Last night I was sitting in a revival service listening to the evangelist preach from 1 Corinthians about the unrighteous who will not inherit the kingdom of God. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1Co 6:9-10) As he is going through this list in my heart I am thinking about all the wickedness in our land.

Fornicators – This has become widely accepted even among Christian people today. How do I know this? Because it is flaunted around in the churches; there is no shame anymore. No one bothers to teach against fornication and its consequences. We sweep it under the rug and think that God does not see or care. But Scripture warns; be not deceived.

Idolaters – How easy it is to think in our mind that we are not idolaters. After all, we have never carved a graven image and bowed down to it. But, an idolater is one who puts ANYTHING above God. It can be the god of humanism. This god is based in evolution. It is what our American children are daily indoctrinated in. We see the fruit of this when people slaughter their unborn babies on the altar of convenience. It can be the god of riches. This happens all the time when people bow down to their job and place it above God. We see the effects of this god when parents neglect their church, the home, and their children in a pursuit of wealth. It can be the god of entertainment. How many families miss church due to sports or hunting? How many people place the TV above their prayer time? How many people care more about what Hollywood thinks than what the preacher says from the Word of God? One of the biggest forms of idolatry is when people make up a god in their own mind. They might claim they are serving the God of the Bible but the god they have created in their mind is nothing like the True Jehovah God of Scripture.

Adulterers – I’m always amazed at how many parents openly accept those who are committing adultery into their home to influence their children. It is done every week in Christian homes via the television and internet. Think about this honestly. As believers in Christ we might say how wrong adultery is to our children. But, if we let them watch movies or TV shows that make light of this sin, then we are justifying it to our children. What we are saying by our actions is that adultery is not really that big of deal.

Homosexuals – This is big in today’s society. We are told to accept this “lifestyle”, our children our indoctrinated in it via the government schools, and it is forced upon us in every avenue of society. Why? It is because the children of God will not take a stand. They will not speak out against it. They continue to watch the programs that have them in it. They continue to vote for politicians who are for it. They continue to buy products from companies that support it. They continue to go to places like Disney World who parade it around. And it is all because we love other things more than we love God. We do not hate the things that God hates.

Thieves – There is more thievery going on today than I have ever seen. Our society EXPECTS something for nothing and they do not care where it comes from. We are fine with the government stealing from one class and giving to other. Then often the ones who do work steal from their employers by being lazy. People will steal spouses from one another. Boys steal the innocence of girls. Children steal from their parents. Thieves are everywhere.

Does it sound like I’m being hard on these people? Probably. I should be. God hates these things. But, as the evangelist went through the list last night he did not stop there. The next on the list was covetous.

Ouch!

Why did God place being covetous between thieves and drunkards? It really is simple. It is because God hates this sin as well. After all, it made the top ten. In fact, covetousness is the cause of a lot of the other sins. I believe that the sin of covetousness is killing the testimony of many Christian people. It is also hindering their Christian growth tremendously, including mine. When I have my eyes on “things of this world” my eyes are off God. When I focus on my “wants” I am not content with my needs. When I store up “treasures for myself” here on earth I neglect to store up heavenly treasures. In doing it all, I become worldly minded not spiritually minded. In I Timothy 6:8 we are told that if we have food and clothing we should be content. In Matthew 6, Jesus told us to seek the kingdom of God and all of our needs will be added to us. And Paul tells Timothy that “godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1Ti 6:6) In the words of the evangelist last night…

“Christians today are saying, I’m content with my godliness; now give me the great gain!”

Does this describe many Christians today? Does it describe the mindset in our churches? Does this describe the average materialistic American family? I’m afraid it does! I’m afraid it even describes me at times.

God help me to strive to be godly, for you tell me to be holy for You are holy. Lord, help me to make every effort to live a pure life in this world. Father, help me to be content with the things that You give me. I realize that every perfect gift comes from above. Help me to give you honor and glory in my life and live as a light set on a hill in this dark world. Help me to take to heart that godliness with contentment IS great gain and help me live accordingly.