Life-Giving

In Paul’s letter to the Romans he expressed at the very outset God’s anger toward sinful, wicked people who “push the truth away from themselves.” 

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks…When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done. (Romans 1:21, 28)

Paul listed the behavior that characterized those whom God abandoned to their shameful desires: greed, envy, hate, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, gossip, backstabbing, boastful, heartless, unforgiving. It is easy for us to read that list and think about how it applies to others, but let’s not miss Paul’s entire message.

You may be saying, “What terrible people you have been talking about!” But you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you do these very same things. (2:1)

How true it is that we are experts at seeing the speck in someone else’s eye and we refuse to deal with the log that is in our own eye. I read recently the thought that every person you come in contact with will either suck the life out of you or breathe life into you. John Ortberg says it this way “Some people are life-bringers to us. They increase our energy, deepen our hope, add to our joy, and call out the best in us. Other people are life drainers. They add to our anxiety and invite us to cynicism. We find ourselves becoming defensive, depressed, or exasperated.”  The Me I Want to Be

When we fail to acknowledge and worship God in our daily lives, we easily slip into the kind of behaviors Paul described and then we become the kind of person who sucks the life out of others. I would suggest that each of us needs to daily consider Paul’s ‘shameful behaviors’ list and examine our own hearts for any hint of that behavior. We need to ask God to convict us when we are being life drainers and to empower us to breathe the life of Christ into others through our daily interaction.

Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires. Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God. Romans 6:12-13