Examples

In Exodus God tells us of a whole generation of His people who died short of God's best. Tragically, they were all recipients of God's blessings. All of them were under the blood of the Passover Lamb. All of them were delivered from bondage in slavery and taken safely across the Red Sea. All of them were led by the pillar of fire and the cloud. All of them partook of the spiritual fountain that flowed from the Rock--Christ Jesus. But God was pleased with only two--two of millions. All the rest died in the wilderness. They lacked the faith to obey God and fell short of His best.

Paul says in I Corinthians that these people are our examples so that we should not follow in their footsteps and die in the wilderness. What then is it that caused them to be such failures despite such blessings? First, Paul tells us that they lusted after evil things. They wanted the "best of both worlds." They were "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." Second, they were idolaters. Their priorities were self-centered not God-centered. They worshiped their own wants and fears rather than God's character and the holiness required to please Him. Thirdly, they fell into sex sins. Sin is progressive, you know. In almost every list of sexual sins in the Bible you will find the sin of covetousness. When we begin to "want"--to lose our contentment with what God has given us and where He has placed us--our desires grow increasingly worse. Is it any wonder that in this age of rampant materialism and the quest for the "good life," that immorality is epidemic--deadly. Watch your "I wants." Fourthly, they tested God with unbelief. They doubted that God was good, that He would meet their daily needs. Again, they wanted more than God promised, and they wanted it now. If God didn't respond according to their expectations, He was evil and not good. Finally, since they weren't getting everything they wanted when they wanted it, they murmured against God. Murmuring is a sure sign of a rebellious spirit. God means what He says when He commands us to do all things "without murmuring--grumbling--and disputing."
Think of it. Two. The rest? Dead in the wilderness, never at rest in the place of God's best. A parade of failures: never to hear "well done, good and faithful servant."
The question is painfully obvious: which group will you be in? One of the two? Or one of the rest? A Christian who is going in spiritual circles, wandering in the wilderness of discontent, questioning God's goodness, and murmuring against His character? Or a Christian who knows the joy of victorious Christian living and fruit bearing? Please. Be content with who you are, who and what you have, what God has done and is doing for you, where God places you, and what He has promised you. Don't die in the wilderness.

There is all the difference in the world between a typical Christian and an exemplary Christian. They are as different as night and day, light and dark, life and death.