I Corinthians 5:5
“I have decided to turn such a one over to Satan for the destruction of the body, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.”
Such an intriguing verse. This person was on a bad path. He’s heading toward the destruction of the worst kind, his soul. To stop that Paul shares a different option, ask God to take his life, to save his soul.
This brings up another question, what’s better than life? Eternal life. I completely get this. As a young person I was afraid of going to hell. When I heard that I could be forgiven by the blood of Jesus and promised heaven, I jumped at the chance. I could have died the day after and it wouldn’t have mattered. Yes, my family and friends would have missed me, but I would be in a better place.
Many don’t get this concept. They want to live by any means. They aren’t thinking in terms of eternity. Some have done some extreme things to prolong life. Cryogenics will freeze the one’s head when someone dies and thaw it when a way to prolong life is discovered. I do understand this concern. However, God has a different way.
This life is good, but it’s just a trial run for eternity. He created us to walk with Him. Adam and Eve had it right for a while. Then they disobeyed. We are to walk with Him by faith. Experiencing His joy and sharing the good news with others is what it’s all about. We tell of Him to others so they can also know Him. This is building His kingdom.
He wants us to know Him and walk in obedience. He wants this walk to go on as we die and step on in to heaven. If we are not His child, then hell is the destiny. God works hard to keep people out of hell. Isaiah 65:2 says, “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people who walk in the wrong path, who follow their own imaginations.”
He reaches out to us by many means. Through church, the bible, through others, through our hearts, minds and consciences and through circumstances. We are to give heed to those promptings. If so, it will lead to salvation.
If we ignore his voice our spiritual hearing gets dulled. Hebrews 3:15 says, ‘As it has been said, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion”‘. The hard heart means dull hearing. We stop hearing His promptings.
More difficulties occur when we ignore Him. Romans 1:21 says, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.” Their thinking is off. They don’t know it. They could be perfectly happy, but going in a bad way.
That’s a warning to us. Even christians can harden their hearts and our understanding gets darkened. To fear God is how we get right. We don’t want to ignore His Words. We know bad things happen.
The individual in todays passage is deep into ignoring God. So the destruction isn’t complete God will take a life to save a soul. That’s His mercy. He doesn’t wish any to perish (Hell). Thank You for Your mercy.