Sensitivity Vs. Insensitivity

There is a war going on out there and sometimes it's also within! Of course most Christians fail to believe in demons, although Jesus did! 

Luke 4:4 "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 Being forty days tempted of the devil.... 3a And the devil said unto him... 4a And Jesus answered him...5a And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain... 6a And the devil said unto him...8a And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan... 12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season."

Here we have Jesus speaking (and battling) with the devil who most Christians give no credibility. Jesus spoke with the devil and the devil spoke back! The devil is real, he has many names among them Prince, Satan and Lucifer; and the angel who masquerades as of light. He's not the man in the red suit with the pitchfork and horns. That's of course Satan's caricature that others make of him so that he would not be a serious personality! Rather look at who Satan really is:

 Job 1:6 "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them."
Jude 1:6 "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."

Satan is an angel. One who rebelled against God before we ever were!  He's beautiful, sings and can be quite pleasing if it's to his advantage. We're not dealing with a tricky red devil, but a brilliant deceptive angel. Jesus stood up to him, but without Jesus, it's guaranteed, you can't, and if Jesus is ignored even for a spell, it's at your own peril!

The things of the world are divided into two realms. They are "good" and "evil". It is black and white. Shades of gray are part of the deception of the devil. "Good" are the things of God because he, and only he, is "good". Evil is the wiles of the devil. It's unrighteousness to make you fall! From where is it a person falls? It's mankind who falls, falls from communion with God. When men submit to evil, they set themselves apart from God and are subject to defeat. God offers armor, but if we step out into the battlefield without putting on the full armor of God. we become vulnerable!

If we truly believe, we are aware that there is a war going on and as such, we're not to support the enemy, flagrantly or carelessly.

Matthew 12:30a "He that is not with me is against me..."

This is pretty clear! We all are with God or against him. There is no middle ground. Salvation, those having a born-again experience, are as God said, "with me". Those who reject salvation as God said "is against me". There is no middle ground, yet there are activities, behaviors, beliefs, and emotions, among other things, that reflect whose side we're really on!

God is all "good". He has a desire not to be in the presence of evil:

 Habuckkuck 1:13a "Thou (God) art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity..."

A better rendering of this in continuity with scripture is that "God cannot overlook iniquity." (my words). If it's in his presence, it's anathema to him! However, in the kingdom of God there is no evil! To be righteous is to endeavor to be sinless. Often we will fail, but God knows our desires. If we approach sinful acts rather than flee from them, it's shows no desire to do God's will! Here's how Christians are to perform:

 James 4:7 "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

This is the strategy for using the full armor of God! Christians submit themselves to do God's will. Christians reject things which are evil, and armed in that manner, the devil will flee from you. In order to submit and resist, it's necessary to know what to do and not do, and what to believe or not believe and what emotions are Godly and what are of the flesh! A Christian must be sensitive to the will of God in order to submit to him, and sensitive to the pleasures offered by the devil in order to have the devil flee.

Those who are non-sensitive to the will of God are insensitive. They become calloused from not doing God's will and acclimating themselves to the guilt proffered by the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 13:15a "For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed..."

People who engage in "benign" (sic) sin become acclimated to sin. Sin ceases to bother them because it's part of their milieu.  In short their "heart" becomes calloused from rejection of God's Holy Spirit. Satan is patient. He starts small and before a sinner knows it... bingo... you're his and aren't even aware of it!

Satan is a smart prince. He deceives his and also God's subjects, just a little at a time, until there is little difference between those who belong to God's Kingdom and the Fleshly Kingdom. One of Satan's tactics is to throw in some "good" to make his "evil" palatable to Christians:

Mark 13:22 "For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect (Christians)."

