Do you think that you can learn Christian doctrine from some space traveling penguins? I want to warn you right up front you may be a bit uncomfortable with what you’re about to read. I’m going to step into an area that many pastor’s fear to tread. Today I set my sights on the sacred cow of Christianity, literally.
There’s a Christian cartoon that my kids love to watch, actually I really like it too. It’s called “3-2-1 Penguins” and it’s about these penguins who fly around in a space ship dealing with various moral problems in the galaxy.
Recently I was watching an episode and was amazed at the issue this children’s cartoon took up. It seems that the birds had been dispatched by Starfleet Command to a planet where they were having a problem with the gravitational pull on the planet. It had become so great that it was pulling everything down. Upon investigation the penguins found that the thing that was causing the extra gravitational pull was the over abundance of calories in their diet. The people on the planet had become absolutely gluttonous, as they ate and ate and ate some more. Even when they didn’t feel like eating they continued to eat.
Now you may be thinking right now, “This is not very spiritual.” But it really is because there’s no area of your life that God isn’t concerned with and He desires that Jesus Christ be your only master. Unfortunately it’s not enough that this is a problem within Christianity but to make it worse it’s really become a joke among many people. In the denomination that I’m affiliated with it’s laughingly said that we can’t have a meeting without fried chicken.
In 1 Corinthians 9:25 Paul talks about our Christian walk as if it we were athletes training and competing in a great race when he says, “Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.” We in this country and more specifically in Christianity have gotten out of control with this. I examine my own life and find that I am as guilty as anyone. This lack of obedience to the Lord has radically changed not only the quality but the duration of our lives in this country as we have allowed our cravings for not just food but really any pleasure that seems to come along to control our lives. Recently I heard a statistic that the average user of Facebook spends more than four hours at a time, becoming completely consumed with this internet site. This is not simply allowing ourselves to be out of control but in many ways I believe steps into the realm of being idolatrous as we give ourselves over to these pleasures to be controlled by them. Perhaps this morning as you listen to this you’re not only being convicted of an area in your own life where there is a problem but you may also be thinking of all the times that you’ve tried to deal with it and failed. Maybe the thought of another failure is worse than just giving in to this area where you have become trapped, almost as if a prisoner to your own desires. If that’s the case I’ve got some great news for you because greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.
If you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior from the punishment for sin, no matter how many attempts you’ve made to overcome this God can and will deliver you. Now God may use a number of methods to destroy that stronghold in your life. You may simply go to Him and confess this to Him and sometimes God takes down that fortress in your life, other times He may feel that it’s best to work in you through a process over time to help to bring about that Christ likeness in your life. Romans 12: 1-2 says, “Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Are you allowing anything to get out of control in your life? Will you go to God and confess that to Him tell Him about the struggles you’ve had with this and ask Him to deliver you from it. Then will you choose to walk in the power that God has given you and overcome that stronghold? God Bless and don’t forget to live out your faith today
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