Be careful what you allow in
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Faith Fitness
Bro. Sam Kaufman
As Christians, it is important to routinely examine ourselves to see whether we are living in the faith, or if we are allowing things to creep in that hinder our spirituality.
We do the same with our vehicles at times. There is nothing wrong with a routine maintenance check to ensure everything is in working order.
If we determine something is amiss, it must be addressed.
In the technological age we live in, information is quickly flying at us. We don’t want to let anything in that would impede God’s ability to use.
The Bible tells us not to quench the Holy Ghost’s work in our lives.
We must be careful and mindful about what we’re allowing in. Is it something that will assist us in our walk with God, or hinder us?
“What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” – I Corinthians 6:19-20.
Jesus redeemed us with His precious blood. We don’t belong to ourselves any longer. We belong to Him.
Our desire is to now please Him.
If we’re not careful, our temples can accumulate material that is not pleasing to God. The ungodly material hinders God from moving through us the way He desires.
Think of the body’s arteries, which carry blood to and from vital organs. If arteries become clogged with plaque, blood flow is prevented. Folks who experience 90 percent blockages are at substantial risk for major health complications.
In the Old Testament, a wicked king named Ahaz reigned over Judah. He walked in ways contrary to what God commanded.
Ahaz defiled God’s temple, where worship of Him was to occur. Additionally, Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
Once Ahaz died, his son, Hezekiah, became king of Judah. What a difference a generation can make.
Though his father chose to do wickedly, Hezekiah was just the opposite – he desired to serve God.
To do that, Hezekiah was required to assess the wickedness that had occurred during his father’s reign of Judah.
Hezekiah performed a thorough examination and made the necessary changes to please God!
It required cleaning out the temple. King Hezekiah gathered the priests and Levites together for an important work.
“And he said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.” – II Chronicles 29:5.
To accomplish that, they had to determine what was filth and then remove it from the temple. We must also know what things need to stay (the things of God) and what things need to go (the things of this world that go against God’s Word).
Through our examination of ourselves – which includes measuring our lives by God’s Word – we may find filth that must be removed.
“This needs to go; this can stay,” God might reveal to us.
We also must be careful not to let in ungodliness that surely influences us.
The priests in Hezekiah’s day not only hit the surface, but went down deep to ensure a clean temple.
“And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.” – I Chronicles 29:16.
Let our High Priest, Jesus, enter the innermost areas of our being and rid us of anything that shouldn’t be there. He can remove it as far as the east is from the west.
