17)
This
I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18)
Having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
19)
Who
being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all
uncleanness with greediness.
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hen
we operate as "human beings," we have a tendency to want to place
"blame." What we are trying to avoid is accepting responsibility for
our actions. We would like to believe that our problems are because of someone
else; that our actions are in response to someone else. This is particularly
interesting in that we try all of our lives to be trusted with
"adult" responsibility.
Even
when we are told that our problems can be solved through our changing, we will
continue in our same mentality. The problem is that God "sees" us for
what we are and we cannot escape our responsibility by "blaming"
someone else for our actions. Our actions are solely our responsibility. Yes, we try to "rationalize"
our responses to those things that confront us, but we still try to handle
things according to our "perception" of them. Our reality is that the
Lord has solved all things from all sources, but in order for it to
benefit us, we must accept it.
Under
no circumstances can we afford to allow what we think to color our judgment. Our
experiences have already colored our thinking The problem
is that we do not handle all of our experiences correctly and therefore, we
will not gain the truth from what we
experience (you know, "experience is the best teacher.")
What
can anyone make us do that we do not want
to do--including, react
? In our text for today, we read that the Lord requires us to be
different from "other Gentiles." We also see that the mind is vain --that is, is empty, void and
without effect.
The
child of God must look at all in relationship to Him. You know, in nothing does
He mean to hurt us, but rather, to help
us. There is also no point in trying to protect ourselves, for there is nothing
that we can do outside of God. We must understand that once He ordains
something, that thing will have to be carried out.
To
be successful as saints of God, we have no choice but to change our way of
thinking. Note how we will notice the "unsavedness"
of someone based upon their deeds, yet when one does that same thing, he is not
as "unsaved."
Too
many people believe that they must control what is "out of control." The
wise man is the one who learns that nothing is under his control, but
that all is under the control of the Lord.
In
order not to be deceived, we must be determined to make the most of salvation. God
is best served by us when we accept that all
that we need to do is to be determined to bless Him for Who He is.
We
cannot allow our mind to deceive us for the mind is "partial" to the
flesh. This is catastrophic, for the "heart-mind" is the center of
our motivations. Therefore, if we are lead by what motivates the flesh, we will
make no progress in the Lord.
If we would truly be changed, we will have to learn to put
ourselves under subjection to the Lord. Of utmost importance to the Lord is
that we learn to make "the sacrifice of praise." If we can do this,
we will never be deceived by our minds.