I often read different versions of the Bible, particularly if there is a challenging passage. With the Message Bible sometimes I am just plain curious how they are going to explain things with very contemporary language. In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul recaps the failures of the children of Israel to follow God faithfully. There tendency was to get sidetracked by idols. Sounds kind of familiar huh? The Message lays out some great thoughts. Here is a brief overview? "We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him" We can learn lessons from those that have gone before us. "These are all warning markers---DANGER!--in our history books, written down so that we don't repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel---they at the beginning, we at the end--and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don't be so naïve and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence. No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it. So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can." These are good words to ponder. I do think God frequently allows us to be pushed beyond our limit when we exclude Him from helping us. We are only able to resist the temptation and pressure when we are empowered by Him. Praise be to God that He delights in helping us fight temptation and our struggles. We best not think we can go it alone, lest we indeed fall flat on our face.
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