1 Corinthians 6:9-10—”Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Sexually immoral? Present.
Idolater? Present.
Adulterer? Present.
Homosexual? Present.
Thief? Present.
Greedy or covetous? Present.
Drunk? Present.
Reviler? Present.
Swindler? Present.
This could be a hypothetical reenactment of the Judgement day role call. Unfortunately, those who called present will have to proactively apply their sunblock and treatment for burn injuries because 1Corinthians 6 in the Bible clearly displays this list as those who will not inherit the kingdom of God.
If we think about it, the list could easily include our names. OK, maybe we stayed away from adultery or stealing. ‘But’, and with big emphasis, there must have been a time when we did one (or more) of the things below or something similar:
– preferred to watch a movie, read a book, talk to a friend which may have delayed or substituted our prayer time(idolatry)
– envied, or longed for, something ‘just like our neighbour’, eg: car, vacation place, school, job(covetous)
– filled our bag with free goodies and went back a second time(greed)
– thought we would have one ‘social drink’ for ‘company’ that extended through the night and this repeated everytime with that company(drunk)
– kept the extra money when given excess change at a store (swindler)
– saw that the restaurant had missed an item in the bill and kept quiet(greed/swindler)
– added amounts before showing expenses for travel on work(swindler/greed)
Yes, we can be pulled to the ‘other side’ very easily, especially when wayward things surround us rampantly, to the point that it doesn’t seem wrong anymore. Satan makes it seem this way –
1- thoughts of ‘everyone does it’
2- ‘ok, just one try’
3- ‘noone noticed’ so we repeat it again.
4- it becomes a habit, before we know it.
We cannot hope to sow to the flesh, and reap everlasting life. Do not expect to live in sin, yet die in Christ, and go to heaven. We are justified to God only in Christ and are made holy only by the grace of God.
Father God, help us to realise that all unrighteousness is sin and unrepented sin committed with design shuts us out of Your kingdom. Help us to focus on the gospel and Your grace. In Jesus’ name…Amen.
