I spent the evening rewatching Seven, a thriller where a retiring detective and his upcoming replacement try to catch a killer. It’s a dark movie and I won’t go into details here but there was a conversation in the film that caught my eye.
This is the retiring detective talking.
“Apathy is a solution. I mean it’s easier to lose yourself in drugs than it is to cope with life. It’s easier to steal what you want than it is to earn it.”
After being on the force and seeing all he has seen he acknowledges that he understands why people are like they are. And for Christians it’s easy to fall into the same boat.
“I need to do my daily bible study but Netflix just dropped Tiger King season 2. I need to watch it so I can talk with the guys at work tomorrow.”
“I don’t want to go to a later service cause there are too many people there, and who wants to go to an [8:30] service.”
“Sunday fun day! Let’s party y’all!”
Paul warns the Roman believers (and us) about letting sin (missing the mark, not serving as we should) control our lives. He says we must be dead to sins and alive unto God. We must not let the pleasures of this world distract us from the pleasure of serving God.
“Well that’s just Paul spouting words I can’t understand. It’s way above my head.”
Well lucky for us Christ makes it pretty plain in Matthew 6.
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
For we Christians, Christ has shed His blood for the remission of our sins. Being freed from the bonds of sin we are free to serve God as we should. How do you serve as you should? Love God and your neighbor. If you love God you will not use your body (not just your body, your mind is included in this I believe) to dishonor Him. The same principle applies to loving your neighbor.
It’s hard. I struggle with this daily. It’s easier to just come home and watch YouTube than to try and write words of encouragement. It’s easier to call a stranger on a video game chat stupid than to call and check on your neighbor and call out to God to heal their sickness or whatever may be afflicting them.
Well what’s the benefit of serving a righteous God versus serving the lusts of the flesh?
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
I pray that we all can submit to our Heavenly Father and be about His business. It’s not easy. It’s not the most popular thing to do. But it is what we are called to do.
Riley Lee