Heaven and the Holy City
Rev 22:15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie.
A good place to start is at the back of the Bible because we can readily see that we win! But the verse above has a hideous warning! It’s talking about Christians, people who have received Christ but haven’t given up the world. When the Bible refers to “dogs” it’s talking about male prostitutes and we all know they are in the Church today. Then there are sorcerers. Sometimes the prayers of Christians smack of white magic! The sexually immoral; how many Christians do you know who are sleeping around or living with someone outside of marriage, and those are just the obvious immoral.
Then there are murderers in the church, maybe just murderers in the mind, a mental murderer so to speak. Idolaters, too. How easy it is to put more importance on something or someone in our every day lives than on God. Let’s face it, there’s a lot to clean up in the Body of Christ.
But the one I want to focus on is “whoever loves and practices a lie”. They are put outside the holy city! The lies we harbor in the depths of our beings are like old friends. We lick the wounds and continue to think the thoughts spawned by these lies, even though we don’t consciously know they are there.
In every day life the only way we can recognize the lies is when we are confronted by the truth. Then when we say, “Well, I wish that were true; however, it isn’t like that for me,” we can see we prefer the lie. But we usually don’t admit that.
Let’s take the sweet little 23rd Psalm. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Do you want? Is there lack in your life? Or have you resolved to live by the truth that God supplies all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, and therefore you have no lack? There can only be one truth. Where does the idea of lack come from? From the lies buried inside you by Satan, the father of lies, that you don’t have enough.
Some people relish the lie that the world is unfair, somebody else is getting their portion, they’ve been cheated, and they love and practice that lie. Can you think of any lies you love and practice in your life? Obviously, God doesn’t want His children to be outside His holy city by loving and practicing lies. Ask for His help in digging out the lies that have been directing your life and replacing them with His Truth! It’s only the Truth that sets us free!