Key Bible Verse: You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that (1 Corinthians 5:10). Bonus Reading: Mark 2:14-16

Rules, regulations, and the pursuit of outward morality are ultimately incapable of preventing sin. They can only, at best, rearrange the flesh and get people to stop drinking, smoking, and having sex, only to start being proud of their morality.

Our freedom in Christ isn't intended to permit us to dance as close to sin as possible without crossing the line. It is intended to permit us to dance as close to sinners as possible by crossing the lines that unnecessarily separate the people God has found from those He is still seeking. To be a Christian, literally, is to be a "little Christ," living freely within the culture as missionaries who are faithful to the Father and His gospel as Jesus was in His own time and place.

God's people must understand their mission with razor-sharp clarity. The mission is to be close to Jesus.

This transforms our hearts to love what He loves, hate what He hates, and to pursue relationships with lost people in hopes of connecting with them and, subsequently, connecting them with Him. This actually protects us from sin, because the way to avoid sin is not to avoid sinners but to stick close to Jesus. Jesus' love for us and our love for him are the only tethers that will keep us from abusing our freedom.

—Mark Driscoll in The Radical Reformission

My Response: Am I willing to venture with Jesus to connect with lost people?

Thought to Apply: A man's heart is right when he wills what God wills.—THOMAS AQUINAS (philosopher & theologian)

Adapted from The Radical Reformission (Zondervan, 2004) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, cause me to increasingly align my desires with Your good, pleasing, and perfect will.

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