Today's Word of Encouragement

ALLOWING SIN INTO OUR TENT

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

There is a story of a man traveling through the desert. He noticed that it was getting late and needed to bed down for the night. The desert night can get cold, so he hurried to set up his tent. The winds were blowing across the desert but once his tent was set up, he went in to sleep. In the middle of the night, he was rudely awakened. Apparently, his camel was getting cold, so the camel stuck his nose into the tent to warm up. This man must have thought it was okay and went back to sleep. Before long, he was awakened again. This time he noticed the camel had his head and front shoulders into the tent. Again, the man must have thought it was okay and decided to go back to sleep. The next time the man was awakened, he was outside of his tent. The camel had taken over the tent.

There is a lot of truth to this humorous story. This man knew his camel had no business being in any part of his tent, but he allowed it to happen. Why would such a man do this? Was he too lazy to stop him? Was this man too comfortable in his surroundings to move? Or did the situation seem to have the appearance of being insignificant?

This is a good example of how sin can creep into our lives if we are not careful. The Bible says for us to “Abstain from all appearance of evil”, 1 Thessalonians 5:22. Anytime we see evil (anything that will separate us from God) we should abstain from it totally! It should be a warning sign for us to beware of our situation. Did this man see the camel? Yes, he did! But he decided to do nothing about it and it eventually took over his possessions. Sin will always take us further than we ever imagined.

Satan often reveals himself a little at a time through temptations or trials. It is up to us to stop him from coming in any further. The Bible states that we are not ignorant to Satan's devices and it is the little foxes that spoil the vine. When Satan tempts us, there should be warning signs going off in our heart and mind. People use to describe deceivers as saying, “Give him an inch and he will take a mile.” All Satan wants to do at the present time is to “take” an inch of your life. Then he will try to “take” a mile later. If we allow Satan to have any part of us, we are not ignorant to his devices, we are plain stupid because we allow it to happen in plain sight!

Satan wants to gain control your life and situation. Most alcoholics and drug addicts never expected to have their lives controlled and ruined because of only one drink or pill.

The person in prison never thought they would be on death row for murder because their life started with stealing something insignificant or being influenced by the wrong crowd. Even people who attend church can be influenced and tempted to do the wrong things, even to fellow Christians.

James 4:7 reads, “resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” We probably have heard this quoted our whole life, repeatedly, but may have forgotten to read the whole scripture. The first part says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” In order to have the power to resist the devil (i.e. temptations, emotions, sin), one must submit their lives solely over to the Lord. He is our source of strength. We are no match for the devil, but we have power through Jesus Christ to even move mountains!

Whatever the problem you may be facing, it is no match for God. The current situation with the virus is no match for God either. Allow Him and the Holy Spirit to guide you through this process. “We are of God, little children, have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world”, 1 John 4:4. God promises that we can be overcome and any situation because of who He is.

Pastor Chris Koch