Do you think the Christian life is boring? Restrained? No fun?

A young man told me a story about his walk on the wild side. He wanted a taste of the “fun life” and the “good times.” He joined in with his buddies going to the bars, eating at Hooters, hitting the strip clubs. He adopted the cussing and the crude jokes. Everything was fun and games and great adventure.

One Sunday, he drove by two guys his age who had just come out of church. They were wearing blazers and ties, and he said to himself, “That looks so boring. I’m glad I don’t have to live like that.”

More beer, more running around, more lewd jokes, and the effects began to take hold. The glamour wore off, the headaches weren’t so fun, and his relationships began to suffer.

As he drove by a church with a crowd of people outside, he remembered the two young men in ties and suddenly realized, “Boring doesn’t look so bad right now. As a matter of fact, I think I would like to be bored again, but I don’t know if I can do it.”

In From Woodstock to Eternity, Dustin Morgan encounters the same dilemma.

“Oh, I don’t know, Sis. I really don’t want power to live a wholesome life free from sin. I’d have to give up girls, pour out all my booze, throw away my pot, and say ‘aw shucks’, and ‘gosh darn it.’ I’ll be honest. I don’t think I’m ready for that right now.”

“It’s not a matter of you giving it up. God will give you a desire to give it up, and then He will take it away from you when you ask Him.”

“Well, that’s even worse. I don’t want God messing with my mind to get me to stop wanting to do all the things I want to do right now. If I ask Jesus into my heart, I’m opening myself up to a mental overhaul that I never signed up for in the first place. No, like I said, I’m happy for you both, but I’m enjoying life too much now to change things.”

“You didn’t seem to enjoy the part about going to jail for ten years.”

“Touché, you got me. No, that part I don’t like, for sure.”

As circumstances pressed Dustin from all sides, he eventually came to the same conclusion… “This is not working… I need to be delivered. I need to be free to be bored.”

Do you think you’re having a good time? Don’t want to give it up? Ask yourself this… Where has pride, partying and petticoats gotten you so far? Jesus can  take away your desire for the old life… sometimes by making it so unbearable you just want to quit. But you can’t quit.

The good news is, Jesus can make you quit. He can take away your desire for the wild side and make you feel elated that you are bored. Then you can go on and make something of yourself. Just ask Him… He will give you what you need.

If you like this blog, please click the comment balloon at the upper right of this page and leave a comment. I would like to hear from you. JDC

3 Ways We Become Obligated to the Flesh

1. Driven by a lust for pleasure or relief from pain:

Can’t eat just one? That desire for one more bite of chocolate, one more Lays potato chip,
or one more drink is the work of a physical craving. To the extent that we yield to these cravings, we fall into bondage – we are obligated to carry it out. If we overcome these cravings, we gain the victory (as I put away my box of Milk Duds). The matter is not so frivolous if it entails committing a grievous sin. When this happens, it is a war between the carnal nature and the spiritual man.

How do you get free?  Quote Scripture

Romans 8:12-13 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors–not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

In Christ, you are no longer a debtor – no longer obligated to live according to the flesh…

2. Driven by peer pressure:

The whole gang may insist that you wear your hat backwards, but you don’t have to. However, they will most likely try to make you feel obligated. It is so easy to fall for social acceptance, that it can turn into a bondage you cannot shake. How do you overcome this? If you don’t do what they say, you will be an outcast. Put on an eternal perspective. Jesus said that when we are reviled in this life, we will be rewarded in the next.

How do you get free? See yourself as a citizen of heaven and a stranger on this planet… and quote Scripture

Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven,”

In Christ, you are no longer obligated to follow the crowd.

3. Driven by pride:

You’ve got to prove yourself. You have worked hard to gain a reputation as the best, the baddest, the this-est and the that-est. So you have to do this thing to maintain your status. Nobody bosses you around… nobody tells you what to do. Guess what? Your need for status now has you in bondage, and it is telling you what to do.

How do you get free? Determine to be humble, and trust God to give you His status.

1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 

In Christ, you are no longer obligated to be the Macho Man… Be the Christ Man!

Switches Open Doors

The “Gateway Theory” predicts that, if you experiment with an innocent looking vice, you will move on to deeper levels of pleasure and gratification that will eventually result in bondage to activities you never dreamed of when you first started out. The classic example of this would be the idea that if you take one hit of marijuana, you will end up addicted to heroin. Of course, the same reasoning would apply that if you drink one beer,  you will become an alcoholic.

While this may sound like a “scare tactic” to some, and totally unreasonable, there is a

Right Wrong Switch

very real underlying danger. It doesn’t reside in the first joint, or the first beer, but in the SWITCH you have to flip to make that first choice.

“They didn’t go directly to it, but whatever switch they had to flip in their soul the first time they tried marijuana, or LSD, opened the door to experimenting with other actions that were off limits. That “switch” had broken down their moral boundaries and loosened their bonds, but not for a good thing. They had proudly proclaimed freedom for themselves, to do whatever they wanted, but their new found freedom had only run them headlong into captivity.”

Excerpt: From Woodstock To Eternity

When we are presented with a temptation to try something forbidden, it is just like having a switch placed in front of us with the essence of our lives hanging in the balance, depending on what we do with it. If you’ve never smoked a joint, and you flip the switch to try one, it’s not the joint that will lead you deeper into bondage, it’s the broken moral boundary that will now make it easier to try other things.

Jesus called this switch a gate…

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”   Matthew 7:13-14

To add insult to injury, Satan will cast a deception that this new, broken boundary… this broad way… is “freedom.” But watch out… his freedom only leads to captivity and destruction.

For more on True Freedom, see my post, “The Cadet and the Water Fountain”