SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/17/2019
11:34 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Intellectually
Futile”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
4:17-19
Message of the verses: “17 This I say
therefore, 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, 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, for the practice of
every kind of impurity with greediness.”
In
our last SD we looked at the introduction of “The Walk of the Old Self” and
mentioned that in the last paragraph that there would be four sub-sections to
this main section. “Paul proceeds to
give four specific characteristics of the ungodly, pagan life-style that
believers are to forsake. The worldly
life is intellectually futile, ignorant of God’s truth, spiritually and morally
calloused, and depraved in mind.” Let us
begin looking at this first characteristic of the ungodly at this time.
We
can see from the end of verse seventeen where this title comes from, which is “in
the futility of their mind.” I believe that
it is significant that the basic issue of life-style centers in the mind. In verse eighteen we can see that Paul
continues to speak of understanding and also ignorance, and then learning and
teaching in verses 20-21 and then later on in verses 23-24 the mind and truth
and all of which are related to the intellect.
Unbelievers think differently than believers, and thus they act
differently. When it comes to spiritual
and also moral issues and unbeliever cannot think straight for his rational
processes in those areas are warped and they are inadequate. “And just as they did not see fit to
acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those
things which are not proper” (Romans 1:28).
“because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does
not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Romans 8:7). “But a natural man does not accept the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot
understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14). “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize
by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand
on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind” (Col. 2:18). “To the pure, all things are pure; but to
those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and
their conscience are defiled” (Titus 1:15).”
John
MacArthur writes “In their two-volume book The
Criminal Personality, Samuel Yochelson and Stanton Samenow maintain that
criminal behavior is the result of warped thinking. Three entire sections (pp. 251-457) are
devoted to ‘The thinking errors of the criminal.’ By studying what criminals think, rather than
trying to probe their feelings and backgrounds, these researchers use these
sections to share their conclusions. ‘It
is remarkable,’ they write, ‘that the criminal often derives as great and
impact from his activities during non-arrestable phases as he does from crime. The criminal’s thinking patterns operate
everywhere; they are not restricted to crime.’
That is a description of the depraved, reprobate mind. ‘Sociological explanations have been
unsatisfactory,’ the authors declare. ‘The
idea that a man becomes a criminal because he is corrupted by his environment has
proved to be too weak an explanation. We
have indicated that criminals come from a broad spectrum of homes, both disadvantaged
and privileged within the same neighborhood.
Some are violators and most are not.
It is not the environment that turns a man into a criminal, it is a
series of choices that he makes starting at the very early age.’ The researchers also conclude that the
criminal mind eventually ‘will decide that everything is worthless.’ ‘His thinking is illogical,’ they affirm in
summary.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have to praise the Lord for bringing this
last quote and the next one we will look at in our next SD, (Lord willing), as
they fit wonderfully into my preparation to the 20th chapter of
Revelation which I am preparing to teach in our Sunday school class.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will continue bring to my
mind things that have to do with my desire to better understand humility.
It seems to me that I did not give a
quotation in our last SD and so the following comes from Thomas Fuller who
writes “He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must
pass.”
4/17/2019 12:04 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment