Getting death and life confused- Paul Tripp

Lord willing tonight at Bible Study we will see the issue of gluttony raised in Titus 1 v12.

Titus 1 v12

12 One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”

Paul Tripp said this about gluttony-

We sinners are very good at getting death and life confused. If you pay attention, you will see it all around you. Watch television, for example, where adultery is portrayed as life. Of course, a moment of sexual lust or even the act of illicit sex will seem invigorating at first. It may feel like life at its fullest. But adultery is a cruel investment of both the body and the soul. Scripture warns us where a relationship with an adulteress is heading: “In the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edge sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave” (Proverbs 5:4—5).

Or consider gluttony, which seems like a harmless enjoyment of the good things that the Lord created. It may feel like the good life, but it is actually robbing you of true life and destroying both your body and your soul.

Tripp, P. D., & Tripp, D. P. (2008). A quest for more: living for something bigger than you. Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press.

When you are committing an act of gluttony, at that moment you don’t see the idolatrous destructiveness of what you’re doing. No, you see good—the good of the smells, sights, textures, and flavors of the food you are consuming. Your problem is that what looks good isn’t in fact good.

...

When it comes to pleasure, what looks like a good thing may not be a good thing.

So, as you’re dealing with the basic pleasures that will greet you in everyday life, carry the Eden hermeneutic with you. Look at pleasure through the interpretive and protective lens of the garden. Understand pleasure, be reminded of its purpose, celebrate its joys, be warned of its danger, and most of all guard your heart.

Tripp, P. (2013). Sex and money: pleasures that leave you empty and grace that satisfies. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

Comments

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