The Silent Epidemic – Part 3
So many in today’s spiritual world want to satiate themselves with spiritual soda pop and candy. And while there certainly isn’t anything wrong with having soda pop or candy on certain occasions, a regular diet of it will cause sickness and ill health. Such is also true spiritually; spiritual fast food may taste good at first but cannot ultimately satisfy. Exercising spiritually healthy choices, however, will maintain a healthy spiritual life and fortify us with the basic essential spiritual nutrients.
This means that we need to feed on the meat of God’s word, not just on the milk. Sometimes, people complain about how there’s too much negativity in preaching. While we should strive to maintain a good balance in preaching, and specifically, to preach the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), preaching the gospel is designed to get people to repent. Mark 6:12 says, “So they went out and preached that people should repent.” A large part of preaching the gospel is preaching repentance. Mark 1:14-15 says, “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’” We cannot preach Jesus and the gospel without preaching repentance.
Preaching repentance means that we must identify and call out the problem of sin. No one really likes having their sins identified. However, this must be done for us to cut out the spiritual “fat” from our lives. We need to exercise ourselves unto godliness. “But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1 Timothy 4:7-8). It’s hard work, but we will be better for it eternally.
God bless you, and I love you.
Kevin Cauley