All tagged Sinning

Are there those we know who were called by God, and stood before Jesus to profess their faith, just as we did, but have since fallen away? Well, how do we treat them? Do we shun them, look down on them, and make them to feel unwelcome in our midst? Do we judge them, and stand firmly between them and God at the moment they might desire to reconcile themselves? Do we feel that we are the guardians of the sanctuary, and defenders of God Himself? Woe to us who keeps one of God’s children from Him. 

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!

Sinning is an addiction that is impossible to get over on our own, but once we ask the Lord to pull us free, and he does, it becomes a daily, hourly, moment by moment struggle to maintain. Satan knows we can resist going into the neon signed bars of sinning, so he challenges us with a sip at a wedding, or a taste at a get together. These temptations are usually not sins, but they give us the aroma of it; the allure. Have you been there? Well, thank God for Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and our daily renewal... our strengthening.