Proverbs 5:8
Stay as far away as possible from whatever causes you to stumble.
Do not even go near your triggers for sin.
You know what they are.
If you don’t, start paying attention to them. There’s typically a pattern.
Proverbs 5:21
The Lord sees everything you do and He watches where you go.
Hopefully this is more comforting than frightening.
But perhaps a little frightening form our good Father is what is needed, because being a little scared of Him I believe leads to loving Him, & actually away from fear, if it’s really fear of HIM & not some religious false narrative.
Mark 8:8
They ate…they were satisfied.
Eating from YHWH’s banquet table will never leave you unsatisfied.
Eating anywhere else will have you wanting to stop for a burger on the way home.
Mark 8:33
“Get behind me, Accuser! You’re thinking human thoughts, not God’s thoughts.”
Mark 8:34-35
The only way to really follow Jesus, is the way of the cross.
The cross kills all of its victims. Totally dead.
That’s what Jesus offers us, death of self.
What we don’t always emphasize enough is the great freedom the cross actually brings to our lives.
Death to anger
Death to addiction
Death to lust
Death to pride
Death to having to have your way
Death to the need to control
What if you were truly free from all of these?
Does that sound terrible? Or terribly liberating?
What if these were not even much of an issue?
How freeing it would be to go through the day focusing our attention on where it really needs to be, on Christ, on people, on the world & its needs.
“Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” -John Owen
“We insist that the great lack today is a mighty liberation through an inner crucifixion…” -L.E. Maxwell