“Don’t be or act like them!”

Ever heard that expression before...or maybe you even pointed out some inappropriate behavior you saw in others and told your kids- “we don’t act like that!”

Yeah, that’s nothing new. In fact, Paul spends a great amount of time pointing to a generation of Israelites as really bad examples, and then admonishes Christian believers to ‘’don’t be like them!”. 1 Cor. 10:1-13 and Hebrews 3 would be a great read for you today if you have time. Paul even gets very specific there with those Corinthians with a sobering reminder as to how God was not pleased at all with that first group of folks who were delivered from slavery out of Egypt. You know the story...how God raised up and then sent Moses to deliver them, led them out by His miraculous power through the Red Sea, and then promised them a glorious future in a land He had set aside for them where He wanted to bless them in ways they could have never imagined.

Yeah...that group. Guess what...they never made it to the promised land; and it wasn’t because the journey was too long. They were banned...from entering in because they refused to believe that God could do what He said He promised to do. Yep...you read that correctly. They basically called God a liar, refused to believe Him, and finally... God washed His hands of them and said “Fine...have it your way...you can just wander for the next 40 years and die off in this wilderness!”, which is exactly what happened. That would be the same group Paul said all those things happened to them...as a reminder, an example, and a warning to “us...upon whom the end of that ages have come”. (1 Cor. 10:6-11).

Are you aware there will be another group of folks who will be ‘banned from entering the kingdom of heaven’? And that would be a group of people who were overly confident that they had their ‘ticket punched’ already. (Matt. 7:21-23) Jesus referred to them as ‘foolish virgins’ in Matt. 25:1-13. A quick way to assess who is ‘wise’ and who is ‘foolish’ can be found in Matt. 7:24-27, and please underline that part that stresses “does them” and “does not do them”...in regards to hearing the ‘sayings’ of Jesus.

Over the past few years, I know I have grown more confident and bolder in declaring the truth of God’s word here in my daily postings; especially when it comes to one topic in particular. It has to do with this idea of being set free from sin where we can actually go and ‘sin no more’, just like Jesus commanded us to do. (John 5:14; 8:11). I have had people get angry, offended, incredulous, and actually refute me to my face that there is no way we can ‘sin no more’. I’ve heard people say: “Why I don’t know anyone who lives like that!”, as if their limited perspective was enough to nullify what God’s word has boldly declared:

“Whoever abides in Jesus no longer sins.” (1 John 3:6) “We know whoever is born of God no longer sins...” (1 John 5:18) “Whoever has been born of God does not sin for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:9). “He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” (1 Pet. 4:1-2). Do you know how this is even possible? - Followers of Jesus were ‘set free from sin’. (Rom. 6:18,22; John 8:34-36)

Yeah...those verses.

You’ve heard me state repeatedly that ‘God never changes’. (Mal. 3:6). Well, neither has humanity it would seem. We still have issues with believing what God says...and we continue to suffer the consequences for such foolishness. And it’s only going to get worse. (2 Thess. 2:9-11; Prov. 1:20-33; Ps. 107:10-11). Tomorrow, Lord willing, we’ll look back and examine how things unraveled for that first generation with the hopes we don’t make the same mistake ourselves.