The Saints at the Epicenter were immersed in a self-seeking, lust-feeding culture.
When they came to Christ, they had to go on living in that world. To make it through life without getting neutralized, defeated, and sidelined, God’s Word taught them the key to godly living, which is:
Avoiding the Ultimate Temptation
Most Roman citizens were drawn into the gaming world of spectacles in the arenas. A non-stop calendar of events began in the capital city of Rome and soon went to the furthest flung provinces of ever increasingly exciting spectacles:
live gladiatorial fights to the death;
men vs. ravenous beasts;
beasts vs. beasts fighting to the death;
duels, bloody deaths, shocking sights,
and intense visual stimulation.
The roar of the crowds became intoxicating and no one wanted to miss the events that often ran all day long, for days at a time.
The overpowering Gladiatorial gaming culture of the 1st Century, which troubled, tempted, and weakened the early church, has morphed into an even more alluring, irresistible, and almost inescapable 21st-century culture.
BEWARE of the ULTIMATE Temptation
The ultimate temptation is anything that can distract us from God. We are to set Him as the start-up page of our day and tune our minds to listen to Him.
Anything that can pull our minds regularly away from God is a temptation. Today, we live with seemingly the most robust and most universal temptation since the days of Noah.
Has God gotten blurry over the past weeks and months of life? If so, you may have gotten infected with distraction.
How clearly are you seeing God these days? Crystal clear, bright, and empowering, or has God gotten blurred over the days and weeks of life that have gone by?
One great benefit of this chosen lifestyle of “reverence” for God is that when we do so, we see Him in His glory and it changes us.
REV2023FL-09 – Will You Avoid The Ultimate Temptation (230421AM)
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