PERSONAL CONSECRATIONS
“And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Matthew 5:30 NIV
There are so many things that are permissible to human beings but not to you, as a believer.
When we receive Christ as Lord and savior, that is we become born again, there is a new nature that is bequeathed to us through the Holy Spirit that daily puts to death our old nature and allows Christ’s to dominate. Through this process, our Lord Jesus restrains us, by keeping us from indulging in certain sins and seemingly innocent amusements that may seem inoffensive to the unregenerate mind — yet abominable to God.
Your responsibility is to live yielded and obedient to this restraint, that you may be sensitive enough to know if something is standing in the way of your allegiance to your Lord. Essentially, that is the metaphor Jesus used to emphasize that we ought to violently sever ourselves from whatever indulgence of the flesh if at any point it hinders our obedience and leads to sin.
Keep also in mind that such convictions are not your license to place criticism and carnal restrictions on others. Child of God, Christianity is a journey of willing surrender and commitment — not just passive resignation.
Prayer: My Father, I thank you for this counsel. By your grace, I am able to discern your heart in the deepest convictions you lay on my heart. Strengthen me in my inner man, that I may be able to stand firm in the face of the trials and enticements of sin in Jesus name. Amen!
CI.
RELATED RESOURCES
• Matthew 18:8
• Romans 6:12
• Hebrews 12:1
