“When God sees men
scorn His truth by imprisoning it from having any command over their lives,
this sight kindles the fire of His wrath into a consuming flame.
If you are a slave
to the devil it does not matter where the chain fastens you to him, the head or
the foot. He holds you just as surely by the foot-- in your actions-- as he
would by the head-- in your blasphemy.
Christian, your
wickedness is greater because it is committed in the face of truth. Many men
are betrayed into unholiness by mistakes of faulty judgment; but your judgment
lights another path for you, unless you intend to heap up more sin by fathering
your unholiness on truth itself.
Sinners miss their
way to heaven in the dark, or are misled by erroneous judgment, which, if
corrected, might bring them back to the path of holiness. But you sin in the
broad daylight of truth and boldly head for hell at high noon. This makes you
favor the devil himself, who knows truth from error as well as any angel does--
but he refuses to be ruled by it.
If a soloist sang
to a sweet melody with her voice but with her hand played a different tune, the
dissonant chords would offend the hearer more than if she had sung what she
played. Thus, to sing to truth with our judgment but play wickedness with our
hearts and hands is more abhorrent to God than the harmony of poor judgment and
an unholy life.
Hanun, for
example, would not have enraged David so much if he had charged him with twenty
thousand men as he did by abusing his ambassadors in such a base way. The open
hostility which sinners express by their lives does not provoke God so much as
the vile dishonor they give to His truth, which by imprisoning it from having any
command over their lives, this sight kindles the fire of His wrath into a
consuming flame. It is a dangerous choice to walk contrary to the light of
God's truth.”
Quoted material from, ”The Christian in Complete
Armour Daily Readings in Spiritual Warfare” by Gurnall and James S Bell.
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