Shooting Yourself In The Foot

When I was in high school, I had a football coach that must have said this phrase 30 times a practice. A lineman would jump offsides, and he would respond, “Come on guys; you are shooting yourselves in the foot.” A receiver would drop the ball, to which he would yell, “We’re shooting ourselves in the foot.” Anytime we made a decision or play that hurt our own team, Coach would remind us that we were shooting ourselves in the foot. We were hurting ourselves. The idea was that the opponent is already giving us enough problems and he didn’t want us create more problems for ourselves. I imagine we would have won a few more games if our feet didn’t hurt so much from being shot all the time.
Proverbs talks about the slothful person “shooting themselves in the foot.” Proverbs 21:25 The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labor. Can you see it? Here is a man that is lazy. He doesn’t like to work. The goal of his entire life is to take it easy, have fun, and do what feels good at the moment. The Bible says that this “desire” will be the very thing that destroys him. How? Well, he won’t work so he can’t earn money to buy food and he is too lazy to plant food in order to put something on his table. I know sometimes it’s fun to lay on the couch and do nothing, but remember that relaxed position cannot be your full-time job. You must fight that desire or it will destroy you. Not only will it destroy you physically and spiritually, but it will also make you poor. Proverbs 21:17 He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. If what you live for in life is “pleasure”, you may find it, but it won’t be exactly what you wanted. Wouldn’t it be great to just be able to stay home from school today and play video games, watch Sportscenter, paint your nails, talk on the phone, and take all the self-quizzes on Facebook? The only problem is you’ll never graduate from high school, no one would ever higher someone who can’t show up to work, and you would have to keep living with your parents until you figured out how to work? There are plenty spiritual reasons why Christians should work hard, but here is a physical reason that should motivate you at least a little bit-money. Not having money is okay, but not having money because you are too lazy to work is a sin. Finally, Proverbs 21:5 states, The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every on that is hasty only to want. Here is God’s answer to those who desire the “Get rich quick” scheme. God promises that the way to plenty is through diligent hard work. God rewards people who are diligent day after day. He doesn’t necessarily make them millionaires, but God will see to it that they have everything they “need”. However, the “hasty”, those who only want to work one day and get paid a million dollars, these hasty people will be want food and shelter before too long.
It’s okay to dream about coming up with some invention that will make you lots of money, but until then work hard and be diligent as a Christian, as an employee, as a student, as a member of your church, and as a member of your family.

What To Do With Your Heavy Load

Proverbs 16:3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Have you ever had a stressful day? Have you ever had a day where you have been overwhelmed? It seemed like you would never be able to make it through the day. There was too much work to be done, too many people to take care of, too many problems that needed to be solved before the sun set. If you have lived very long at all, you have had a day or two or three like this.

Proverbs 16:3 gives the solution for easy days and hard days. We are told to commit our works to the LORD. The word "commit" means "to roll upon". Imagine carrying around a great big burden on your back. It seems impossible to carry it one more step. It's about to kill you. The Lord wants us to roll it to him. Take it of our back and let him carry it. Rather than stressing out about a situation that we really can't handle or fixed, roll the problem on God's back. God is big enough to carry it. He is all-powerful. He also can fix the problem or help you through the problem.

If we will roll the problem to God's back then our "thoughs will be established" We can go through the day with joy, peace, and assurance, that God is carrying my load and he is working on the situation in a far greater way than I ever could.

Consider the following verses which have the same idea of rolling the weight to someone else.

Psalm 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass .

1 Peter 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

So, how do you roll your problems to God? The answer is simple but it takes some work. Prayer! Prayer is the answer. I can go to God with my problems and then my thoughts can be established because I know God will take care of me and helping me through the day. However, the hard part is being willing to leave the problems with God.

Sometimes we give God our problems like a fisherman. We cast our problems to God and then reel them back in. God wants us to leave them with him. If we will give him our problems, than our thoughts will be established, not in the fact that we will never have any more problems, but that God is working on them better than we ever could.

Sights And Sound Of Sodom

1 Peter 2:7-9 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

God was merciful in delivering Lot out of Sodom. I use the word “mercy” because it means “not getting what you do deserve.” Lot deserved God’s fiercest judgment. His lifestyle and testimony in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah was detestable at best. He began his journey to Sodom as a righteous man, and according to this verse, that is the way he ended his journey as well. No one’s righteousness in the sight of God is based on personal performance. Righteousness is based on the perfection of Jesus Christ. Lot’s faith was in a coming “Lamb of God” that would take away his sins. This is no different than our faith in the “Lamb of God” that came and took away our sins. Lot’s issue wasn’t an issue of salvation; it was an issue of sanctification. The word “sanctification” carries the idea of being set apart for a special use, holy, separately reserved for god or godliness.

So what happened to Lot that destroyed his testimony? Perhaps the more correct question would be, “Who happened to Lot that destroyed his testimony? Grammatically, it sounds a little rough, but Biblically it makes sense. Galatians 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? It’s not that Lot could blame anyone else, he had to take full responsibility, but no doubt there were people that helped sear his godly conscience so that sin didn’t bother him anymore.

Verse 7 says that he was “vexed by the filthy conversation of the wicked” in Sodom. The word “vexed” means “to wear down with labor, “to exhaust.” The word “conversation” means “manner of life” or “life style.” The word “wicked” speaks of rebels against God. These people exhausted his spiritual strength by their continual assault on God’s laws.

Verse 8 Here we see Lot’s first mistake. “He dwelt among them” Lot’s name would have never been connected to such wickedness had he never lived in Sodom. I can hear it now, “We’ll go there and be a witness.” “We’ll make a difference in that city, but first we need to just fit in and be accepted by the people.” I know missionaries go to wicked cities and live there in order to make a difference, but if you read Lot’s story in Genesis, you will see that his true motive wasn’t evangelistic. His true motive was entertainment. The sin of the city drew him in. Psalm 1:1-2 reminds us that it is never a good thing to be influenced by the wrong crowd. Instead of finding delight in the world, we should delight in the Word. Lot’s second mistake was what he watched and what he listened to while in that city. The Bible says through “seeing and hearing he vexed his righteous soul.” In the New Testament we may say “seared his conscience” like in 1 Timothy 3:2…having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Even in 2010 this is how Christian’s quench the Holy Spirit in their life. The 3 major influences: Sinners, Sights, and Sounds. Think about it. Television, Music, and People are the world’s way of influence. There is no doubt that the devil will use these avenues to numb Christians to God’s will in their life. We might think, “well I don’t do that stuff, I just watch it or I just listen to it.” I know. That is the problem. The Bible records no statement that says Lot was personally involved either. It simply states that he saw it and heard it and it numbed him spiritually to what God wanted for him. This didn’t happen all at once; it happened “day by day.” If sin jumped out in a black robe with fire in its hand, we would identify it and run, but that isn’t how sin works. It seems harmless, fun, interesting, cute, and cool, but over time it becomes a monster that is out of control in our life. This truth is evidenced by beer commercials which are the funniest commercials on television, but the end result of alcohol is far from funny. It’s just one cigarette. It’s just my favorite rock song. It’s just a few pages on the internet. It’s just one cuss word, one sex scene, one dirty joke, but before we know it, we find ourselves trapped in sin. Our pet sins become killer monsters. We are no longer separated to be used by God.
So what do I do when I find myself vexed by the sights and sounds of this world? Do what Lot did, Run!!! But, don’t make God pull you out while the walls are crumbling around your life. That kind of exit strategy is painful and it will scar your life forever. Run from sin to the Savior.

2 Corinthians 6:17-7:1 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. The ask God for forgiveness and you forsake the sin. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.