Friday SPIRITUAL ROULETTE. A few years ago in a suburban home in Cincinnati, Ohio, five boys played a game. Each took a turn with a handgun one of the boys had taken from a locked gun cabinet. Each spun the cylinder, placed the gun to his head, and pulled the trigger. They thought the gun was unloaded. They thought they were playing a harmless game. What the boys didnt realize was that the gun wasnt empty. Within minutes, a fourteen year old boy lay fatally wounded as his friends frantically called 911 in an effort to save his life. Their efforts failed. While most of us would never consider participating in a game of Russian roulette, there are some who play a form of spiritual roulette. Each time they make a bad decision, its another spin of the cylinder. Each time they choose wrong over right, its another pull of the trigger. Too often we rationalize our behavior by telling ourselves, If I do this just once, it wont hurt me. The second time we say, Well, it didnt hurt the first time, so it must be OK to do it again. And so the sin repeats itself-over and over and over until the sin we thought was harmless turns destructive, and our consciences die. It is possible for a persons conscience to die. When you continually dismiss those stabs of regret, when you push aside the feeling that youre making the wrong choices, when you disobey God over and over again, your conscience begins to harden until finally it just shrivels up and dies. God has given you a precious warning system like a smoke alarm or an air raid siren thats designed to protect you and help you make right choices. Its your conscience. Take good care of it. REFLECT: What is spiritual roulette? Have you ever played it with your conscience? What were the consequences? Perhaps there is a sin in your life that you keep committing over and over that has desensitized you or made you feel distant from God. How can you take care of your conscience and keep it sharp and useful? PRAY: God, help me not to play spiritual roulette with my conscience. Keep me alert to the voice of my conscience. Make me sensitive to sin. And help me repent when I disobey you. *** 1 Timothy 4:1-5 AMP BUT THE [Holy] Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in latter times some will turn away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach, Through the hypocrisy and pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared (cauterized), Who forbid people to marry and [teach them] to abstain from [certain kinds of] foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and have [an increasingly clear] knowledge of the truth. For everything God has created is good, and nothing is to be thrown away or refused if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is hallowed and consecrated by the Word of God and by prayer.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Nov 2013 21:56:55 +0000
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