AVOID CONDEMNATION: Eschew Wicked Devices
Anchor Scripture: Romans 8: 1
“There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Focus Scripture: “A good man obtaineth
favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.” –
Proverbs 12: 2
Scripture
References: Numbers 12: 1 – 15; 16: 1 – 35; 2 Samuel 11: 1 – 22, 12: 1 - 12
Admonition
Greetings from the Throne of Grace!
The common
saying among the earthen that “God for all, every man for Himself” smacks of
evil intentions towards one’s neighbours. It is a saying that encourages
unhealthy competitions for what they call scarce
resources amongst them. For a TRUE child of God, no resources can be scarce
for God has promised to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory,
through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 19) and we can do all things through
Christ Who strengthens us (Philippians 4: 13).
A wicked device is a carefully orchestrated plan either to harm or disadvantage another
person. Oftentimes, it emanates as a result of competition, envy, undue sense
of entitlement, unnecessary need to show supremacy, covetousness, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife,
seditions, heresies,
murders,
drunkenness, revellings, etc. (Galatians 5: 20 – 21). A cursory look at all
these tells that they are not of God and His Christ. And all these manifest
amongst Christians mostly when we fight for positions in the church.
The Bible gives
many examples of these wicked devices and the results that those who planned or
did them got. Let’s look at a few: Haman got condemned to die in the gallows he
prepared for Mordecai. His wicked plan against all the Jews and Mordecai in
particular stemmed from his undue sense of entitlement that Mordecai must bow
for him. David got his own condemnation, bringing the sword of God’s wrath and
an unending shame on his dynasty because of his covetousness towards Bathsheba,
the wife of Uriah, which resulted in his wicked plan that got Uriah, killed in
battle. Mariam, Moses’ elder sister got condemned into leprosy because she
envied her brother, Moses. You may also have heard of Dathan, Korah and Abiram;
the trio brought condemnation of total extinction to their families because
of envy. We could go on and on, but for time and space.
All these devices
mentioned above also manifest amongst us Christians and children of God today.
Sometimes we are aware, and some other times, we are not aware that we have
them. But a careful and sincere examination of our lives and interpersonal
interactions with people will tell us which of them we have. Whichever we may
be manifesting, let us know that they are a manifestation of the fact that we
are not yet walking in the Spirit as admonished yesterday, but
in the flesh, which leads to condemnation.
The only antidote
to avoid God’s condemnation from any or all of these is to put off your old man (Ephesians
4: 22; Colossians 3: 9), but put on the new man (Ephesians
4: 24; Colossians 3: 10) because as long as anyone remains at home in the
flesh, they can NEVER FINISH STRONG. May we all FINISH STRONG in the Lord in
Jesus Christ’s mighty name. Amen.
As we close this
morning, as we could see from the few examples given above, God is no respecter
of persons (Deut. 10: 17; 2 Chron. 19: 7; Job 34: 19; Rom. 2: 11; Acts 10: 34).
If He did not spare the man after His heart, David, He wouldn’t spare anyone
because wicked devices constitute sin before Him. None who engages in them will
ever FINISH STRONG!
Till tomorrow when
we shall meet again on this beautiful journey of FINISHING STRONG together,
please, keep keeping on in Him.
N. B. Please pray that the Holy Spirit of
God will purge you of any of these that you may possess, whether you are aware
of them or not.
God bless you! Amen.
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