I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner--not even to eat with such a person.
NKJV
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Seinfeld highlighted the classic break-up line, "It's not you, it's me." Maybe you've been handed that line before, but you know what? There's some truth behind it. Deep inside, you know it's the sin inside you. Relationships are complicated. They are complicated even more by the sin in your life. Are there rocky relationships in your life? Own the problem; look at yourself. Whether at work, home, or church, relationships are everywhere, and you are to be stewards of them. Relationships can promote your walk with Jesus, or they can derail you - if you allow it. You are called to love the unlovable, but there are times when you will have to decide which relationships are healthy and which are not. A relationship prompting you to sin and wander from your walk with Christ is not good. Some think that if they get away from other people, they will get away from the sin in the world. Convents, monasteries, and the like have all been built with this mindset. That's not a solution. This only walls them in with their sin while denying the world the "salt" in their lives. Jesus told you to be the salt of the world. Do you know what salt does? It makes people thirsty. You are to make this world thirst for a relationship with Jesus. If you withdraw from the world, this doesn't happen. You are a steward of the life God has blessed you with. Whether you participate in the wrong activities or not, the decision is yours. God has called you, Christian, to be active in others' lives, and a part of that is confronting sin with a heart of love. When this fails to happen, everyone gets hurt; feelings get bent, anger festers, and relationships become whack. Confrontation is uncomfortable. It's not fun. But love requires us to step beyond comfort because we love others. This, my friend, is the calling of all Christians... to be leaders in the world. Life Lesson: Our main problem is the sin inside us, not the people around us. Dear Father,
Living to tell what He died to say, |
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 Scripture quotations marked "NKJV™" are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. |
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