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Wallowing in the Mire

Writer's picture: Brian DoyleBrian Doyle

Dear Christian (And I mean dear, I LOVE YOU!), I know why your heart is sick and sad constantly, without peace. You let what is seen guide you, you let circumstance rule you, and you let your emotions lead you. I have some good news, if you're willing to do something about it! God's word says "We walk by faith, and not by sight"(2 Cor 5:6-10), "God uses all thing for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose,"(Romans 8:26-30) and " do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"(Philippians 4:4-9). We live in an age where we want to be inspired more than we want to have Life that is truly life. We live in a culture of envy, and so we strive against each other we, and we murder one another with our words. (That is the only REAL reason we see such division, hate, and bitterness aimed at one another, governments, media, etc., both in the church and out). Instead of focusing on Christ, His life and light, we wallow in the mud and muck, like Peter said, as a dog returns to his vomit, or a sow returns to the mire.


Christian, beloved one, you're not alone in doubt and axiety, but when we return to these things, constantly, we're turning our faces from Christ, and back toward what we were rescued from. Focusing on Christ may not change our circumstances, feelings, or situations, but it will change our heart toward them. Focusing completely on our God will keep us from focusing on our problems. It will help lift us back out of the mud, and into His grace, love, and peace. It will give us, then, the strength to build one another up in love! Fix your eyes on Jesus, focus on Him in everything, and watch how He becomes Lord of the Outcome!


2 Peter 2 English Standard Version 


False Prophets and Teachers

1But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.


4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hella and committed them to chainsb of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;c 7and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,d and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10and especially those who indulgee in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.


Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,f while they feast with you. 14They have eyes full of adultery,g insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.


17These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slavesh of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”


Footnotes: a 4 Greek Tartarus b 4 Some manuscripts pits c 6 Some manuscripts an example to those who were to be ungodly d 9 Or temptations e 10 Greek who go after the flesh f 13 Some manuscripts love feasts g 14 Or eyes full of an adulteress h 19 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see


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