...you will fall for anything. Odd how we know that is so true but we don't consider ourselves as people falling for anything. In fact we protest the fact so much that we talk ourselves into a corner. And there we sit unable or unwilling to admit we've abandoned the higher ground and settled for where we find ourselves. We didn't set out to be where we are so we need to ask ourselves what happened.
I'm sure some of you have heard the analogy of putting a frog in a cold pan of water and then slowly turning up the heat. As the frog slowly moves to a point of being dead they are not resisting because the warm water feels good. Then when the end of the good feelings they are trapped in a pan of hot water about to die. Being humanitarian, we take the frog out of the hot water and they live. In real life, the same analogy can be used to describe our fall. Psalm 1:1 describes this perfectly movement from the high road to the low road. As believers we are called to stand for Jesus and adhere to the Gospel message. I know a lot about this because of the number of times I did not adhere to the Gospel message. In Psalm 1:1 the believer first walks past those who are in sin, then stands and listens to their sin, and finally sits with the scoffers. The person first walks past because they know better than to be in cahoots with those who are not living for Jesus. The person then stands afar of the group and is drawn in by the words they are speaking and join with them in listening to another point of view. Finally, the person sits down among those scoffers and abandons their walk with Jesus.
With these 3 easy steps you too can step outside the will of God in your life. Mankind has come to a place where idolatry is almost expected in churches and denominations. Let me make this really simple. If we are not committed to Jesus and holding fast to the Gospel; we are disobedient to His will for us. This is and individual and corporate dilemma. Many church and denomination leaders have slowly taken their believers away from their allegiance to Jesus and placed that allegiance to something else. Instead of Jesus having central stage, money has center stage. Instead of loving the lost, they love themselves. Instead of preparing for eternity with Jesus they are living for the moment and their own pleasure. If it sounds like a frog, looks like a frog and hops like a frog, it's most likely a frog. That frog is slowly being taken away from safety. Slowly the message of Jesus moves from foremost to hindsight.
Many of us have found ourselves where someone has led us. We have fallen away from Jesus and bought the lie that we are "entitled" as Christians to have our desires to the point where the desires are greater than salvation through Jesus. We are dissuaded into believing that our personal pleasure is more important that the pleasure of being saved by Christ's work on the Cross and the Resurrection. From walking where Jesus was taking us, it's a short step to notice as we walk by those who seem to have more (of anything) than we do. So, we stop and with a pretense of "sharing the Gospel" we are drawn away from the Gospel. When we sit with the sinner and listen to their "truth" we fail to believe that Jesus is "the way, the truth and life."
Today you need to choose whether you are a frog in a pan of water or are FROG, Fully Relying On God. Your choice...
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