Is Prime Day Prime Evil?
Purity 451 06/22/2021 Purity 451 Podcast
Today’s photo of the wake of a boat on the Hudson River beneath the FDR
Mid-Hudson Bridge between Poughkeepsie and Highland NY comes to us from a
friend’s recent family trip up the river.
I wanted to share it to express the beauty of things in motion. This
photo that may have been stunning from the same vantage point in a boat that
was anchored but if it were we would have missed the beauty of the waves that
were created by the boat’s progress.
Likewise, our lives of faith are a thing of beauty when we come to know
Christ as our Savior and have the assurance of our salvation, but how much more
beautiful is it to see the progress of one who was lost in darkness move into
the victory of a transformed life.
Scripture repeatedly encourages to leave the things of the past behind
and to continually press on to where the upward call of God is leading us. But just like today’s unseen boat’s motor must
power through the resistance of the water, we may also run into some bumps in
the road on the path of Christian discipleship.
I participate in a bi-weekly zoom prayer call where the members of
Freedom in Christ Ministries’ Northeast Region can gather to offer prayers of
adoration, thanksgiving, and petition to the Lord for His will to be done in their
lives and on the earth. It is a
gathering that honors God and that edifies the participants as they come
together with a common cause and with mutual support to be faithful to follow
His will. I usually come out of these sessions feeling
being built up in my faith and refreshed.
However, you actually have to log into the zoom meeting to join the
fellowship and prayer of the saints and reap the spiritual benefits.
Yesterday was hot day at work and as I approached the end of the workday
I almost cancelled a meeting I had with a friend who I meet with weekly for
fellowship and accountability. I had all but composed the text and was ready to
send it when I realized that I was going to be texting a lie. Sure it was hot, but I wasn’t exhausted, and
my conscience stopped me from sending the message and cancelling the
meeting.
So after work, I went and I met with my friend and we talked and prayed
for one another and I’m glad I did because our meetings are a nice mix of
catching up, confession, prayer, and listening for the Holy Spirit’s guidance
in our lives. I left our meeting
empowered and encouraged and was happy to see that I had plenty of time to get
back home and to have some dinner before my zoom prayer call.
Apparently, I had too much time because after I had my meal I took to my
laptop and saw a friend’s meme post on FB jokingly saying that the commercialization
of Prime Day was a shame, because we have somehow forgotten that The
Transformer’s Robot “Optimus Prime” died for us all. I had a chuckle at my friend’s meme but then I
found myself going to Amazon to check out the Prime Day Deals.
As an ex-Buddhist, material things don’t have much of a draw on me but
as a digital entertainment enthusiast and recovering collector, I still can be vulnerable
to some retail therapy when a few conditions are met. The trap Amazon and Apple
lay for me is to make their wares:
- ·
digital, so it doesn’t fill my physical house with stuff, - ·
cheap, because it doesn’t cost much
and
- ·
timely, it is Prime Day after all! And time is limited. They
even have a count down timer on Amazon to let you know that your opportunities to
save are expiring every second!
Add to these conditions, the fact that I was just generously gifted an
Amazon gift card for my soon approaching birthday, and I found myself completely
drawn into Amazon to “buy something!”.
I went totally “mindless”, and my actions defied reason. Even though I didn’t see anything I “had to
have” I saw a lot of movies I wasn’t familiar with, so I started watching
trailers and if they were vaguely appealing I pulled the trigger and purchased
them. Even though it was cheaper to rent
them, I paid the few extra dollars to own them, because if you know me and my
schedule, I don’t have time to watch movie! What?
Anyway I also decided to take advantage of promotional discounts on a
couple of the digital streaming channels, they were only 99 cents for two months
after all, and you can cancel them any time!
I know that for a fact because the channels I purchased are ones that I
have subscribed to in the past and cancelled them both because I felt I didn’t
have the time and they didn’t have the enough content to keep me.
