All in Sin
We are tempted to believe that it is by our own efforts we have come to know God, and Jesus Christ, but in fact we have been sought out. No, we didn’t invite that divine knock at our door, nor God’s call to us. We might believe that we stumbled upon the idea of God, or by some stroke of luck heard about Jesus Christ, but that is a deception we have concocted to serve our vanity. God calls us, woos us, receives us through Jesus Christ, and then guards us in our faith to be with Him in eternity.
What do we own? What do we count as ours as we make our way through life? It takes us a long time before we finally come to understand the fallacy behind living in a yours and mine world, or involving ourselves in a yours and mine relationship. Life becomes easier once we understand that we are merely light passing through a glass... when we reach the other side the glass remains unchanged, and we have left it behind without a mark. So why do we believe that we own the glass, or in our case, that we own earthly possessions during that brief instant in which we pass through life here?
Do we think that we can flirt with the coals of temptation and not be burnt, or draw Close to the flicker of sin and not erupt into flames ourselves? Are we on the verge of such occurrences today? Are we speaking about someone negatively, calling it a correction, or warning, when in fact it is bitterness and hatred? Surely our words, and actions, will rub against us like a rasp, and we will find ourselves bleeding, or worn away.
For most of us it is unsettling that God would search our hearts, and few, if any, would honestly invite Him to do so without some trepidation. Our natures, and personalities, incline us towards certain temptations and sins, and we have become so comfortable in our weaknesses that we scarcely visit these places within our hearts intent on confronting them. Are we bold enough to invite God To know our hearts? Do we have the courage ourselves to visit these innermost places that we find uncomfortable to our faith?
Do we hold back our commitment to faith, and belief in the Lord because we are yet sinners? Do we back away from faith because we have stumbled? Well there is something amazing about how God deals with our failures, and that is that His grace grows all the more to cover them. We are never too stained that the blood of Jesus can’t wash us clean. What God values most is our love for Him, our obedience, and our contrite heart that mourns every sin, bringing us to tears as we confess them and ask for His forgiveness.
We have no idea what the innocence of Adam and Eve was like before the fall. Oh, we can try to imagine it, but every thought we have is tainted by the flavor of sin. The knowledge of good came to them as promised by the serpent, but had evil as its dark shadow, and changed them, and us, forever. So now we work, and we suffer as we seek to recover in Christ what was lost in the Garden that day.
Sometimes we feel trapped in our sins, and unable to escape the everyday miseries of life, but it doesn’t have to be that way. By listening to the words of Jesus, and feeling His healing touch upon our bodies, we can be returned to a life of spiritual and physical freedom, and joy. We can be made whole by Christ, and by an awakening of the Holy Spirit.
Where do you go when trouble arises? Where do you seek refuge from the storm? When the world around us is being consumed by wind and flood, where is our high ground, or safe harbor? There is none like our God, and no beacon to guide us like Jesus. In Christ we are ushered to safety, in God we are safe, and made restful... even in the storms.
How do you confront sin? Do you look it in the eye and try to overpower it? Do you ignore it and go about your business, or perhaps you do what any animal does when it doesn’t want to fight... it runs. Getting as far away from evil as quickly as we can is a good strategy when it comes to temptation and sin. Confronting Satan isn’t something to be taken lightly.
When we think of sin in our life we like to attribute it to Satan, but in fact, Satan never forces us to sin... he only leads us through deception and temptation to do those things that are already common to man. The serpent didn’t force Eve to take a bite of the apple... he just lied, and tempted her, and he does the same to us. Yet much of the time we don’t need his tempting lies to fall into our sinfulness... just a small taste of our own desire!
God wants to walk among us, to be our God, and for us to be His people, but are we making ourselves presentable to Him? Have we become so involved with modern day idols like money, fame, riches, power, sex, or some other powerful influence over our lives that we have placed God second, third, or maybe way down the chain of importance in our lives? God wants to be first in our lives but dies the smell of our sin repulse Him?
If you have proclaimed your love for God, and Jesus Christ, then don’t make peace with evil, and don’t come to terms with sin. There is no room in your life for a peaceful coexistence with the very thing that desires to destroy you.
Do you make excuses for sin? Do you make room on the seat beside you for sinful people? Do you find it noble, or gracious, to greet sin with a smile and a handshake? So often today we hear excuses made for allowing ourselves to coexist, tolerate, or even fold sin into our everyday lives. How do we approach sin in our lives? At what point does it stop being tolerated, and begin to influence our lives?
We have spoken of idols, and how real they can be in our lives. We have discussed the effect they can have on us spiritually as well, but today we will look at something a bit more divisive; something about our association with others who worship false gods, because if we are not careful that influence can cause us to become separated from our special relationship with God... our righteousness.
Do you worry about earning your salvation? Do you look at your life and try to find ways to defeat the sin you see there? If you are doing that I have to ask “How is that going for you?” If mankind, from the time of Adam, has not been able to perfect themselves then what makes you feel that you can do it now? If we were capable of doing this on our own do you think God would have sent His Son to die for us? No, it is only through Jesus, and God’s grace that we can be victorious over sin.