No Excuses

With so many high-profile people falling into moral sin, and many of them are professing Christians, it makes me wonder how that kind of sin can overtake your life. Keep in mind, if we are not growing more in God's grace, we are going backward. Our faith walk is a forward motion that is powered and perfected in Jesus Christ. If you have received Jesus by faith, then you are totally equipped and responsible for living a Godly life. No excuses. If you can see that something is not a good move for you per the instructed wisdom of God's Word, then you need to flee even the thought of it. God has given all who follow Him a spiritual discerning ability that is powered by the Holy Spirit for this spiritual battle Paul said we are fighting. The last thing a Christian wants to hear from God is "I told you so", because you know it's too late to turn back now. NO EXCUSES!

The following verses, written by Peter, say a lot about how God has given us the discerning power to live a Godly life that is led by the Holy Spirit. These verses are haunting to anyone who is letting their life become carnal in nature, and affirming to those who are asking, seeking, and knocking for wisdom and discernment. Discern (def) - To discern means to perceive, recognize, or understand something that is not immediately clear, often requiring effort or keen insight, Godly insight. Our keen insight has to come from the Holy Spirit and not from worldly influence. Point in case: Watch a "clean" Hallmark movie, and somewhere in that movie, a guy who is having trouble at home with his marriage relationship is going to go to his hometown and meet a lady who has never married and loved him in high school. They will miraculously fall in love, and he will leave that old wife at home and start his new life in this adulterous fashion. A worldly attitude will look at this scenario and go AW, and justify it because of the events that took place to make it happen. Christians are called to be "on guard" and praying without ceasing, and that will keep the above story from happening, because the guy will realize he needs to go home to his "wife" and not be enticed by his emotions to some kind of relationship that compromises his "real" relationship, called marriage. The first part of this scenario is all worldly and evil, not good. The second part is Godly reasoning, totally supplied by God through His Word and the Holy Spirit, to "watch out" and be on guard because the devil is roaming to and fro to defeat another believer. WE ARE IN A WAR YA'll!!! FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!! The following scripture is not just Godly rules, but good advice for moving forward in our faith walk.

2 Peter 1:1 To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: ² Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, ³ for His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. ⁴ Through these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world on account of lust. ⁵ Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, ⁶ and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, ⁷ and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they do not make you useless nor unproductive in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For the one who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choice of you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; ¹¹ for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

God is no dummy, and neither are you, so with His Holy Spirit in you, make choices that do not need excuses, because when He tells you everything you need to live this Godly life, you should live it to the fullest. This is also the abundant life. The world's doctrine is tainted and evil, but God's word is eternal and true. Get into the Word, and you will see the whole truth and live that life God has called you to live. The Apostle Paul said it well in Ephesians 4, where it says Ephesians 4:¹⁴ As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren