Epidemic in the Kingdom

An Epidemic in the Kingdom (August 31, 2011)

Some people consider hate as the opposite of love. Hate, like jealousy, envy, bitterness and the unwillingness to forgive, is just a symptom of a disease that plagues the Kingdom of God. This disease has long crippled the Body of Christ, rendering much of it virtually ineffective. The salt has been contaminated and it is no longer a healing agent, it has lost it flavor and it can preserve very little. Our lights have been dimmed and the lost cannot find their way. This disease makes us look, talk and act just like the world we have been commissioned to lead out of the realm of darkness into the Kingdom of Marvelous Light. Jesus summed up the entire Mosaic Law, all 613, with two simple concepts. Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself and love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. This disease has simply made it impossible to abide by this mandate of the Most High God. In the fourth chapter of Genesis and the seventh verse God presents Cain with a dilemma. He tells him that if he will respond appropriately he will be elevated above his problem. However, if he doesn’t respond appropriately sin is waiting on him and it will destroy him. God goes on to explain that if he is to have victory he must master this sin. Cain inherited a crippling disease from his parents, the same crippling disease that has rendered the majority of the Kingdom of God virtually useless. It wasn’t Satan that led Adam and Eve away and infected them with sin. It wasn’t a beautiful piece of fruit hanging tantalizingly in the foreground of the most well sculpted landscape that caused them to forsake their creator. It is the same thing that continues to make what should be a powerful Body of Christ, weak. This disease makes it impossible to truly forgive. It makes Christians inpatient and unkind. It creates jealousy in believers and causes them to boast and become arrogant. If we become infected with this disease, we become rude and lose our manners. We become easily provoked and begin to keep careful accounts of all wrongs done to us. This epidemic results in a feeling of delight when wickedness befalls those that we do not like. (1st Corinthians 13:4-7) Two men went to the wall to pray. One was a thief and the other was a very educated preacher. They proceeded to pray. The preacher quickly reminded God of all that he does for the Kingdom, like God didn’t already know. He pointed out the sins of the thief and actually thanked God that he wasn’t like this lowlife at the wall with him. The thief dared not approach too closely to the wall. He bowed his head, smote his chest and admitted his sins and begged for mercy. The preacher was eaten up with the disease and the thief left the wall more justified than the preacher. Jesus ends his story explaining that God would resist the proud and give grace to the humble. (Luke 18:10-14) If you haven’t figured it out by now the epidemic is PRIDE! The thing that has infected the Kingdom of God is pride. Pride caused Abraham and Sarah to doubt the plan of God and attempt to solve their problem through their own efforts. Pride caused Jacob to trick his father. Pride caused King Saul to disobey God and keep the spoils of the war. Pride caused King David to take his friends wife and murder him. Pride caused Peter to deny Christ. Pride caused Peter to withdraw from the Gentiles when the other Hebrews showed up. Pride resulted in Paul hearing NO from God concerning his thorn. Pride keeps people from going to God for help. Pride will not allow you to admit you have a problem. Join me in asking God to put us on His most amazing potter’s wheel and work this pride out of us and transform us into vessels of honor.