Apparently, in the frenzy of buying movies and signing up for streaming
services that I previously had cancelled, I regressed to childhood.
So if you would like to come over and watch season 1 of “Scooby Doo
Where Are You?”, I’m your guy.”
Yeah, I liked Scooby Doo.. when I was a kid, but what was I
thinking? “But it’s a classic and it’s
only $9.99!! for the whole season!”
I would like to say this is a first-time occurrence but my digital library
of books, music, shows, and movies will confirm that if it is digital and it’s
cheap there are no limits to the depths of my depravity. I got Season One of “Kung Fu” from a
previous retail binge If you want to take a more enlightened journey back to
the 70’s with me, grasshopper…
Anyway, after the damage was done. I felt tired and didn’t want to go on
the zoom call because I felt like I had nothing to say to God in light of my trying
to satisfy myself by possessing digital entertainment options.
So instead I watched a show on Paramount Plus. What was the name of the show?: “Evil” Oh
yeah, don’t you know the CBS macabre series has found new life on Paramount
Plus. An all-new season two of Evil is being released now!
So this morning, I was highly convicted over the fact that I didn’t go
on the zoom prayer call and felt like I failed the Lord and myself. But as I slugged through my work out and
confessed my sin, the Lord assured me in my spirit that He loved me before this
episode, and He continue to love me afterward.
While He calls us to make wise choices and to live a good and holy life,
His acceptance of us isn’t conditional. His love is unconditional, and we are
saved by grace. We are not going to be
able to live perfect lives and God never expected us to.
While He wants us to seek His presence and wisdom for our lives, He is
not waiting to jump all over us or to condemn us when we step off the path.
He is ever present and loving and He will always be there for us. So whether you have been away from Him for a
long time or just made some recent steps away from His company, just know that
our relationship with God is not about “earning it” or “doing everything right”. Our relationship with God is not about
keeping the rules to be approved. Our relationship is about seeking the One who
knows us better than we know ourselves and who loves us anyway.
The beauty of our walk of faith comes from the fact that we are moving
forward with God and seeing the “wake” of our mistakes slowly settle and fade
as we rocket down the river of life towards, and for, His glory.
This morning’s meditation
verse is:
Psalm 100:5 (NKJV)
5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is
everlasting, And His truth endures to all
generations.
Today’s verse shows
me that the Lord knew I was going to be writing about progress before I did, as
today’s randomly drawn verse is the very next verse in the Bible from yesterday’s
verse, Psalm 100, verse 4!
After my evening of retail
relapse and His subsequent mercy and forgiveness, like this verse, I too can
proclaim that the “LORD is good” and “His mercy is everlasting”! Psalm 23 famously tells us that when we walk
with the Lord goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. And if there is anything that my faith journey
with God has shown me is that these things are true. The Lord is good, and His
Mercy is everlasting!
The history of this
world has also shown us that the last part of this verse is true too. “His
truth endures to all generation.” The
Bible is a history book that shows the workings of God and mankind. It details
His divine plan to bring forth a Messiah who would suffer, die, and be resurrected
to reconcile all those who believe in Him to God.
The story begins and
ends in the Bible but the chapters that are not contained in the Bible tell of how
the Christian faith has endured through persecution and darkness to still be
alive on this earth with the express purpose to proclaim “His truth” to all the
generations.
God is good and merciful,
and His plan covers all times and ages.
Rejoice that you are part of His story. Endeavor to bring more
characters into the narrative of truth and love that God has prepared for
us.
As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with
their walk.
Today we continue with Dr. Neil Anderson’s Victory
Over the Darkness, continuing Chapter 4.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Anderson’s books for your own private study
and to support His work. If you need this title you can find it online at several
sites for less than $15.00:
We Have
Been Grafted In
Concerning our nature, Paul says, “you were formerly
darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Ephes. 5:8). Are
we both light and darkness? Paul also said, “Therefore if any man is in
Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things
have come” (2 Cor.
5:17).
