them), It's when we put down others who have hurt us, instead of forgiving them and loving them anyway; it's when we hold a grudge. It's whenever we consistently do things the worlds way instead of God's way. I don't mean when we slip up once in awhile, or even when we're first learning that something is a sin, and we still mess up a lot as we haven't yet completely overcome it. I'm talking about when we do those things habitually. When those things are part of our way of life, of how we live, of who we are. Because when we do that, we're not being faithful to our Husband.
We're committing adultery, because we know our husband has commanded us not to do those things. He's told us that we're brand new people and that we're to put on our new self and get rid of the old one. So when we hang on to our old ways, our old selves, or parts of our old ways or selves, we're committing spiritual adultery.
When we have a strong focus on or drive for material possessions, money, or immaterial ones like beauty, looking or acting young, or just a strong focus on our physical bodies, (like someone who might obsess about losing or gaining weight all the time, or other similar things, those are all ways of committing spiritual adultery. All of those things are putting God at least second in our lives because we spend more time focused on them then we do on Him.
Adultery is something that violates the covenant commitment to our spouse, and spiritual adultery is something that violates our covenant commitment to Christ. So anything that we spend more time on, including time spent thinking about them, then we spend on the Lord is something that we may very well be committing spiritual adultery with. And I had to admit that I could see myself in a number of different things.
I've found as that devotional said, "If we follow Him with our entire being—setting aside all that stands between us and Him—the world will look different." - or at least our little part of it, because we'll be different. Seriously though, everything begins to look different to us, the more we set aside the things that stand between us and the Lord. I doubt if I've found everything in my life that's between me and the Lord, but I'm keeping my eyes open, and I've asked the Lord to show me anything that needs to be removed or put in it's place, and I know He will. He always does when He knows we're serious. It seems like a constant battle sometimes, because as soon as I figure I've got it all under control, bam! Something else shows up and I realize I've allowed something I thought I'd taken care of to creep back in. But like Paul said, all we can do is keep plugging away, doing our best with His help and looking forward to that day when our salvation will finally be complete and we'll no longer have to deal with a sin nature. Come soon Lord!
Matthew 6:24 —“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. *
Ephesians 4:22–24 —You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; *to be made new in the attitude of your minds; *and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. *
Colossians 3:9–10 —Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices *and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. *
John 14:15 —“If you love me, you will obey what I command. *
John 15:10 —If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. *
LiveJournal Tags: devotional,Ezekiel 6:1–8:18,idols,bible,god,God first,idolater,idolatry,idolatry today,today,scripture,sin,spiritual adultery
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