Daily Bible Reading: 2 Samuel 14, Jeremiah 18, Romans 1-2
Don't get too Comfortable. (Romans 1:21)
The other day I was having a conversation with someone about why I lived in Las Vegas for so many years and never went to a single bar or club. They couldn’t believe that I hadn’t checked out what so many people fly from around the world to experience. My response to them is that the reason I don’t go to clubs or bars is because I don’t want to become comfortable in a club or a bar. They looked at me a little perplexed. I explained that I am a wife, a mother and a Christian and there is just simply too much at stake for me to become comfortable in an atmosphere like that.
When you live in Las Vegas, many times the clubs are out in the open or have lines that wrap around the building. You get a glimpse into the atmosphere by just walking by. I don’t know about you but just for that moment of passing by I feel extremely uncomfortable. The music, the scantily clad women, the guys checking out girls and visa versa...it just seems so far removed from my world that it feels strange and foreign (makes you wonder if the club-goers feel the same way about church).
I have seen many men and women who were once leaders in the church or even pastors fall away from God. I have seen them not just watch away from the church, but become deeply engrossed in destructive sins. I often find myself wondering about the progression of how someone who knew God can travel so far down that path.
In our reading today, Romans 1:21 says, "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."
How does someone who knew God become futile in their thinking?
They become comfortable with futile things.
As I read the Bible this morning I realized I too am guilty! I abstain from going to clubs because the things that happen in clubs are often wrong, but how many television shows do I abstain from because what goes on in the show is wrong? There are many futile things that have lost the shock value for me, and it is no different for the club-goer who has become immune to what goes on in clubs. Just because something has lost it’s shock value doesn’t mean our consciences should become seared to the unrighteousness. Something is considered futile if it is foolish, empty or of no value. The allure of many things seem fun or entertaining, but are they unto anything? Are they of any value to your life or spirit? Whether we "participate" or not, have we become too comfortable with futile things? Or has it gotten to the point where our thinking is now futile?
Post a Comment! Questions to Consider/Respond:
1. Can you recall a time when the Lord convicted you about something futile in your life? (A relationship, habit, music, movie, conversation, ect.)
2. What are some dangers of becoming comfortable with futile things?
Thanks for reading and responding,
Melissa Miller
Tomorrows Bible Reading: 2 Samuel 15, Jeremiah 19, Romans 3-4
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009
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2 comments:
Great devotional Mel. This is so true and all of us allow it to happen to ourselves. Its like we build up an immune system to things God never wanted to be immune to. I want to be like Paul in Acts 17 when he cam into the city of Athens and his spirit was provoked because of all the sin. I never want to become comfortable with sin!
God loves to convict me haha, I think it's because I don't pay attention the first time he does it in many cases.
Anyway I really believe that you can never be too careful guarding your heart and testimony. Many people guard their heart from breakups, from the opposite sex, from relationships. But what about guarding it from "cheating on God", that should be the most important thing for us, to make sure we are being careful not to flirt with anything that will take our eyes even an inch away from him.
Good blog Mel!
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