"Keeping My Tent Clean"

"And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10:6) I do not know if you noticed, but yesterday I said something which might have not been understood, which was that I propose a time 'to keep those things which clean out our tents'. This is really more important than you might think; because it is not only necessary for us to clean out this tent, but even more importantly, we must fill it with the right stuff. In other words, allow no room for any of that stuff which can cause us to go astray! So, another way to look at this verse in 2 Corinthians 10:6, is that we should be prepared to fill this tent with those things which are of God, as we clean out those things which are of this world. This is actually basic Christian training, which I was told about almost 30 years ago; however, with time and the experience of 'learning how to sin', I think this concept was shelved somewhere in a back room of my heart. Maybe one thing which I could purpose in my heart to do, is to praise God and give Him glory as I realize that obedience has been fulfilled? I don't mean a quick little thank you, but I mean a heart felt devotion time; a time of turning away from all else and giving Him praise! As I looked up this word 'revenge' this morning, I was lead to a portion of Scripture in Luke 17:11-19, where we see Jesus heal 10 lepers. If you know the story, you know that they were all healed as they started to obey His command to "Go show yourselves unto the priests", which is in verse 14. However, verse 15 says, "And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks: and he was a Samaritan." I don't need to go through the whole 'Samaritan' thing again, but it is kind of interesting that they keep popping up like this? Then in verse 17, we see Jesus respond, "And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And He said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole." Why is this little story so relevant to what I was talking about? Well, first off, this leper was healed of his leprosy, which was a outer healing, or a fleshly healing; yet after he turned back and gave glory to God for his fleshly healing, he was then given a spiritual healing, as Jesus declared "thy faith hath made thy whole". This is vitally important because "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal", (but they are spiritual), and "mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds". Now then, the word 'revenge', which Paul uses here in verse 10:6, means to take vengeance on, or to punish; which then tells me that there is some authority given which allows me to execute justice, and to defend the cause of Christ. That being said, in order to execute justice in the practice of obedience to God, I have nothing else to do except: Praise the One who has made me Clean !!!