more pondering

So in the Bible times when God spoke of sin, the obvious was that if you lived a lifestyle of sin you were not living a life pleasing to God. Now, here we are in these times, and we have things that they didn't have back then. How does God's word on sin apply to where we are now? The next obvious is that sin is still sin, but what has changed, from my perspective is this: Even though we may not commit the sins ourselves, we watch others commit them as if it's not a big deal. O.k., yes, I'm gonna go over the same idea again that I've touched on so many times before. But, it's a big deal to me. If I wouldn't commit adultery, why would I watch someone else do it on TV or read it fleshed out in a book? If I don't want my mind to be filled with disrespectful and disobedient behavior, then why would I listen to music that promotes that type of attitude? I've listed other examples of this in another blog, so I won't spend too much time here. Another thing is that we are completely bombarded by a culture that tells us that it is all about ourselves. So, what about the money we spend on cute clothes, mani/pedis, techy/game stuff, vacations, and so on? Is our self-centeredness a sin? The Bible says that idolatry is wrong, and when we put ourselves before God's work, or His call on our lives to serve and sacrifice, then I do believe the Word calls that sin. And we pride ourselves on having our own convictions and not letting someone else tell us what is right and wrong. We are all in different stages and places of life, with different things that tempt us, distract us, and stumble us. So, what do we do? Do we obsess about every little thing? We don't want to feel overwhelmed with trying to follow an endless amount of meticulous rules,( the rebuke Jesus gave to the Pharisees was about that very thing-instead of loving God first and then hashing out what that should look like in our lives, they tried to promote living perfect lives by a set of rules in order to be acceptable) but we do want to progressively reject all things that are not good for our walk and our testimonies. We do the introspective self-analysis with God as the One who shines light on those things of the world that we have let in, grown comfortable with, feel entitled to, and are becoming idols and strongholds. I keep saying these same types of things because I think we really have become luke-warm in the way we deal with the sinfulness of our society/personal lives. Putting God in first place is a really serious thing that takes serious denial of self and all things flesh. It's a big idea to really wrestle with, and there are so many areas of our lives that this search for idols and compromises deals with. But again, if we love God and obey His commands, then we will let that love and desire to please Him lead us to always and continually be our adviser on what we do and what we don't. So, when you decide that something is fine for you, and if Christ himself were with you in physical form and you still feel that you are totally fine and lined up with God's will and His Word, then there's nothing to worry about. But I have a sneaking suspicion, that none of us are in that position 100% and that means we need to constantly engage ourselves with opening up every aspect of our lives to God, holding back nothing and letting go of everything He demands us to let go of, from how we spend His money, how we spent His time and how we try to make our own plans with the lives He gave us. I'm really hearing God opening up some more places in my life where I'm not dealing with stuff; where I'm trying to keep it hidden in the attic because I know it's gonna be really tough doing what He wants. I hope though, to be one who will not ever stop weeding out the bad and unhealthy so that God can do more in me, and so that I'm not complacent, compromising, or afraid to stand against the 'accepted' norm of this day and age.