Are we partly new creature and partly
old creature? Does the Christian have two natures? Perhaps an illustration will
help answer that question. In Arizona, city parks and boulevards are decorated
with ornamental orange trees that are a much hardier stock than the trees that
produce the sweet oranges we eat. Because they can survive colder temperatures,
they are used for root stock.
The ornamental orange is allowed to
grow to a certain height; then it is cut off, and a new life (such as a navel
orange) is grafted into it. Everything that grows above the graft takes on the
new nature of the sweet orange. Everything below the graft retains the physical
characteristics of the ornamental orange. Only one tree remains when it is
fully grown. The physical growth of the tree is still dependent upon
the roots that go deep into the soil for water and nutrition. What grows above
the graft takes on the nature of what was grafted into it.
People don’t look at a grove of navel
oranges and say, “That grove is nothing more than a bunch of root
stock!” They would call them navel orange trees because they would
identify the trees by their fruit. That is how we should be known.
Jesus said, “So then, you will
know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:20).
Paul says, “Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the
flesh” (2 Cor.
5:16). In other words, we are not supposed to recognize Christians for who
they were in Adam, but for who they now are in Christ. That is why the Bible
doesn’t identify believers as sinners but instead identifies them as saints.
The natural person is like an
ornamental orange tree, who may look good but cannot bear any fruit that isn’t
bitter. The fruit will only drop to the ground and bring forth more natural
stock that will only appear to look good for a season.
Let me present another observation
from the tree illustration. How would you define the nature of the tree? Would
it have two natures? It depends upon whether you are talking about the whole
tree, which does have two natures (root stock and navel), or if you are just
talking about the part of the tree that grows above the graft (the new
creation), which has just one nature (navel). This is somewhat of a semantic
problem. When Paul talks about the new “I,” is he talking about who
he was before Christ in combination with who he now is in Christ, or is he
referring only to the new creation in Christ?
Spiritual growth in the Christian life
requires a relationship with God who is the fountain of spiritual life, a
relationship that brings a new seed or root of life. As in nature, unless there
is some seed or root of life within an organism, no growth can take place. So
also unless there is a root of life within the believer (i.e., some core of
spiritual life), growth is impossible. There is nothing to grow. That is why
Paul’s theology is all based on our position in Christ.
“As you therefore have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and
now being built up in Him” (Col. 2:6, 7,
emphasis added). To build up believers (progressive sanctification), they must
first be firmly rooted in Christ (positional sanctification). To grow and bear
fruit, Christians, their marriages and their ministries must all be organically
centered in Christ.
A New
Heart and a New Spirit
According to Scripture, the center of the person is the
heart. It is the “wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23, NIV).
In our natural state, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure”
(Jeremiah 17:9,
NIV). It is deceitful because it has been conditioned from the time of
birth by the deceitfulness of a fallen world, rather than by the truth of God’s
Word.
One of the greatest prophecies
concerning our salvation is found in Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV):
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove
from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
The new covenant by which every
Christian lives says, “I will put my laws in their hearts” (Hebrews 10:16, NIV).
In other words, “All the ornamental oranges that will choose to put their
trust in God and believe His Word shall be navel oranges.” The moment you
were grafted into the vine you were sanctified or set apart as a child of God.
“You are already clean” (John 15:3), and
you shall continue to be sanctified as He prunes you so that you may grow and
bear fruit.
The same thought is captured in Paul’s
testimony: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave himself for me”(Galatians 2:20, NIV).
Paul says I died, but I live, obviously a new and different person (see also Col. 3:1-3). In
other words, my old ornamental tree has been cut off, I no longer live as an
ornamental orange, I now live as a new navel orange.
Victory Over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ.
—————————more
tomorrow————————
God bless
you all!
Join our “Victory
over the Darkness” or “The Bondage Breaker” series of Discipleship Classes via
the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is
also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Audible.com.
Email me
at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be
encouraged.
Encouragement for the Path of Christian
Discipleship
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