I want to go on record right up front I think the Prius is an affront to
automobile manhood. These genderless golf carts clogging the fast lanes in the
defense of better gas mileage and making the air cleaner bother me, and many
others. But hybrids seem to be the crossover between gas power and electric
power, and we find hybrids even in Mercedes Benz, with Mustang threatening one
in 2020. Not a gas power, not electric power, but a combination of both, with
both sides having their pluses and minuses. For me, I still like putting the
pedal to the metal and hearing an exhaust roar, no some whiny electric motor.
Even Harley has experimented with one, adding an electric sound system to it so
you can hear the putt-putt. We’ll see what happens on that one, but for now,
hybrids are here, fortunately they all aren’t as ugly and as effeminate as a
Prius.
So you like the idea of a hybrid, maybe own one, or are looking. What
about your spiritual life, are you driving a hybrid in it? Do you not know a
double minded man, a hybrid, is unstable in al his ways? Do you not know you
cannot serve both God and mammon? Has your gospel become a hybrid, with
legalistic points guiding what you want to do, and how you live? Is your Jesus
a hybrid or powered by the spirit? We need to check ourselves often, and the
answers may not be pleasant. But don’t give up hope, hybrid Christians are
nothing new, a problem dealt with in the early church.
In Acts 19 we see the church confronted with the fact that although they
are saved, they still cling to their worldly belongings and morals. In church
they are one thing, but on the street and in daily life another. And God has to
deal with them on it. They are not representing him, although they are his
chosen representatives, and he confronts them. The main issue here was
witchcraft, dealing with sorcery, fortune telling, astrology, and other
superstitious things that were holding them in bondage. They didn’t know, but
after being told, still hung onto the evil in their lives, as they had monetary
value. But when the newer converts confronted them on them, and pointed out how
they were harming them and the church, they had a public burning of the books,
over $10,000 in their money of the time. They didn’t give them to others or
have a garage sale, they burned them, so no one else could be hurt by them. The
number of believers grew in strength and in number, and God was glorified. Now
we all may not practice black magic, but we still hang onto things from our past
that do not define us as Christians, and hinder the life of Jesus is our
life.
Years ago only winos drank wine, a cheap buzz, remember Boone’s Farm? We
knew wine and alcohol was bad for us, even the tax on it was referred to as a
sin tax. But today when drinking wine is trendy, I cannot name but a handful of
Christians who don’t drink, claiming Jesus did. But it is not found in
scripture. Also I am so sick of hearing the f word out of the mouths of
Christians, does not the Bible tell us that what comes out of a man’s mouth
reveals what is on his heart? That ought to scare a few of you...And lastly
smoking, not mentioned in the Bible per say, but with all the warnings and
evidence of how it destroys health, why still do it? Besides who wants to smell
it? But yet many drink, cuss, smoke, and live adulterous lives, forgetting they
are living in sin,with no regards for anyone else. When it finally occurred to
me years ago that those who identified me as a Christian saw me behaving
improperly, and since I did it, they could too and be a Christian. A hybrid
gospel if ever I heard one, it was when I cared more for those unsaved and what
my life portrayed, I changed. Remember saying you love God but hating man or
even dishonoring man made in his image is a sin. And those who do, do not have
the holy spirit in them.
Want to upset me, ask me my sign. Offer me a drink, and start to make
excuses for your actions. Cuss and embarrass me in public. Frankly I tire of
explaining your sin to them later, I just tell them the truth, you who do these
things choose them over the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The filth is better
than his cleanliness, and the argument starts. The last person who claimed I
was judging them I told, “no I’m describing you.” And why is it that only those
caught in sin don’t want to be judged? Has the world blinded you to the things
of God? But in Acts the spirit of the Lord prevailed, many turned and burned
their books rather than burning themselves. God didn’t say “stop or you would
die,” he just said “stop.” And when they did the church grew mightily. Is it
possible your hybrid theology is harming not only you but the church? Do you
care more about your rights than other’s lives?
The last quality of the spirit is self control, manifest in the choices we
make. We can control our mouth, but not our ears. Words mean something, and
God has given us his spirit, but honors our free will. True love demands a
choice, is your lifestyle promoting God or the sins of man? Are you stumbling
wondering why, but afraid to change? Those who burnt all that night saw changes
in their lives, and the spirit flowed through them. As God desires in our
lives. Next time you curse the Prius in your fast lane, consider this, you may
be the Prius of sin in other’s way. You may be going to heaven, or thinking you
are, but living a hybrid life. Weak, fearful doubting, wondering where Jesus is
in your life? He hasn’t changed, we must. It can start right now, like it has
for me. When confronted with my witness being ineffective, I went home and
poured a case of beer down the drain along with a quart of tequila. No excuses,
not finish these and never buying them again, down the drain, just as they
burned the books. And haven’t had the desire for over 40 years! No drinking
Prius in my life!
Revival starts with us, and when we change, others notice. No more lies or
lying to ourselves. We can truly represent Jesus, and the gospel goes forth and
grows. Just like it did in Acts, and is still today. Today the bastions of
darkness are all around, Jesus is coming and we don’t know when, but either
does Satan, who knows the word and the signs, and is stepping up his plan, he
knows the end is near. Love the sinner, but hate the sin. Be guided by his
truth and light instead of darkness and doubt, God longs to deliver us from our
sins. Will you let him? Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for
his brother. Or his drink, his porn, his cussing, his drugs, his horoscopes,
his smoking, his prideful ways......now that’s love!
Or you can be like the man who came to a fork in the road, and took
it!
from the fast lane,
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com