Thursday, September 6, 2012

You Are The Man!

You probably heard the phrase "you are the man" many times before (this is a common saying among guys here in America), it means that your male friend or colleague pulls through with some unexpected success or surprises you (in a good way), but you probably never heard it like this: 2 Samuel 12:1-12. The question that comes to my mind when reading this passage is: How could a "man after God's own heart", after accomplishing so many great things (defeating Goliath for example) and having so much intimacy with God, allow his flesh to control his life? I think the best answer is found in the context: 2 Samuel 11:1-3. David's first mistake was staying home when he should be in the battlefield; the second was not fleeing from the sin called "lust of the eyes"; the third was breaking God's commandments: You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, you shall not commit adultery and you shall not steal. The saying "idle hands are the devil's tools" became true to David. Because he chose idleness, he ended up stealing another man's wife and later killing the man. If we could be honest for a second, we would realize that at least once we did the same: How many times have we coveted? How many times have we committed adultery? How many times have we stole (from God or other people)? I won't even mention the other commandments! Are we better than David? Are we people after God's own heart? I can only speak for myself and i tell you that i am not worthy to be compared to David. Unfortunately, even after being born again, we still have the sinful nature living in us, the more we feed the flesh, the more our sinful nature will control us, the more we submit ourselves to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, the more we will abstain from sin. As Paul wrote in Romans 8:6. This verse became true for David. When he (David) became carnally minded, the result was death! Uriah's and his son with Bathsheba. Besides, if you read the Psalms that David wrote when this was going on, you will see that he also lost his peace, he was tormented by his own sins. Fortunately for us, sinners, there is hope: Romans 12:2. We must follow Paul's advice and have our minds renewed by the Holy Spirit until we have Christ's mind: 1 Corinthians 2:16.