Ps. 132 speaks of David longing to
find a place for the dwelling of God on earth.
Later in the Psalm, God promises that David will not lack to have a
descendant sitting on his throne. But
there is a provision: “If your
sons will keep My covenant and My testimony which I will teach them, their sons
also shall sit upon your throne forever.”
The
sad fact is the history of Israel
as recorded in Kings and Chronicles shows that they did not keep God’s
covenant. David’s own son intermarried
with pagan women and they led his heart astray.
David’s grandsons divided his kingdom between the Northern kingdom of Israel and the Southern kingdom of Judah. The Northern kingdom
had nineteen kings, all of which were evil—they refused to follow God’s
covenant. Finally God judged Israel, the
Northern portion, by sending them into exile in 722 BC. Less than half of the twenty kings of Judah were considered godly, but they too became
so corrupt that Judah
was sent into exile in 586 BC, not to return to the land for 70 years.
How
did this happen? One choice at a
time. We my think our daily choices have
much bearing on the direction of our lives, but every day we make choices that
set the direction of our lives. The
decision to skip prayer and Bible reading one day. The rationalization that one look at
pornography won’t hurt anybody and it just feels so exciting. The choice to ignore the promptings of Holy
Spirit and just do what I want to do.
All these small choices, though seemingly isolated and insignificant,
begin to deaden our sensitivity to God’s voice.
These micro decisions begin to add up and set us on a path of
destruction that we usually don’t recognize until we are caught up in some
large sin that is obvious to all and brings great embarrassment to us and our
family.
I
used to worry when I heard about the fall of another pastor or great spiritual
leader into immorality. I questioned in
my heart: “If that person everyone has
looked up to can’t hold his spiritual life together, what hope is there for a
sinner like me?” But then the Lord
showed me this spiritual truth: “EVERY
EXTERNAL SIN BEGINS WITH A SMALL THOUGHT THAT IS AGAINST GOD.” The progression is from thoughts to
attitudes to actions, followed by habits that end in a lifestyle. I have drawn it as a simple chart thus:
Thoughts yield
Attitudes yield
Actions yield
Habits become
Lifestyle
The
battle ground is our thought life. We make choices in our
thoughts what to dwell on. If you think
about lust long enough, it won’t be long before your attitude toward lust will
break out into actions of viewing pornography.
We
can be forgiven by confessing our sins.
Jesus will forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
But
the secret of victorious living is to take every “thought” captive to the
obedience of Christ. II Cor.
10:3-5. By submitting our thought life
to Christ and asking Him to sanctify it, we set our minds and hearts to follow
God and our attitudes and actions reflect godliness and holiness and integrity
strengthens our character.
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