Spiritual Warfare and Sin: The Seared Conscience

November 21

To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. --Titus 1:15

But when a conscience has become seared, when a man has played with the fire and burned his conscience and calloused it until he can handle the hot iron of sin without shrinking, there is no longer any safety for him.

Paul wrote in his epistle about those to whom nothing is pure any longer, "but even their mind and conscience is defiled."

Here Paul speaks of an inward corruption, revealed in impure thoughts and soiled language. I am just as afraid of people with soiled tongues as I am of those with a communicable disease.

Actually, a foul tongue is evidence of a deeper spiritual disease and Paul goes on to tell us that those with defiled consciences become reprobates, something just washed up on the shore, a moral shipwreck. Echoes from Eden, 64-65.

"Oh Lord, deliver me from that 'inward corruption.' Guard my mind and my tongue; convict me of any carelessness or straying. Keep my conscience alive and active. Lord, I really don't want to end up a dirty old man, 'washed up on the shore, a moral shipwreck.' Amen."

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Today's "Insight for Leaders" is taken by permission from the book, Tozer on Christian Leadership, published by WingSpread Publishers

Lost Ones

September 10, 2010 — by David H. Roper

Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: Luke 15:4-6

Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost! —Luke 15:6

Bible in a year:
Proverbs 8-9; 2 Corinthians 3

In my college years I worked as a guide, taking boys on treks into Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. On one occasion one of my hikers—a small, slow chap—lagged behind and took the wrong fork on a trail. When we arrived at our campsite he was nowhere to be found. I frantically went out to search for him.

Just before dark, I came across him sitting by a small lake—utterly lost and alone. In my joy, I gave him a bear hug, hoisted him on my shoulders, and carried him down the trail to his companions.

In a story by Scottish writer George MacDonald, he describes a young woman finding a child alone and lost in the woods. She gathered him up in her arms and carried him home to her father, at which point she gained an insight that was never to leave her: “Now she understood the heart of the Son of Man, [who came] to find and carry back the stray children to their Father and His.”

I want you too to know the heart of Jesus, the Son of Man, who came to find and carry back His straying children to their Father, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). No matter how far you may have strayed and how lost you may be, He came to seek and to save you.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost,
Left heaven’s glory, minding not the cost;
Looking high and low and far and wide,
The Son of Man for all was crucified. —Hess

To find salvation, you must admit that you’re lost.

Sovereign Calling

August: Evangelism
Every notable advance in the saving work of God among men will, if examined, be found to have two factors present: several converging lines of providential circumstances and a person.
Let My People Go: The Life of Robert A. Jaffray, 50.

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August 26

Evangelism: Sovereign Calling

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
--John 1:12-13

There is another and worse evil which springs from this basic failure to grasp the radical difference between the natures of the two worlds. It is the habit of languidly "accepting" salvation as if it were a small matter and one wholly in our hands. Men are exhorted to think things over and "decide" for Christ, and in some places one day each year is set aside as "Decision Day," at which time people are expected to condescend to grant Christ the right to save them, a right which they have obviously refused Him up to that time.

Christ is thus made to stand again before men's judgment seat; He is made to wait upon the pleasure of the individual, and after long and humble waiting is either turned away or patronizingly admitted. By a complete misunderstanding of the noble and true doctrine of the freedom of the human will salvation is made to depend perilously upon the will of man instead of upon the will of God.

However deep the mystery, however many the paradoxes involved, it is still true that men become saints not at their own whim but by sovereign calling. The Pursuit of Man, pp. 37-38

"Sovereign God, I'm Your servant. I'll share the message, I'll pray for response, but only You can draw an unsaved person to faith in Christ. Thank You for the privilege of having even a small part in Your sovereign work. Amen."

A Pure Heart

A Pure Heart
by Jon Walker

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10 NIV)

Oh God, create in me a pure heart ...

* A heart that won’t run with lust after physical pleasure,
* A heart that obediently refuses what you’ve rightly and wisely fenced away as sin,
* A heart of love that never insists on its own way (1 John 2:16).

Oh God, create in me a pure heart ...

* A heart that knows no greed when it looks upon worldly treasures,
* A heart that thinks of others, and not itself,
* A heart that argues for love instead of fairness.

Oh God, create in me a pure heart ...

* A heart that never boasts about what it has or what its done,
* A heart that walks humbly, not trying to appear more important than it is,
* A heart that takes no pride in the flesh.

Oh God, create in me a pure heart ...

* A heart that chases after you,
* A heart that looks to you for its provision,
* A heart that trusts that you are at work in others,
* A heart that does not manipulate people or circumstances,
* A heart that looks upon the things above and not the things below.

Heavenly Father, renew a steadfast spirit within me ...

* A spirit committed completely to you,
* A spirit that is not double-minded,
* A spirit that is focused, and single minded on your purposes,
* A spirit resolved to know Christ and Christ alone.

So what?

* Start from the top of the devotional, and work your way down.

Today's Devotional from Our Daily Bread

January 29, 2007

The Right Comparison

ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download

READ: 2 Corinthians 10:12-18

Comparing themselves among themselves, [they] are not wise. —2 Corinthians 10:12

About this cover

When I was working my way through school, I washed walls and windows in people’s homes. At one new job, a 4-foot-tall man greeted me at the door. He told me he had to hire someone to clean his windows because they were too high for him to reach. Although I’m only 5' 7", in his home I felt like a giant. In God’s eyes, of course, our physical stature means nothing.

Some people in the church mistakenly think of themselves as spiritual giants. These “big fish in a small pond” may feel they are superior because of their position. Of this misguided self-promotion, Paul wrote, “Comparing themselves among themselves, [they] are not wise” (2 Cor. 10:12).

Others may feel their spiritual growth is stunted because they don’t play a visible role. This is also wrong. Sometimes those who are growing the most may feel inferior to those who maintain a hypocritical façade of legalistic perfection. Spiritual comparisons are always unwise. Only the Lord is the true judge of spiritual growth.

Physical stature doesn’t matter, but our spiritual standing does. If you are feeling spiritually superior or inferior, ask God to give you the proper attitude. He is the true judge of the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). —Dennis Fisher

Comparing your life with someone you see
Is not a fulfilling quest,
For Jesus’ own words are “Follow Me.”
And that’s how to know life’s best. —Hess

No deception is more dangerous than self-deception.