When Paul wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth, it was not a letter glowing with praise for their faithfulness and purity in following Jesus. Instead, Paul had to reprimand them for falling back into worldly ways and for living to please their fleshly desires instead of pleasing God.
When we try to take the credit for something God has done, we are no better—worse. When we flaunt our good deeds for all to see or pretend to be something we’re not, we become hypocrites—pretenders of the worse kind. Eventually we’re sure to be found out.
When courting Louise, nobody ever had to ask me if I was spending time with her regularly. I didn’t have to make a special effort to schedule time with her. I could hardly wait to spend time with her. And I told her everything — my hopes, dreams, fears — even dumb stuff.
The conscience is an interesting human faculty. It defines the moral code by which a person lives, or at least hopes to live by. As far as I know, everyone has a conscience. But it’s also clear that not everyone lives by the same standard of conscious morality.
A single decoy alone may not send the correct message to tempt a trophy buck; however, several 3-D decoys strategically placed in proximity of each other had a positive effect on the unsuspecting animal. Sometimes we are no different than that poor unsuspecting buck. Our greed, passion, lusts, and driven spirits cause us to forget about the temptations and decoys that will lure us away from our beliefs.
Physical adultery does not originate in a vacuum; it begins with spiritual adultery in the heart. The hearts of the 10 northern tribes were unfaithful and corrupt. They had lost their way in their spiritual journey and obedience to God. The covenant God had formed with Israel on Mount Sinai in Exodus 24 and renewed in Joshua 8 was like that of a cherishing husband.
