Refuse to Offer the Sacrifice of Fools

Building, downtown Monroe

In John 10:10 Jesus says, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy; but I have come so that you might have life, and life to the fullest.”

The “thief” wants three things:

1. Our experience of the loving presence of God
2. Our response of loving God back
3. Our act of giving this love away to others

How does this thief do this? By fulfilling his job description, which is “accuser.” Fault-finder. Finger-pointer. Judger. This has been Satan’s strategy from Genesis 3:12 through Revelation 12:10.

The “fault-finder” works in two ways.

First, he works internally, inside us. He whispers words like “You are nobody,” “No one likes you,” “You will never succeed,” “You are a failure in God’s eyes,” and so on and on.

Secondly, he works through other people to communicate to us these things. Satan’s greatest pleasures are when he succeeds in tempting Christian brothers and sisters to whisper accusations through gossip and slander.

In Romans 1:28-31 gossip and slander are marks of evil, wickedness, and a depraved mind. Gossip is mentally ill activity that destroys “life to the fullest." That’s horrible, right? What can we do?

We can:

1.Refuse to offer the “sacrifice of fools.” This “sacrifice” is described in Ecclesiastes 5:1-2. The “sacrifice of fools” is to “be quick with your mouth and hasty in your heart.” The remedy is to “let your words be few.” Offer sacrifices of praise instead.

2. Meditate on things are good, true, and beautiful (Phil. 4:8).  Note the intimate link between what goes on in the heart and what comes out of the mouth in Psalm 19:14 – “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Meditations of the heart eventually come out of the mouth.

3. Resolve that your mouth will not sin. Psalm 17:3 states, “Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin.” Decide not to sin with your mouth. Can you do it? One of the enemy’s lies is the whisper “You’ll never succeed at this.” That is another of Satan’s deceiving strategies. Remember – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Do these and you’ll sleep better at night.