Hello again, friend, so glad to be studying with you today!
In this lesson, we will learn more about the necessity of Washing at the cross and how to do it. The old hymn, Rock of Ages, says it well:
“Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace:
Foul, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Savior, or I die.”
https://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Rock_of_Ages/
In Leviticus 15, God set forth the horrible condition of being impure. The first half of the chapter deals with men’s impurity (uncleanness) and the second half with women’s:
“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When any man has an unusual bodily discharge, such a discharge is unclean. 3 Whether it continues flowing from his body or is blocked, it will make him unclean. This is how his discharge will bring about uncleanness:” Leviticus 15:1-3 (NIV)
The next section in Leviticus 15 shows how literally everything the unclean person touched would be unclean: anything slept on, sat upon (verse 4), touched (verses 11 and 12), and even anyone who touched the unclean person would become unclean (verse 7). Uncleanness spreads and contaminates everything and everyone around us.
We must understand the ramifications of our involvement in the sin of gluttony were widespread. When we sin by eating more than we should, we can gain excess weight, which often leads to health concerns, and prevents us from being the spouse, parent, friend, employee that we should be. Everything is affected whether we know it or not. We might have denied it as sin, but how does that explain all the damaging effects tied directly to gluttony? Everything and everyone we interacted with was, in some way, affected by our ongoing involvement in gratifying our flesh.
My years of bondage to all kinds of sin made me an angry, shallow, irritable, and depressed person. I was immature, defensive, accusatory, and demeaning to others. My wife and children were not only affected by my sinful actions, but they adopted my sinful heart attitudes. Our home was not marked by love but by fear, anger, and discontent. Back then, I didn't know that by involving myself with the sin of overeating, I had opened the door to the evil one and that when he comes in, he ransacks everything.
I have met many husbands who couldn't understand their wife's coldness or lack of respect towards them, and wives who couldn't understand their husband's anger or lack of attentiveness to them. And yet, they would be living a very self-centered life that evidenced gluttony.
Later in this course, one of the battle strategies will center on how to begin repairing and restoring gospel love into our relationships. Once we start walking by the Spirit and experiencing freedom in Christ, God's love begins to spread all through our hearts and spills over to everyone around us.
Question 1. What were some of the widespread effects of your involvement with gluttony?
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