{"id":332,"date":"2014-12-20T11:56:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T11:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/2014\/12\/20\/is-it-ok-to-want-a-porsche-as-a-christian\/"},"modified":"2014-12-20T11:56:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T11:56:00","slug":"is-it-ok-to-want-a-porsche-as-a-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/2014\/12\/20\/is-it-ok-to-want-a-porsche-as-a-christian\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It OK To Want A Porsche As A Christian?"},"content":{"rendered":"

James 4 \u2013 5<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n

Verse 4:2 explores one of the Ten Commandments:<\/p>\n

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You crave something that you do not possess, so you murder to get it. You desire the things you cannot earn, so you\u00a0sue others and<\/em>\u00a0fight for what you want. You do not have because you have chosen not to ask.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The terms covet versus desire often get confused in the world today. Why is that? The world has corrupted the meaning to make it seem like it is bad for those of faith to want cool stuff. No the difference is actually quite simple, desire causes us to work to obtain what we desire, covet on the other hand is wanting someone stuff. Think of it this way, Mick drives up in a Porsche, I look at and say cool. My desire causes me to work hard and earn money to buy one. My coveting says I want his Porsche and I will break many other commandments to obtain HIS Porsche, including lying, stealing or to an extreme a carjacking murder. Desire leads to work, covet leads to evil.<\/p>\n

Verse 4:7 is encouraging:<\/p>\n

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So submit yourselves to the one true God and fight against the devil\u00a0and his schemes.<\/em>\u00a0If you do, he will run away\u00a0in failure<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Enough said!! Verse 5:5 takes says rich people will rot:<\/p>\n

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Your life on the earth has been one of luxury, pleasure, and endless consumption; you have feasted to your hearts\u2019 content on animals you slaughtered<\/em>,\u00a0but now<\/em>\u00a0the day of slaughter comes\u00a0for you<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

IT DOES NOT SAY THAT!! If you read it carefully, again it talks about those who are rich and take advantage of those who are poor. This single verse out of context implies the \u201cday of slaughter\u201d will come to those who are rich when in context is talking about those who cheat others for their own advantage.<\/p>\n

Verse 5:9 is simple and actually part of\u00a0 The Lord\u2019s Prayer:<\/p>\n

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Brothers and sisters, don\u2019t waste your breath complaining about one another. If you judge others, you will be judged yourself. Be very careful!\u00a0You will face<\/em>\u00a0the one true Judge who is right outside the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is something we need to really take to heart. If you harbor bitterness towards another who has wronged you, expect the same in heaven from God. That is EXACTLY what this is saying. Don\u2019t waste the negative energy holding grudges, just forgive it and forget. Otherwise you will be waking up late at night stressing about it with no peace. Personally I take this literal and God will forgive me the way I forgive others, so I try to just let things go and forgive, no matter what the other person does.<\/p>\n

Verse 5:12 is important:<\/p>\n

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It is even more important, my brothers and sisters, that you remember not to make a vow by the heavens or the earth or by anything. When you say \u201cyes,\u201d it should always mean \u201cyes,\u201d and \u201cno\u201d should always mean \u201cno.\u201d\u00a0If you can keep your word,<\/em>\u00a0you will avoid judgment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now those who know me know I fail at this often. It\u2019s a combination of forgetfulness and trying to do too much. I think of Bo Diddley\u2019s saying \u201cdon\u2019t write a check your tail can\u2019t cash\u201d (may be attributed to Flip Wilson) and try to live it but fail every week, if not every day. Last night after dinner the girls left and asked I clean up, I said OK!! They came back and I started, cleaned a few dishes then got distracted on another project. In the end, I did what I said, but disappointed the girls. So understand people take your word serious, think of it this way God will honor his word to you as you honor yours to others. THAT WOULD TERRIFY ME!! Glad I have not found scriptural support for that one.<\/p>\n

To dig through the reading and answer the question for today, yes it\u2019s ok to want a Porsche as a Christian. Just don\u2019t covet and take another\u2019s property but earn it!! Also, don\u2019t \u201cearn\u201d it while taking advantage of others. The other key is not to make the Porsche the IDOL and keep God center!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James 4 \u2013 5 Verse 4:2 explores one of the Ten Commandments: You crave something that you do not possess, so you murder to get it. You desire the things you cannot earn, so you\u00a0sue others and\u00a0fight for what you want. You do not have because you have chosen not to ask. The terms covet … Continue reading “Is It OK To Want A Porsche As A Christian?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}