There are some guests so unwelcome we refuse to allow them to hang around: Uncle Charley and the stogie he refuses to smoke outside; Cousin Cathleen and her wall-drawing little ones.
A restaurant is a better place to meet.
Then there’s the dreaded nephew, and every visit we find a used needle or two. Drug abuse in our home cannot be tolerated. Banished! All are banished, we cry, and we bar the door when they come near.
We are in the right to do this, too. Our home is a place of safety, and we need to protect what belongs to us.
God is the same. He banishes that which does not belong in his house. He bars the door, for some things he cannot tolerate in his presence.
The Word gives us seven sins God finds intolerable.
Unbelief
Mark 16:16 tells us:
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Out the door! Clear the air!
Conformity to the World
Romans 12:2 instructs us:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
We change our behavior at the Lord’s stoop, or we are eventually cast aside.
Blindness
John 1:14 opens our eyes:
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Those who cannot see cannot find their way through Christ’s door.
Blasphemy
Mark 3:28-29 leaves no room for doubt:
“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”
We might as well scribble profanities on the walls of the church. We will be summarily booted out!
Foolishness
Ecclesiastes 7:17 is clear:
“Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?”
If we follow after God and still do foolish things, God will become fed up, and he will eventually bar the door to us.
Pride
Genesis 2:17 records the first warning of Man’s downfall:
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
When we become puffed up in what we know rather than what God’s Word says, Bam! God’s door will slam in our face.
Egotism
Job 7:15-16 gives us Job’s choice:
“So that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.”
We are here for a moment, and no matter our circumstances, our lives are played out in an instant on God’s timetable. We cannot afford to love our lives more than we love doing the works of the Father.
Let’s put this in the context of our everyday lives. We can love our closest relation, and at the same time understand that she will steal us blind when she walks in the door. There are some things we cannot tolerate within the sanctity of our own four walls. If she chooses not to change her behavior, we are forced to limit her access to what we treasure most.
God is no different. He still loves us as he banishes those things he cannot tolerate. It is when we make an effort to change that we are allowed to once again draw close to him.
To continue to spend time with God, we must begin to emulate God.
Copyright © 2015 MyChurchNotes.net
Code: FGO.B.05.15.vp.esv