There are those who will say "This is Good!" What is being sold is fake wares. Just a little "Jesus", liberty, patriotism, family, "goodness" and other positive things, to make one accept the trash that goes with it! "It's free, I'll take the package and ignore the trash!" you think, but you ARE DECEIVED. Only Jesus has the power to defeat Satan and you are no match. Look at my sensitivity scale:

Some things are easy to be sensitive to and others are not! Even what's "salvation" is on Satan's deception list. Most believe that salvation must be earned by being good. Satan smiles at you believing his lies!

"Rejecting God" is easy too! Atheists easily accept themselves as an alternative to God. However, some "Christians" reject God by making him what he's not, or having other things more important than him. Most people are "prideful", seek self-gratification and reject God by worshiping the "Self" all the while saying that they believe in God!

My scale is for demonstration purposes only. It's merely a reflection of activities and beliefs and the order is not perfect by any means. It's shown to amplify those activities, emotions and behaviors, sort of what I called "benign" sins. However, that is merely how people see the sins. No sin is benign to God! That's important!

When we are at play, at work, mingling with family and friends and many so-called "benign" activities, there are things which are of God because God is the author of daily activities. Shamefully, the devil uses our daily activities for his own agenda. He tries, and does, sneak things in whatever we do to callous our hearts by ceasing to feel guilty with these so-called minor sins!

Work is noble. It's by God's design that we are to work! However, if we work to the extent that we neglect God, family and friends, then we have been deceived. Those who live for promotions and monetary gain are pulled away from God a little at a time until God has no significance in their lives! Satan smiles.

Our entertainment is the most pervasive! Sin is spread throughout entertainment and Christians believe we can ignore the evil so that we can pleasure in the "good" portion. However, we must remember that the devil uses some "good" to seduce even believers! The entertainment industry makes no attempt to hide Satan's wares! They are blatant in presenting Satan's agenda and Christians still sign up for the duration, all the while thinking, "I can pick and choose on what I focus!" You have been deceived and Satan smiles!

I remember when television was in its early stages. Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore, as well as Ozzie and Harriet, slept in twin beds so that not even a hint of impropriety was involved! Gradually, couples moved to single beds. Then unmarried people slept together. Next came passionate kissing, then sex under the covers. Now movies have what appears to be actual sex and Christians are still there tuned in for the next episode. They have become calloused and their heart's have grown hard as Satan did his own type of  massage on our hearts.

Christians believe they are now enlightened and can battle Satan just as Jesus did! Unawares to them, their communion with God is already in trouble, and in short time, many will fail to consider God at all! As an example, when I go ahead and shirk what the Spirit tells me to do or not to do, and do it my way anyhow, my prayer and praise life cannot be effective because I am out of God's will! To know that, a Christian must be sensitive to what is being done, felt or thought! If I do "benign" things with evilness a portion, then the evil which is not possible to ignore, effects my Christian walk. I can't pray for others effectively when it's me that needs prayer!

Some are insensitive! Bad things occurring with the "good" goes unnoticed! Insensitive Christians are already in trouble because that are not submitting to the will of God and are not resisting evil. They are like the proverbial woman running from the villain: they trip and fall, only to have the villain overtake and kill them!

Those who think of themselves as sophisticated and enlightened from the dangers of trash, are the most susceptible to become part of the trash!

Christians today have shallow standards for "benign" activities. They will steal pencils and paper as they work without thinking anything about it. They skip church to watch ballgames and think nothing about it! They don't take the effort to tell their friend who is dying about Jesus and think nothing about it! They will watch a tawdry movie and think nothing about it!

Yes, Christians set standards. Read some: "If a movie has more than four or five curse words, I won't watch it! If a television show shows full-frontal nudity I won't watch it. If that Cosmopolitan feature touts abortion, I'll skip that part!" You get the idea: Christians are not using God's standards. They're creating their own and the devil is their adviser! Satan smiles at those "standards" for they are his, not God's!

Think on these things! Be sensitive to God's will and respect God. Have some Christian principles. Don't pay those by watching their produce when their produce is rotten. You wouldn't buy trash at the grocery store, but look at you at the movies and in front of the television! Get out of the "trash" business and into the "serving God" vocation.