27 SEP 23 Wednesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 27 SEP 23 Wednesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.  God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, ‘You must remove the evil person from among you.’” 1 Cor. 5: 12-13

When I read the news, watch TV, or movies, I can see the brokenness in our world.  There are people engaging in abuse, greed, drunkard and drug use, cheaters, and sexual sin.  Our world is a hot mess.  Every attempt to break free from their brokenness lands them deeper into the same one or they exchange it for another.  Jesus states that the people of the world ‘are’ darkness.

For Christians, we are called to reach this world by being the light exposing their sin and brokenness, and leading them to Jesus.  Paul repeats this in the fifth chapter of First Corinthians.  We are to engage the least, the last, and the lost.  As the church, we must set the plumbline of what right looks like and what is pleasing to God.  We are not to look like the world.  We have been set free from the slave bonds of sin and are now bound to Jesus.  We do not belong to ourselves anymore.

This is where it becomes difficult for many.  They say, why are you judging me? Others? We are God’s holy people and he expects us to be holy.  That is why.  That means we set the plumbline and we hold one another accountable and sometimes there is punishment that comes with that, especially if they are unrepentant.  If a person doesn’t know they cannot grow.  There is no autonomy in life.  You are either bound to sin or bound to God.  When you are called out of death and into life, you have to learn how to live.  None of this comes naturally.  

When I put on the uniform and was commissioned into the military, to some level I belong to the Navy.  I am no longer free to do as I please and I have to learn what it means to be a sailor.  Likewise, as a Christian, I must learn to conform to the image of Jesus and live as He does.  That is the responsibility of other believers to build the new person up in the faith and help them to become all that God wants of them.

Are you growing into the person God desires you to be or are you regressing?

Reading Plan: Psalm 119:97-120; 2 Kings. 6:1-23; 1 Cor. 5:9-6:8; Matt. 5:38-48