{"id":5653,"date":"2016-09-17T08:23:23","date_gmt":"2016-09-17T12:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/?p=5653"},"modified":"2021-07-08T14:36:48","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T18:36:48","slug":"a-gnat-in-my-coffee-i-will-not-drink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/2016\/09\/17\/a-gnat-in-my-coffee-i-will-not-drink\/","title":{"rendered":"A Gnat In My Coffee, I Will Not Drink…"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning, I had a “pretty big disappointment”. I was right in the middle of reading my Bible…and right near the end of drinking my cappuccino. As I lifted my speckled-mug-for-the-day to my mouth, I glanced in and saw this little creature in my cup.<\/p>\n

\"gnatinmug\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I realize the picture is not really clear, but trust me folks – it had wings. My first reaction was a mixture of “YUCK” and “WAAAAHHH”!  So much for being good to the last drop, right? And then, I thought of Ecclesiastes 10:1  – “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.” <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You know what?<\/p>\n

Dead flies in perfume<\/strong><\/p>\n

Will make it stink<\/strong><\/p>\n

And a gnat in my coffee<\/strong><\/p>\n

I will not drink.  <\/strong><\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude09<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just as that teeny little gnat in my coffee cup immediately ruined my beverage, so will just a “teeny bit of foolishness” ruin a person’s testimony. My cup of hot cappuccino had been oh so tasty – until I noticed that gnat. Likewise, a Christian can have a good testimony by striving to obey God’s Word and then with one foolish act…one little gnat…destroy what has taken years to build!<\/p>\n

I’ll admit, I don’t really pay too much attention to a gnat. Oh, they can be annoying if they are flying around but they really don’t have too much effect – until one lands in my cup. This morning, you may be toying with enjoying “just a teeny bit of foolishness”. “It’s not THAT bad”, are your thoughts. Hmmmm – and that gnat wasn’t THAT big or THAT bad either. I really didn’t even notice it – until it was floating in my coffee.<\/p>\n

Are you entertaining thoughts of doing something that maybe is not an all-out BOLD sin, but still questionable…still doubtful…still doesn’t bring peace?  Please don’t!  Please don’t allow one little act of “pleasure” to ruin your testimony!  Can I say this with complete confidence? You will regret it – 100% guaranteed!  Right now, confess those foolish thoughts to the Lord and bring your life back in submission to Him!<\/p>\n

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning, I had a “pretty big disappointment”. I was right in the middle of reading my Bible…and right near the end of drinking my cappuccino. As I lifted my speckled-mug-for-the-day to my mouth, I glanced in and saw this little creature in my cup. I realize the picture is not really clear, but trust me folks – it had wings. My first reaction was a mixture of “YUCK” and “WAAAAHHH”!  So much for being good to the last drop, right? And then, I thought of Ecclesiastes 10:1  – “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.” You know what? Dead flies in perfume Will make it stink And a gnat in my coffee I will not drink.  \ud83d\ude09 Just as that teeny little gnat in my coffee cup immediately ruined my beverage, so will just a “teeny bit of foolishness” ruin a person’s testimony. My cup of hot cappuccino had been oh so tasty – until I noticed that gnat. Likewise, a Christian can have a good testimony by striving to obey God’s Word and then with one foolish act…one little gnat…destroy what has taken years to build! I’ll admit, I don’t really pay too much attention to a gnat. Oh, they can be annoying if they are flying around but they really don’t have too much effect – until one lands in my cup. This morning, you may be toying with enjoying “just a teeny bit of foolishness”. “It’s not THAT bad”, are your thoughts. Hmmmm – and that gnat wasn’t THAT big or THAT bad either. I really didn’t even notice it – until it was floating in my coffee. Are you entertaining thoughts of doing something that maybe is not an all-out BOLD sin, but still questionable…still doubtful…still doesn’t bring peace?  Please don’t!  Please don’t allow one little act of “pleasure” to ruin your testimony!  Can I say this with complete confidence? You will regret it – 100% guaranteed!  Right now, confess those foolish thoughts to the Lord and bring your life back in submission to Him! “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62,33,56,10,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-backsliding","category-guarding-from-sin","category-holiness","category-restoration","category-surrender"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4o6C2-1tb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5653"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11204,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5653\/revisions\/11204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}