sermonette: Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes, Pride of Life


David C. Grabbe
Given 22-Feb-20; Sermon #1530s; 20 minutes

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The half-time show of the recent Superbowl exemplifies how, by exercising the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, the offspring of Jacob are rewiring their brains, making wrong prioritizations, etching sin in their nervous systems. In an earlier Superbowl, many of the fans of an outclassed team, having lost all hope for victory, turned to pornography to distract them from their disappointment. Ecclesiastes 7:29 assures us that "God made human beings straightforward, but they have devised many schemes [for evil]" (NRSV). The Pharisees, while assiduously avoided sinful behavior, displayed huge deficits in the area of carrying out God's will. A strong correlation exists between inactivity and wandering out of the way. An idle mind is the devil's workshop. The antidote to the idle mind is to imitate Jesus Christ, whose every thought was to do His Father's will. As God's called-out ones, our minds need to be rewired so that pleasing our Heavenly Father overrides any distracting thoughts. Wisdom results from a wholesome relationship with God; only through knowing Him do we find what is pleasing to Him.














 


 
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