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"And the servant of the Lord must
not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach,
patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose
themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover
themselves out of
the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his
will." II Timothy 2:24-26.
Have you ever met someone who says they are a Christian, but everything
they do is totally against their own self, almost like they
are resisting their own prosperity and growth. Well, I'm
sure you have because they are
everywhere. Look at our text above, it says, "those that
oppose themselves." I was a little surprised to find that
this is the only
scripture that uses that wording "oppose themselves";
however, there are other scriptures that give the same
ideal. Romans 1:24 & 28 says,
"Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the
lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies
between themselves:" "And
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things
which are not convenient." I
Corinthians 6:18 says, "Flee fornication. Every sin that a
man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth
fornication sinneth against his
own body." Ephesians 5: 1-4 says, "Be ye therefore followers
of God, as dear
children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved
us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling
savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or
covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as
becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor
foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but
rather giving of thanks." The scripture there in Romans is
more than likely talking
about a lost person, but the scriptures in I Corinthians 6
and Ephesians 5 is the Apostle Paul's and, more importantly,
the Lord's warning to a
Christian to stay away from these things (fornication,
filthiness, uncleaness, foolish talking, etc.) However, we
meet people all the time
that are caught up in these things that are not conventient
and they are dishonouring themselves and opposing their own
self. Why is that? Well,
look back at the scripture there in II Timothy 2, the Bible
says that they are in a snare of the devil and are taken
captive by him at his
will. They are in the devil's trap; so what are we supposed
to do to help them. our beginning scripture in II Timothy
says, "And the servant of the
Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to
teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose
themselves; if God peradventure
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
And that they may recover themselves" Then Ephesians 5:11-13
says, "And have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those
things which are done of
them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made
manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is
light." We must reprove them
in love and meekness by shining the light of the Word of God
on the sin so that peradventure they might repent. The Lord
is able, so keep at it.
Some won't listen , but there might be one that does. Thank
the Lord. It would be good for you to take the time to read
Ephesians 5 and II Timothy
2, it is a good study.
Until next time, may the Lord keep you
and bless you.
Sis. Tanya |
in the
