The Key

Click here to read the Old Paths Journal.

The Key to Victorious Christian Living

Galatians 5:24

"And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."

Everybody should want to win in life. The purpose for entering a war is to win. No country goes to war with the intention of losing. A country that goes to war goes with the intention of winning. According to the Scriptures, every Christian is in a war. Your desire should be to win in the war against Satan and the flesh.

In the Christian life, you will either fulfill the works of the flesh, or you will walk in the Spirit and exemplify the fruit of the Spirit. We learn from the verse above how to be victorious in walking in the Spirit. The key to being victorious in the Christian life is by having a daily crucifixion. Without crucifying two things on a daily basis, you will fail to be victorious as a Christian.

First, you must crucify your affections. When God says to crucify your affections, He is talking about letting your passions die. In other words, you will never be successful in serving God without letting your goals die. Your affections are the passions that drive you. In other words, they are the things in life that drive you to do what you do.

Christian, though your goals in life may be godly goals, it is not your goals for which you are to live, but you are to live for the goals that God has for you. For instance, a pastor may have goals to build a growing church. Though these are not bad goals, these may not be God's goals for you. Your goal may be to be a great Christian, build the largest bus route, Sunday school class, or be the best soul winner. Though these goals are not bad goals, God is teaching that you have to crucify your affections. Notice that God did not say only the bad affections, but He simply said, "affections." That means that even your good affections must be crucified. Even if your goals in life are good, you are not to pursue your goals, but you are to pursue walking in the Spirit. To crucify your affections or goals means you are to kill your goals and passions for the sake of fulfilling the fruit of the Spirit which is, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. These things are God's affections for which He wants you to live. You will only do these things by crucifying your affections.

The second thing you must do to live a victorious Christian life is to crucify your lusts. Your lusts are your carnal appetites. That means to live victoriously you must control your thought life. You will never live in the flesh and keep a good thought life. Your thought life at the best is corrupt. On a daily basis you need to ask God to help you to control your mind. The best way to control your mind is to live in the Word of God. Meditate throughout the day on what you have read in the morning so that your mind is controlled by Christ. The purpose of crucifying our lusts is so that we can have the mind of Christ.

If you want to be victorious in your Christian life, then you must have a daily crucifixion. You must daily crucify your affections for the fruit of the Spirit, and you must daily crucify your lusts for the mind of Christ. Every morning when you wake up, ask God to help you in crucifying your affections and lusts so that He can live through you. If you are successful in doing these things, then you will be victorious in your Christian life.

Welcome?

Click here to read the Old Paths Journal.

Wearing Out Your Welcome

Proverbs 25:17

"Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee."

Have you ever had anyone over to your house for a meal and they didn't know when to leave? There is nothing worse than trying to politely ask someone to go home. When I was a boy it was common for my parents to invite people over to the house for different events. I remember one Thanksgiving Day that we invited a family to the house for the meal. This family had fallen on hard times, and we wanted to be a blessing to them. They arrived before the meal, and for a while we had a wonderful time of fellowship. The problem was they didn't know when to leave. It was well into the night when my dad finally had to tell them to go home because it was time for us to go to bed.

The verse above deals with this very subject. God is teaching us to leave our neighbor's house before they get tired of us. In other words, God is teaching us not to wear our welcome out with those who are being kind to us. He said that if we wear out our welcome, then they will hate us. This is simply teaching that our neighbors will hate having us over to their house. To avoid this from happening, there are a few things you should consider when going to someone's house, or when inviting someone to your house.

First, find out how long the invitation is for. Whenever you invite someone to your house, or you are invited, set a time to arrive and leave. Often people just don't know how long they are supposed to stay. Sometimes people stay too long because they are afraid they will offend you if they leave too early. By setting a time limit on how long you expect them to stay, this will keep them from wearing out their welcome.

Second, if your children are invited, keep your children under control. Whenever someone would invite my family to their home, my parents would threaten us with punishment if we misbehaved. The quickest way to wear out your welcome is to allow your children to wildly run around. Teach your children to behave when visiting the homes of others. Of course, the best way to teach them to behave outside your home is to be sure they behave in your home. If they will behave at home, then they will behave when they are at someone else's home.

