NOT A VIRTUE!
Open Heavens 22 July 2016: Friday daily devotional by Pastor
E.A. Adeboye – Not a Virtue!
Memorise: As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool
returneth to his folly. Proverbs 26:11
Read: Proverbs 15:20-21, (KJV) 20 A wise son maketh a glad father: but a
foolish man despiseth his mother.
21 Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom: but a
man of understanding walketh uprightly.
Bible in one year: Ephesians 1:1-4:16, Psalms 18:20-28
MESSAGE
Foolishness is not a virtue; rather it is a vice that costs
its victim eternity in hell fire. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). In other words, lack of the fear of
God is the beginning of foolishness. So, when someone decides to live without
the fear of God, he does whatever he pleases without consideration for the Word
of God, he feels he is free to do whatever he likes with his life, he behaves
as if he owns his life, but in actual sense, his life is borrowed and the Owner
may ask for it anytime. Our Lord Jesus told a parable of a prosperous farmer
who did not reckon with God in all his dealings. Considering the wealth he had
possessed he said:
“And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid
up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto
him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall
those things be, which thou hast provided?”
Luke 12:19-20
Some people who claim to be children of God behave foolishly
sometimes. Our memory verse for today says: “As a dog returneth to his vomit,
so a fool returneth to his folly.” Some brethren who had been modest and holy
are now regretting their past pure Christian life! Those vanities they forsook
in the past are now back in full force. This scripture is now fulfilled in
their lives. Jesus said when a demon is cast out of a man, he goes away but
after sometime he comes back to check whether that life is still empty. If he
finds the life empty he goes back to take seven more powerful demons to take
possession of the life (Luke 11:24-26). It is foolishness to go back to your
old lifestyle after you have been cleansed from your former sins and
impurities. The Bible says:
“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world
through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again
entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the
beginning.”
2nd Peter 2:20
In the past, you could identify a child of God from afar off
(with the few exceptions of those who were pretenders). Many things that are
now being celebrated were abominations in those days. It is unfortunate that a
wholesale return to those vanities is now in vogue. Some Christian scholars
were brought to me in my office by their leaders many years ago and I saw
assorted wild paintings – red, green, silver, brown, pink etc on their faces
and lips. I could not help but tell them that was the first time I would see
Bible scholars in such a wild exhibition of vanities. Their leader then
promised that he would do something about it and that when Lazarus came out
from the dead he was gradually striped of the grave clothes he had on.
Theologians know how to explain things away. Beloved, going back from your
first love is not a virtue; it is rather a vice. Repent today, tomorrow may be
too late. (22 July 2016 Open Heavens)
Action Point
Check your life and see if there is any foolish act of sin,
unrighteousness or backsliding. Repent
Open Heavens ckgod, written by Pastor E.A Adeboye
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