"Pick Your Poison"

"One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I might dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in His temple." (Psalms 27:4) If nothing else, I am going to have this verse memorized; but my main point to make here today, is about what we pick for that which will be killing off what. The expression, "Pick Your Poison", is often referred to when using alcohol; as if to say, Pick the drink that kills you with the most pleasure. But it can mean many other things also, and it is basically saying that your faced with a decision between a few things that can ultimately kill you over using them in the long run. That said, I will remind those of us that are believers in Jesus, that we actually have two separate identities: the one which is of old and is to be counted dead in Christ, and the other which is alive unto God and has been raised up in Christ Jesus. To understand what I am trying to get at, we must consider what 'poison' does in most cases; in the context of biology, poisons are substances that cause disturbance to organisms, usually a chemical reaction to set off some type hindrance to how an organism is designed to work or function. In the verse above, the poison that we need to disturb our fleshly organism is to be in God's presence; not just coming into His presence, but actually absorbing that which will kill off the flesh over the long run. Two things that David mentions here are "to behold His beauty" and "to enquire in His temple"; each having two very distinctive poisoning affects on not only our flesh, but on how we as mortals react to the world around us. "The beauty of the LORD" is God's delightfulness, as in the pleasantness that is experienced by being in His presence, or the brightness of His glory; but it also refers to His amazing loving kindness and His grace; which are those things that continue to break our hearts over how much He loves us and how much He is willing to forgive us! The other poison listed is "to enquire in His temple", and is something that involves more than just popping in for a visit, but means to study or plow into, as if there is something significant to investigate; to inspect diligently the sanctuary of God! It requires that we take in all that He has in store for us, as well as all that He has to represent His power and glory; much of which are there to provide us the confidence in all of His promises to us; after all, how can you doubt the words of a God that is bigger than the universe? On the flip side of this, we have those poisons which hinder our spiritual life and our closeness with our Heavenly Father; those things being, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; all of which are poisons to our soul..."Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:2-7)