Showing posts with label победа. Show all posts
Showing posts with label победа. Show all posts

Thursday, July 23, 2015

A Letter to Sinful Flesh


Dear Sinful Flesh,

I am writing this letter to inform you that I have filed for divorce.  We cannot live together in harmony any more.  I always knew that you didn’t have the best of friends and your heart wasn’t towards anything good, but I figured that, since I had to live with you, I should make some allowance for you; This, however, has changed.  I have met Another, even Him, who was made in the likeness of sinful flesh [that is, akin to, but quite unlike, yourself], who put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and is now risen from the dead, being seated at the right hand of God, henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool.

This Man, Christ Jesus, has told me things that I have never heard before. He has revealed things to me that I cannot, and shall not, deny.  I had thought that all men were the same, but to my delight, I have found this Man to be perfect in every way.  He always encourages me to love God and is always quick to edify me.  I am looking forward to the  wedding, when I, His bride, shall be forever joined together with Him.

I know that the divorce will not be finalized for some time, so, until then I have been advised by my Counselor, to deny you any and all access into my life.  With His divine assistance, I have purposed to crucify, kill, and destroy your evil and wicked lust.  Even as I have determined to do this I feel a wave of resolve that strengthens my new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him who created him.  Flesh, I will soon be free from your defiling influence forever.  Until then, I have been told that you have an aversion to high altitudes.  The thin air of this heavenly environment causes you to lose consciousness for hours at a time.  I have decided to move to the highest mountain that I can find.

Soon, someone will be showing up at your door with the final papers. You do not need to sign them.  Just know, Flesh, that parting is not sweet sorrow. I will not miss you; I do not even like you.  It is in the light of my new home that I can finally find the strength to express my true feeling for you. I hate you. You are everything that I have come to loathe.  Until the papers arrive, I suggest that you keep still and quiet, or I will be forced to read more from that Book that you hate so much.  I promised my new man that I would come up higher, so you probably won’t be able to join us. Even so, I like it that way.  I always make more progress when you are not awake.

Good bye, or should I say, until then . . .

Your former slave, Brother Robert Cobb

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The Way to Victory in Christ

The remedy for love of the world is the knowledge and love of God, who is exactly opposite to the world (I Jn. 2:1~5-16). To be drawn to the world with its lusts, is to be drawn away from God (Jas. 1:13-14). And, vice versa, to be enamored with God, is to have the world's appeal neutralized.  Those who "turn from the holy commandment" or the requirement for holiness, after having embraced the way of righteousness (II Pet. 2:21), reproach God. They imply that what sin offers is better than what is to be had in His fellowship. 
The antidote to such unfaithfulness is to "taste" of the Lord, "that He is gracious" (I Pet. 2:3; cf. Ps. 34:8). No other procedure is effective for overcoming the world. We must "taste of the good word of God" and "the heavenly gift" in order'to perceive the emptiness and deceit of the world's attractions (Heb. 6:4-5). That is God's means for our triumph over the world, the flesh, and the Devil. It is the way of faith in Christ (I Jn. 5:4-5). --Fred O. Blakely