BBD 02.21.08 Surprise! You are Corrupt
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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02.21.08
Surprise! You are Corrupt
As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and
godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that
through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust. - 2 Peter 1:3-4.
To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled (corrupted -
NIV) and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are
defiled (corrupted - NIV). They profess to know God, but in works they deny
Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. -
Titus 1: 15-16.
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall
it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and
trampled underfoot by men. - Matthew 5:13.
Somewhere in Massachusetts a police department received three very nice
award plaques with an estimated cost of as much as $200 for each one. Each
plaque had the name of an officer engraved and reportedly said,
"Congratulations! You're corrupt." Of course, this was not well received by
the police department involved. In response, they have dusted the plaques
for fingerprints and reported the offensive plaques to the Postal Inspector.
Federal charges are possible for using the Postal Service to "threaten,
intimidate, or harass." Just a thought, maybe we can have the postal service
take over the Internet email system and lock up all of the harassing
spammers. But then they would probably want to charge us forty-two cents for
every email.
If God were to judge your life right now what would He see? Would He say,
"Well done good and faithful servant", or would He say, "You're corrupt!" If
we could see our lives as God sees them would we be surprised?
What is corruption? Here is my definition: corruption is decay meaning
whatever state something is in that it becomes worse. Jesus says that we are
to be the "salt of the earth." Salt is a preservative and prevents
corruption from taking place. Jesus also says that if salt loses its
preservative ability it is of no value.
Christians are the mainstay, the preventative of moral perversion further
corrupting the hearts and minds of those living in this world. Sadly, many
of us Christians i.e. believers could be given a "Congratulations! You're
Corrupt" plaque too. How could this happen? It happens because the world is
a corrupting influence that is constantly seeking to erode the moral stance
of every child of God. The more contact we have with the world the more
contact we need to have with God and the things of God to maintain our
saltiness. We cannot constantly be exposed to immoral movies, immoral
television programming, immoral books, immoral magazines, immoral friends,
and immoral co-workers without there being corruption.
There is, however, a whole other category of individuals that might receive
a "Congratulations! You're Corrupt" plaque. Those in this category are those
that the apostle Paul is referring to in Titus 1:16 when he says, "They
profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable,
disobedient, and disqualified for every good work." There are many who claim
to be Christians, believers - but they have never known Jesus as their
Savior.
If you are losing your saltiness, and you are in danger of receiving a
"Congratulations! You're Corrupt" award it is time to repent and turn again
to God. If you claim to be a believer but your life says that is a lie then
throw yourself upon the mercy of the Lord Jesus before it is everlastingly
too late.
Copyright © 2008. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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