“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is helpful.  “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be brought under the control of anything.  I Corinthians 6:12 HCSB

We have become a world of convenience.  Right now you are reading a blog from either your computer, phone or tablet.  We can instantly message friends.  The other day I was cleaning my mom’s home and I found two sets of encyclopedias.  I bet most kids today have no idea what an encyclopedia is, but they know all about various search engines.  If they need information on anything they can get it off their phone.  Isn’t technology great?  Sometimes I am not so sure.

I enjoy the convenience of sending an email or text message as much as the next person, but I look at what it has done to society and it saddens me to think about what we have become.  We have become a nation that wants everything right away.  Everything has to be high speed.  Everything is instantly known on the world wide web.  If you want the world to know something you can just put it on social media.

All of this is permissible, but is it good?  This scripture passage is referring to honoring God with our bodies or abstaining from sexual sin.  It could be applied to any type of addiction though.  I mean what if someone asked you to give up your smart phone for a day or heaven forbid a whole week?

As someone who has spent my life struggling with my weight, I did my best on weight watchers several years ago.  One of their mantras was everything in moderation.  We have to be very careful of coming under the control of an addiction.  I will admit that I am addicted to caffeine.  Every morning I have to have at least one very large cup of coffee in order to be the sweet, lovable person that greets the world throughout the rest of the day.  But if I have too much caffeine, it makes for a sleepless night.  I can drink caffeine all day if I want to, but I will suffer the consequences at night.  It is permissible, no one will stop me from drinking it (except maybe my husband as I tend to wake him up when I can’t sleep).  But it is not good for me.

Now the same is true with cocaine, heroine, and amphetamines.  A police officer may stop you from using that type of substance, but God will allow it.  He will also allow you to suffer the consequences. Alcohol, tobacco, television, social media, all these things are permissible by law and by God but alcohol and tobacco can kill you.  Now television and social media are both permissible by law and by God but are they good for us?  Well that would probably depend on what you are seeing and reading on both.  You can go on television and social media and see and hear people that are God inspired.  You can also go on both and see porn and other things that hurt, not help, us.  Either can be used to spread the gospel or gossip.

When we do something just because we can, we must consider a few things.  First and foremost, would you do that if Jesus were sitting there beside you?  Well, newsflash, He is there.  Even if you have strayed far from God, He knows every move you make.  He knows your every thought.

Just because God allows us to do bad things it doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to have to answer to Him for them on judgement day.

Sadly doing bad things will become a habit much quicker than doing good things.  It is so easy for me to be distracted and fall out of the habit of reading my Bible every day.  It is so easy for me to forget to pray.  The world is full of distractions.  But I check my phone regularly for texts or missed calls.  Hmm, it makes me sad to even type that.

The real question I am posing to you today is who or what is controlling you?  I wish sometimes that God had remotes on us and that he would just push the buttons and cause us to always do the right thing.  Sadly, this is not the case.  We all, however, have someone or something that controls us.  So I’m asking you who or what controls you?  Where is your remote control and who or what is pressing the buttons?

Are you stuck in a bad relationship and being controlled by someone that is trying to steer you away from God?  Are you suffering from an addiction that brings you more strife than peace in your life?  Are you under the control of the television?  Does social media run your life?  What gets the majority of your time and attention?

You see this scripture tells us that while everything is permissible, we should not let anything control us.  We should be under God’s control.  God should be pushing the buttons.

The way to make this happen in our life is to put God first in everything we do.  Before you say or type something ask yourself this question, is this going to please God?  If you are doing something that doesn’t please God, you will answer for it.  The Bible clearly tells us that when we go before the white throne of judgement that we will answer for every word that comes out of our mouth and I’m sure that includes every word that our hands speak through the keyboard.

With what is going on in the NFL everyone is talking about free speech.  It is permissible, but is it helpful?  Ephesians 4:29 says “no foul language is to come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.”

If we lived our lives in a way that we felt God’s presence on a continual basis, I bet we would think twice about what we said and posted or texted.  You will answer for everything you do, my friend, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Imagine if everyone spoke to others as if God was sitting right beside them hanging on their every word.  I imagine that the world would be a much nicer place.  The irony in all of this is that God is listening to every word and reading every word.

I ask you to think about what I have said as you go through this day.  I don’t know about you but I have spent years doing things that I cringe at the thought of answering to God for.  When I committed my life to God I gave him enough garbage to fill a landfill.  I admitted to my sins, I begged His forgiveness and I promised Him that I would strive to do better.  I am honoring this commitment to the best of my ability.

The devil has really come against me this last year and let me tell you there were times when my mouth and my fingers could have had  a field day, but God was there beside me and I knew that He would take care of everything and guess what?  He has.  We serve such an awesome God.  Yes I could have blasted my enemy by responding to their cruel and hateful text messages.  I could have lashed out when they tried to persecute me by filing false claims against me with state agencies.  I chose to let God handle these things and I am so glad I did. Just as the Bible tells us in Romans 8:28, God worked it out for my good and His glory!

So, today, my friend I pray that you will feel God’s presence in your life and that this will help you to not do those things that will harm you in the end.  Do that which is pleasing to God.  If you make God happy, then you will be happy!

Have a great day!