Don't Smoke, Drink or Chew

Have you ever read a verse when suddenly you received a total different interpretation of what it means . . . or what the Lord wanted you to get from it on a particular day? 

A fresh revelation came to me as I was reading Galatians 5:16:

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

I first heard this Galatians verse taught as a “quit quit” and “don’t don’t” verse.  In other words, live a godly life by not going to movies, watching television, dancing, smoking, drinking, looking at girls or anything that doesn’t happen within the four walls of the church.

I think the old saying was “don’t smoke, drink, chew or run around with the girls that do.”  That was back in tobacco country where it was also ‘chewed.’

Just saying those words again makes me smile and remember some of my earliest teaching at the First Free Will Baptist Church in LaGrange, North Carolina.

The verse says:  “…you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

The word fulfill is the Greek word teleo (G5055) and it means:

“to bring to a close, to finish, to end, to pay.”

In the Strong’s Concordance the Greek word (G1939) for lust means:

“desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, lust.”

The Lord just showed me that way too many believers get into financial trouble because they desire to get things which they perceive to be. . .soul satisfying and life fulfilling. . .simply because others have them. . .or the world through the mass media suggests these ‘things’ will somehow meet a need for them.

The Greek word for lust is mentioned 38 times in 37 verses according to the Hebrew Concordance of the King James Bible.

As I began to read those verses. . .I felt stirred to discuss the first one on the list which is Mark 4:19:

“And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”

It’s not that God is opposed to us having things . . . but rather the things having us.

For years, I’ve taught that prosperity is not what you have. . .prosperity is what has you.

Does securing the things of this world. . .the newest cars, toys, electronic gadgets, clothes, shoes, things. . .take the place of your desiring, craving and longing for the Word of God. . .the things of God. . .the presence of God?

How do people get into financial trouble?

They buy things they don’t need. . .with money they don’t have . . . to impress others or fulfill something that’s missing in their own lives.

The Amplified Bible translation of Mark 4:19 offers a clearer perspective on what this verse actually means. 

“Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.”

What becomes fruitless? 

God’s Word working within us.

What is a distraction of this age?

In my opinion, it’s anything that separates us from what should be our first love, the Word of God and our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Depending upon the season of your life … as children grow up. . .they begin to drive and hang out with their friends. They begin to spend more time with others than they do with us.

How do you feel when you aren’t needed as much? 

How did you feel when your opinion isn’t as valued as it used to be?

How did you feel when you’ve only got a few minutes here and there talking with your children?

How do you feel about your children making choices that don’t reflect or respect the things that you’ve taught them?

Have you ever had your home treated more like a bed and breakfast?  That’s where your children stayed in the same room. . .eat your food. . .but otherwise, are off visiting the sites or out with their friends?

Don’t get me wrong. . .there is a natural progression in childhood development.  I’m not talking about keeping your children young forever, holding them hostage or being totally dominated by you.

Not at all, your desire is for them to remember you brought them into this world . . . that you love them. . .that you’ve invested your life for them providing for their needs, desires and wants.

You just want your children to remember the instructions. . .the values that you’ve taught them from an early age. . .and let’s be real. . .to still be needed in their lives other than when there’s a problem or emergency.

Now… can you imagine how your Heavenly Father feels about you?  How you’ve ordered your priorities and treated Him in your daily life?

Let’s go a little further.  Mark 4:19 also warns us about “…the pleasure and delight and false glamour… the craving and passionate desire for other things…”

I find “false glamour” to be an interesting phrase.

Have you ever seen advertisers use anyone ugly in television commercials?

Have you ever wondered why?

It’s simple, advertising executives know they’re selling an illusion of what you’re life would be like if you buy their product.  The advertisers desire is to paint a pleasing picture in your mind. . .one beyond a reality that you’re currently experiencing. . .and they know that ugly won’t do it.

The advertisers’ end-game is for you to crave and passionately desire the products they’re promoting. . .to the extent that you’ll do whatever is necessary (including the bondage of debt) to possess them.   They are feeding on needy people. 

What is the consequence of yielding to the allure of the advertisers?

The last few words of Mark 4:19 gives us a real warning when it says:  “. . . the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.”

Our desire. . .our lust for things. . .will choke and suffocate the Word.  Pay particular attention to the scripture when it says that the Word will become “fruitless.”

Sadly, that means that the Word of God is not first in your life. . .that the promises of the Word. . .the benefits of Sonship that He promised you. . .will not be reproducing fruit in your life.

In fact, you will experience crop failure in epic proportions.

The lost of this world are searching for what is missing in their lives . . . Jesus! They look to the world because they know no other place to go.  But as Christians we not only have the answer for self-fulfillment, it is our duty to share it with others and rescue them from this demonic deception and not fall into it ourselves.

God has made amazing promises to us in His Word . . . but if we let fleshly desire for other things and people take precedence over Him. . .then we’re going to live an unfulfilled and disappointing life and be no better off than those who have no God.

The Message Bible translation of Mark 4:18-19 sums it up pretty good when it says:

“The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it.”

Being consumed by the things you want to get. . .the things you want to do and the people you want to spend time with. . .other than God . . . means you’re committing mental suicide by choking the very life out of yourself and your dreams.

It doesn’t matter how many sermons you’ve heard. . .how many seminars you’ve attended or how much Christian TV you’ve watch . . . misplaced spiritual priorities permits financial and personal stress to take root in your life.

As the verse says: “The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it.”

That’s why we should follow the advice found in Galatians 5:16.  The Amplified Bible translation says it this way:

“But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).”

When it comes to living a fulfilled, fruitful and godly life. . it’s not so much what we stop doing as it is what we start doing.

We must develop the habit of walking, living, being totally responsive to and guided by the Holy Spirit . . . then everything else will fall into place. It’s a matter of putting the Word of God to work in our lives.