Third, plan activities of what you are going to do to keep the time from becoming dull. Don't just invite people over and not have anything to do, but have some things planned that everyone would want to do. It would be good to find out before they come if they would enjoy doing these activities so that they don't feel they have to do what you planned to keep from offending you.

Last, leave before the welcome is worn out. One of the invaluable things I have learned is to leave when they want you to stay. This may sound strange, but if they want you to stay, then they will want you to come back. Learn to evaluate how the situation is going, and if you perceive that things are starting to wind down, then leave. When you leave and they say, "We ought to do this again," then you have been successful at not wearing out your welcome.

I'm all for hospitality and for Christians fellowshipping with each other, but the quickest way to ruin this is to wear out your welcome. Be careful about staying too long. Don't be known as one to avoid having over to the house. Learn how long your welcome is, and leave before it's over.

Treasure Hunting

Click here to read the Old Paths Journal.

Treasure Hunting

2 Corinthians 4:7

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."

Do you remember when you were a child how you thought it would be exciting to go on a treasure hunt and discover a treasure? There are people who have given their lives and wealth to discover lost treasures. However, the greatest treasures that have never been discovered are in the lives of people with whom you associate. The verse above teaches us that the greatest treasure you will find is in people. If you ever want to become a treasure hunter and discover the treasures in people, then there are several things that you will have to remember as you search for these hidden treasures.

First, everybody has something that is valuable to God. This is why you should never discard anyone. Every person whom God has placed around you is there for you to discover the treasure inside of them. You may not see the treasure, but there is something very valuable to God inside of every person if you will take the time to search for that treasure.

Second, everyone's treasure is covered by sin. Notice that God said the treasure is "...in earthen vessels,..." The reason why you can't see the treasure in people is because sin has covered it. The worse a person is, the more searching you will have to do to discover that treasure. The only reason why you can't see the treasure in someone is because sin has covered it. Just because sin has "ruined" someone's life does not mean they don't have any value to God. This just means you have to work harder to reveal that treasure.

Third, to discover the treasure in people, someone must be willing to search for it. Are you going to let the treasure in people go undiscovered because you are too wrapped up in your own life? One of the greatest feelings you will ever have is when you uncover a treasure that sin hid. Just because others have given up on someone does not mean that you shouldn't continue to search for the treasure in that person. Don't ever give up on anyone, because they are waiting for you to find the treasure in them. If the truth be known, there are some who don't believe they have any treasure in themselves, so you must be willing to believe there is treasure in them and search for it until you discover it.

Fourth, the treasure will never be discovered while the earthen vessel covers it. To discover the treasure in people's lives, you must remove the sin that covers it. Sin camouflages treasures, so to find that treasure you must help people overcome their sin.

Fifth, it will take time for the treasure to be discovered. Rarely will you have a quick discovery of treasure in someone's life. Most often you will have to be patient with people while you work at discovering the treasure. However, don't give up, because you will discover that treasure if you keep working with them.

Sixth, there will always be liabilities with each treasure. Remember that each treasure is in earthly vessels. Don't let the earthly vessel cause you not to see the treasure inside. Don't focus on someone's liability, but focus instead on their treasure.

Last, only the power of God can reveal the treasure. In the verse above, it is the power of God that revealed the treasure. You will only reveal the treasure in people's lives through God's power. Be sure to yield to the Holy Spirit daily so that God can help you to uncover the treasures in the lives of others.

Life Builders

Click here to read the Old Paths Journal.

Life Builders

1 Corinthians 10:23

"All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not."

It is very clear in the Book of 1 Corinthians that Paul's focus was to build people. Everything that he did was for this purpose. The word "edify" or some form of the word is seen several times throughout this book. The word "edify" means to build. However, it is more than just building, but it literally means to build a house. When you take into consideration that every Christian is the temple of the Holy Ghost, then you will realize that Paul was building Christian lives. There are several things that must be done if you desire to be a life builder.

First, only pursue endeavors that build people. Notice in the verse above that Paul's focus was building. You will not be successful in building people if you don't make that your primary focus. Everything you do must be with the purpose of building people.

Second, seek the welfare of others. In 1 Corinthians 10:24, Paul said that everything he did was for others and not for himself. In other words, if helping others hurt him, then he would hurt, but he would be sure to help build others. There are times in the Christian life when in building others you will get hurt, but if you want to successful in building people, you must be willing to put your own welfare aside for the sake of others.

