Self what else have I missed?

Luke 17:7-10

Have you ever asked yourself, self what else have I missed, what else have I not learned, or did I have knowledge but just did not feel it applied to me?  I often ask self, self how did you miss that and the answer often is that I’ve allowed the culture to mold me into a person who desires the good stuff the world has to offer, and it’s kind of like quicksand, you keep going deeper and deeper in the ways of the world and the flesh, and the commandments and precepts of God’s Word seem to be left in the dust.

I’m sure as a follower of Christ you have read and heard this Proverb, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)   The city of Baltimore had riots and total anarchy by lawless teenagers, and one mother stood out when she grabbed her son out of that riot.  Mrs. Graham told CBS News, "At that point, I just lost it. I was shocked, I was angry, because you never want to see your child out there doing that."  What happen, did no one pay any attention to Proverbs 22:6, and the answer is we have gotten smarter than God, we listen to well intended people who believe the lies of the deceptive channel.  Who knows when we went away from the teaching of verse 6, maybe it began after WWII, but it lies at the feet of our change of culture, the mother goes to work, the father leaves the training and discipline to the mother, and the family, leaves the training to babysitters and the public schools.  And now we have adults in places of authority bowing in fear of the children, who are a product of a godless society.

These are the words of Jesus: “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Luke 17:7-10 ESV)

So the question must be asked, self do you want the place of the servant who says after doing what he has been commanded in Scripture, I only did what was my duty, or do you want to recline at the table?  The culture of many in the Church today are not willing to be placed in the “We are unworthy servants; ‘We have only done our duty.’”

We the Church of the Living God have been molded into a godless culture, we look much the same, we have lost our way, and we must understand that it is us, the body of Christ that must be willing to change and repent of our life of self rule and turn back to only doing our duty.  For this will happen; “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice