Wednesday 5/11/2022

Hello there friends, I pray you are having a day filled with God's goodness and grace. Today we are going to be looking at: Ephesians 4: 17-19. 
17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, [m]excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality [n]for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
     While I was growing up I remember multiple scandals in the A/G (or other charismatic) churches. There was Jim Baker, Jimmy Swagart, Marvin Gorman, and a few other, less notable men who had big falls. More recently the scandals were more outside of the A/G, but nonetheless very devastating for the "Cause of Christ". All of the pastor's who end up falling do so because they become too big for accountability (in their eyes). While this does damage to the Church, these scandals are a mere blip on the radar, compared to what society see's from ordinary Christians on a daily basis. What ends up doing far more damage to the local church is plain ol' carnal Christians. The men and women who walk around, claiming to be followers of Christ, but live "like the Gentiles" (as Paul puts it). Carnality slowly chips away at the reputation of the local church. One of the most common reasons that young people give for not wanting to come t0 church is because "the church is full of hypocrites". I won't get into the problem with this thinking (I'll save that for another entry), but the point being made is that these non-Christian's constantly see people claiming to be Christians, but are not living the example. When I say carnality, I do not mean just the "big stuff"...a mean spirited and angry believer does just as much damage to the reputation of the church, as does the Christian that cusses all the time. There will always be carnal Christians, therefore, those who desire and strive to live out our passion for Jesus must be intentional about setting a good example. None of us are perfect, but we must be sure to live in such a way that brings glory to Christ.