Third, you build people by loving them. In 1 Corinthians 8:1, it is clearly stated that love is the only way to build others. Why is that? Because the Scriptures teach in Proverbs 10:12, "...but love covereth all sins." Notice that love is willing to overlook the weaknesses of others so you can build them. This covering of sin is not hiding it so they can get away with it, but it is being willing to overlook their weaknesses and see them as an individual so you can help them. You will never build people until you look beyond what they have done for the purpose of helping them grow. This takes love!

Fourth, you must learn to speak right to build people. Ephesians 4:29 talks about using proper communication to build people. Talking dirty will not build the lives of people. Dirty jokes and words have no part in the life of the Christian. Every word that comes from your mouth should have the purpose of building a person.

Fifth, comforting people builds people. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 commands us to comfort people so we can build them. Comforting people is simply being there for them in their time of need. Don't get so busy that when people need you that you are not there. Comforting people will be an inconvenience at times, but it builds people.

Sixth, defending the faith builds people. Paul made it clear to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:4 that he was to defend the faith so that people could be built. Too many preachers see defending the faith as divisive and hurtful. However, defending the faith is a way to build people. The only way you will build people is with the faith. If the faith is destroyed, then you cannot build. Therefore, we must defend the faith so that we can build people.

Last, preaching builds people. 1 Corinthians 14:3 shows us that preaching builds people. Though you may not be a preacher, you can get people under the sound of preaching. That is why you need to be a soul winner. Moreover, soul winning is preaching. So, when you get people out soul winning, you are building their life.

Are you a life builder? Is your focus about building the lives of others? Don't let anything take your focus off of why God left you here, and that is to build the lives of people.

Fools
 
Click here to read the Old Paths Journal.

Fools for Christ

1 Corinthians 4:10

"We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised."

When Paul said, "We are fools for Christ's sake..." he was talking about how the world looked at the lives of the apostles. The world thought those men were fools to give up what they had for the sake of Christ. The world thought the way they lived was foolish. The whole reason why they thought they were fools was because their lifestyle was different. Paul was not saying He was a fool for living for Christ, only that the world portrayed them as fools.

If you openly live for Christ, you will often be called foolish or weird. However, let's consider what is really weird or foolish. When people go and get drunk and the next day are hugging a toilet getting sick, that is foolish and weird. When people go to dance floors and make weird body gyrations and pick up on others whom they don't even know, now that is foolish. When people go to ballgames and take their shirts off in the middle of winter, that is foolish. When people let cameras follow them around twenty-four hours a day and have no privacy because of a reality television program, now that's weird. When people will open up to someone whom they have never met over a social networking site, that is foolish. We could go on with a lengthy list, but what the world calls fun and normal is really very foolish or weird.

On the other hand, don't tell me living for Christ is foolish or weird. A person who stays faithful to their spouse their entire life is not weird or foolish, but wise. A person who doesn't partake of the vices this world has is not foolish or weird especially when you look at how unhealthy these vices are. A person who goes to church three times a week to learn about the Saviour Who paid for their sins is not wasting time but is learning invaluable truths that will help them in their life. A person who will give up riches for the sake of giving their life to full-time service so that they can help people is not weird or foolish, but wise. A person who won't put tattoos all over their body is not a weird person, but a wise person who realizes that one day they will get old. A person who doesn't practice body piercing is not weird, but wise when you look at some of the health reports that talk about the dangers of body piercing. A person who keeps their virginity until they are married is not strange or weird, but they are wise when you consider the STD's that spread throughout this world.

Christian, don't let the world shame you into thinking that our lifestyle is the strange lifestyle. I have often said that the Christian life is common sense living. Yes, the Christian life may seem foolish to the world, but we know there is a place called Heaven where Christians will be rewarded for the works they do for Christ on this Earth. Don't get caught up in the world's way of thinking. The world's way of thinking is nothing short of foolish. It is foolish anytime you leave God's prescribed way of living in the Scriptures. If living for Christ makes you a fool, then go ahead and be a fool for Christ. However, we will find out who was truly foolish at the Judgment Seat.