All tagged sin
Is Jesus pleased with us as intercessors? Do we find it within ourselves to pray for sinners, or do we judge when we should actually be praying for them? Do we only want to intercede for the righteous and find that we are doing so at the expense of the sinner?
Do you move along in your life of faith and feel like you are making great strides in sanctity only to have some trivial thing reawaken the old sinful person you used to be? Well, we all have this happen from time to time, and our lives of faith are a constant struggle against our natural selves... so why do we keep falling into this trap, and what can we do to overcome this disappointing behavior?
Do we know every sin we have committed? Are there things we do, or thoughts we have, that are sinful without our recognition? This morning I am considering my life and the possibility that there are indeed sins in it that I am yet to realize are sins. To remove sin requires that we face it, confess it, be remorseful and contrite for having committed it, and then ask Jesus to forgive us for it. Once we have done this He will forgive us and say, "go, and sin no more." But, how do we obey Him regarding those sins we aren’t even aware of?
In the time of Jesus, not all slaves were taken in war, or against their will; some sold themselves into slavery for one reason or another. I am not talking about indentured servitude here, but people who became slaves for the rest of their lives. Have you sold yourself as a slave to something or somebody? Before you answer no, are you sure? Do you have an addiction or some sin you keep hidden? Are you a slave to it?
What happens when our faith is at risk? Have you ever contemplated the effect that we have on those around us when we slip into negative behavior or sin? How about the impact we have on our family, church, or Heaven? Even though our Christian walk seems totally personal... it isn't. Our faith has a ripple effect that touches all those around us, and beyond.
My devotional reading this morning was about the intercession of Jesus as it pertains to our forgiveness for sin. It posed these two questions regarding how complete forgiveness is... are we only forgiven our conscious sin? What happens if we sin again? Well, Paul prayed a wonderful prayer that helps us understand the height and depth of our forgiveness of sin through Jesus. He used the words wholly and whole... Let’s read it.
I was reading Lamentations 3 today, and there was one verse, Lamentations 3:22, that captured me; it reads: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail." This verse made me take pause, and to think about God’s great love for each of us and how, despite our unworthiness, He found it worthwhile to send His Son Jesus to die for us. I thought of all the sinners I pass each day and how their worthiness of forgiveness, prayer, and salvation is no different than mine was when I too was lost in sin, and walked each day in their shoes.
As I read the title of the devotional message that Pastor E.M. Bounds had written this morning I was captured. It read "Bad Praying = Bad Living” but, as I read further, it was actually telling us that the way we live can impact the success of our prayers. When we are actively engaged in sinning it is nearly impossible to pray as we should. Oh, we might say the words, but the connection to our heart is broken, and our outreach towards God is without sincerity and strength.
As we move towards a godly state of righteousness we shed one sin after another until at last we are down to our pet sins... those we consider insignificant, and that give us personal pleasure, or reduce the pain of life. When we reach this point, and we refuse to let these hidden sins go, then our relationship with God stalls, and we feel a growing separation from Him. This can happen early on in our walk, but usually it occurs once all of the low hanging sinful fruit has been plucked from us. These deeply imbedded sins that we pray over time and time again will require spiritual surgery to extract them.
Are you concerned because you are constantly at war within yourself? Does it bother you that there is a struggle going on inside you between good and evil, holy and unholy, or salvation and damnation? Well, take heart because although this conflict is the natural state of man, we have a champion who not only helps us realize the good within ourselves, but helps us to achieve victory over the evil by having already defeated sin for us.
Do we think that by withdrawing from the world, by separating ourselves, that we will become more pious and that this will help us consecrate ourselves by removing all temptation? Well this is a false hope, and if we look at Jesus we understand that He inserted Himself fully into the world. He didn’t run from it, no, He overcame it.
What sins do we have in our lives that have enslaved us? Do we have an overriding desire for something that drives us to turn it from righteousness to seek sinful fulfillment, or a need in our lives that makes us complicit or vulnerable to these sinful things? Either way, we have been enslaved, and our sin will rule us until we can find emancipation from it. Sexual predators are in the news almost every day... let’s take a look.
How often do we sin, then confess and ask for forgiveness only to find purity before falling back once again into that selfsame sin? How many battles must we fight with an adversary before they are at last declared defeated? Do we ask God to heal the wounds of sin, but neglect to ask that He fight them for us?
Do you feel like a victim of Adam and Eve? Do you view yourself as having been strapped with the responsibility for a sin they committed? Nothing could be further from the truth... in fact, our own sins are more than enough for us to deal with. So what did we receive from Adam that has brought us death, and how is it different from sin?
Are we being tempted with Jesus Christ even today? In that temptation do we continue on with Him, or do we turn away from Him and leave? This is a question Jesus asked His disciples at the last supper, and which is still valid today. Let’s ask ourselves one more question... when we give into our temptations are we saddling and shaming Jesus with sin again?