Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Hebrews 11 F Suffer Affliction

{11:20} By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. {11:21} By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, [leaning] upon the top of his staff.{11:22} By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. {11:23} By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw [he was] a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. {11:24} By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter{11:25} Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season
Choosing.
Making a choice.
To chose.
This act of choice is voluntary. You pick one way or another. You can't NOT pick.
There is one way or there is another way.
Here the choice for Moses was to stay living a life of pure ease under the Egyptian rule as an Egyptian prince or...Choose to live as a slave and suffer as all the other children of God were.
Did he enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season?
We all know what the pleasures of sin are don't we? Or maybe our senses are so warped we no longer call sin, sin. Maybe our pleasure is something we consider our right and how could something that is our right to have be sin?We were made to feel pleasure and so it stands to reason that we would seek pleasure but at what price? Is pleasure our right just because we can feel it? We are creatures with the ability to choose and make choices and we can make selfish choices or unselfish choices.When our choices are based upon our own pleasure, when they are based upon ourselves we call it our right, our due, in fact we call it our God given due just because we are made to feel pleasure. Selfishness. Thinking of our selves first is never good and yet more and more we are encouraged to do that. To take care of ourselves first and then bother about others. Moses chose to suffer rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.We need to determine what pleasures are sinful and then determined not to enjoy those sins for a season no matter how much pleasure we get from them. Sacrificing self is necessary we can't get around it not if we want to stand with the people of God.
By grace we are saved through faith.
Our lives should be lived by faith.
Lived by faith.
It's through faith that we are saved by grace. It stands to reason we should live by faith, our daily lives lived by faith. Faith that we are saved by grace through Jesus Christ our Lord now and forever.
We need to choose just as Moses chose, to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
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A small excerpt from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis-
'Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever?Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?'

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