I have noticed a pattern when it comes to writing these things. There will first be a desire to write, followed by a lengthy period of wondering what it is that I should write about. Along with this comes a few days (give or take) of praying about it, trying to determine exactly what would be beneficial to y'all readers. And while I don't make claims to have heard God 'speak', or to have had a 'vision', or to be verbally inspired by God, I do have the general sense that praying about what I write more often than not leads to a decent, concise message. That's not to say that everything I write is correct, nor am I implying in any way that my word is the same as God's. No one is perfect, and the majority of you are well aware that this applies to me. In any case, I do apologize for the lengthy delay between postings. Between Christmas, New Years, going out of town, starting school again, as well as putting up with a lot of stuff going on in my personal life, things have been fairly hectic.

I think that I have finally figured out why I often struggle over what to write, and it is this: my audience is too diverse. I have been trying my best to write something that is beneficial to all. I mean, look at it like this--within the various places that I post my blogs, I have readers that are Christians, non-Christians, non-Christians that think they're Christians, Pagans and the list goes on. Rather than select a target audience and go from there, I've been trying to present a smorgasbord of ramblings and Biblical teachings, so that all might be able to get something out of reading it. I have no idea how effective I've been in this endeavor; feedback is few and far between.

But what I think I might do, or try to do, from here on out is to write to a particular audience. I have in my mind fellow Christians and the difficulties that we face in this age of apostasy, false doctrine, and lacksidaisical Christianity. At the same time though, I cannot remove the burden I have for those of you that are on your way to Hell. So all I can tell you is to bear with me. Sometimes I might be writing about something that you can relate to or learn from; other times you might lose interest because my topic doesn't apply to you. And who knows? Random as I can be at times, I may end up not changing much at all. We'll see.

I want to talk briefly today about a passage of scripture that is seemingly ignored by a lot of Christians today. I say briefly because I feel as though I'm barely scratching the surface of this issue. I would love to go deeper in depth, but I've not yet had the time to do adequate research. The passage in question is 1 Peter 1:13-16, which says "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."

I think that one of the major problems that the church (that is, the body of genuine believers) is currently facing is that one of the misconstrued idea of Christian liberty. While perhaps not as prevalent an issue as the charismatic movement or the Bible-version debate, the idea of Christian liberty as a license to sin is one that seems to run rampant among today's youth.

To my knowledge (and I again submit that I am neither a scholar nor a theologian), Christian liberty can be taken to mean at least two things. One, it can mean an individualized opinion/decision/action by a Christian when it comes to non-essential or non-Biblical matters. For example, whether or not to wear a tie to church. Or to bring it back to God's Word, whether or not it was alright to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Paul gives the answer to this issue in 1 Corinthians 8. In a nutshell, it went like this: it was perfectly fine to eat this meat, provided that it didn't cause another Christian to stumble in the faith due to their lack of understanding.

Anyhow, the idea here behind Christian liberty (or Christian freedom, as it's also called) is that to a certain extent, all Christians have permission to vary from others in various issues, provided that sin is not involved, nor the causing of another Christian to sin.

But what I've seen touted as Christian liberty here at Radford is something else entirely. On the surface, this alternate proposed definition of Christian liberty makes a good deal of sense. To an extent, it can be defined as this: "As Christians, we don't have to worry about our sins condemning us to hell as they did before we became believers." And this is true. God has declared that we're no longer under the law; we're under grace.

However, and this is a big however, there are many, many people that take this to mean "I cannot go to Hell, so now I can do what I want without fear of condemnation." And this is something that I see all the time. Some of the people that I run into claim "Christian liberty!" when any mention of holiness comes up. Generally speaking, words like legalism and fundamentalism also come into play here. We'll talk about that at a later time.

Anyways, I say all that to say this: God. Commands. Holiness. How many times in the Bible do we see things like "Be not conformed to this world", "be separated", "come out from them", etc? This is not a new concept. This is Christianity, people. Salvation is merely the beginning of our walk with God. It should only be getting better from there. Granted, tough times happen to us all, but generally speaking we should all be closer to God now than we were when we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior. Are you? I've touched on this once before, and I'll say it again: you are as close to God as you choose to be.

Here's a couple verses to chew on. Psalm 66:18 says "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Nelson's Bible Dictionary defines iniquity as a word describing unrighteousness, lawlessness, evil, wickedness, transgressions of spiritual law, and crimes against God. I don't think it would be wrong for me to say that if I live the way I want to without regard to the commands on Godly living that He has given me, God will not hear me.

Now there's something to think about. God turning a deaf ear to those of us that refuse to live like we ought. Might explain why our devotions are so dry. Might explain why we might sometimes feel as though God has abandoned us. Might explain why your life is falling apart.

Guys, you know what does and does not please God. You know what music He approves of. You know the television shows that He approves of. And on the same token you KNOW which ones are garbage. I want--no, I dare you to try something. Next time you plop in front of your TV or listen to your radio, evaluate the things that you’re hearing or seeing. Take that and weigh it against God's standards, against God's holiness. Can you picture Him watching it with you? Using those words, doing those things? Let me give you a hint. I can promise you that God wouldn't have a seat on your couch and enjoy watching shows like Sex in the City, or Grey's Anatomy. Why would He? It does nothing but make light of adultery, lying, cursing, etc. Shows like that mock sin, and yet we have the audacity as Christians to soak it up, to thrive on it. I've been guilty of it, too.

Look guys. I'm not against the idea of TV or radio. But what I try to be against are the things that God is against. Be careful where you get your entertainment from. All it can do is desensitize you to sin. Keep in mind 1 Corinthians 10:31, where we are commanded to glorify God in all of our actions. Honestly ask yourself this: Is God pleased or appalled by my choice in entertainment? Does it bring me closer to or further away from Him? Would He say/do this? Should I?

Lastly, consider 1 Corinthians 15:34. "Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." Does this verse really need expounding upon? So many of us are so busy pleasing ourselves that we've totally given up the idea of witnessing to others. When is the last time you shared the Gospel with someone? When is the last time you paved the way for someone to receive Christ as their Savior? If you were to witness, does your lifestyle verify your words? We all know how loud our actions are; what do yours say?

Alright, I reckon I've beat this dead horse enough for now. Here's a final thought coined by Dr. Tom Farrell, "There are just two choices on the shelf; serving God...or serving self." Who are you serving? Y'all have a good one.

Previous editions of this series:
* - Edition 6--Dec. 8
* - Edition 5--Nov. 15
* - Edition 4--Nov. 2
* - Edition 3--Oct. 24
* - Edition 2--Oct. 13
* - Edition 1--Oct. 4

Photo Credit: Blake Fought