Tag: sin

Lies Sin whispers into our ears. Lies Sin hammers deep into our very Soul. Lies Sin uses to crush our Spirit with. 1 John 1:6-10

1 John 1:6-10 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Word of God for the Children of God

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Part of growing into mature Christian is the constant confession of sin, with both God and with others.

But in the individualistic society in which we live, people don’t always confess their sin.

In fact, if they fall away from having their daily quiet time with God, it can be months or even years since they’ve confessed sin and been forgiven by God.

When this happens, the habitual sins which they find they’re constantly repeating become even bigger (or less) than they originally thought because they deceive themselves into thinking lies about the sin.

If you find yourself stuck in habitual sin that you can’t get out of, is it possible you’re believing lies about it that is causing a foothold to stay in your life? We believe the enemy’s lies, which can allow sin to remain, creating a hindrance between ourselves and our community with God. Here are five lies sin tells you:

1. It’s No Big Deal

When we first commit a sin, such as lying, our conscience informs us we’ve made the wrong decision. We feel guilt and shame, among other emotions.

That is, until we lie again.

If we continue to commit the act, we deceive ourselves by telling ourselves it’s no big deal.

We may even minimize those lies into what are called white lies, which society sees as less than otherwise.

But the reality is lying is just as bad as any other sin.

It causes us to distort the truth about a situation, ourselves, or others.

It also causes people not to trust us if we get caught.

Soon there’s always a big deal, and every growing Christian needs to have a mature accountability partner with whom they can talk to and confess their sin regularly to.

This person can help them with the work of confession and repentance, to move past this particular sin.

2. No One Will Find Out

Secrets are not always a bad thing. 

Matthew 6:4 says,

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” 

In the garden, God told Adam all about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, before he made Eve.

But in a later chapter, we quickly realized Adam told Eve all about it too.

Does that mean God kept a secret from Eve?

Secrets are bad only if the nature of them is rooted in sin.

Keeping a sinful secret, however, can be detrimental to a healthy spiritual life.

In chapter three of Genesis, God gives Adam and Eve the opportunity to confess their sin before him.

Although they didn’t take responsibility for their sin and instead blamed each other, God still wants us to openly speak to him about our sin.

As we confess our sin to God or to others, it offers us the opportunity to be forgiven and to take responsibility for our actions.

It is necessary for every person to have someone they can talk to about their sin.

By confessing it outwardly, the bondage with which Satan holds us and the shame that comes with it can be broken when we confess our sins openly.

3. God Can’t Forgive This

Some sins in our mind are so severe, we think God can’t possibly forgive us.

For example, if the sin is habitual, like some form of lust (pornography, for example) we realize that sin not only deals with lust but also with adultery, especially if the person looking at it is married. 

Matthew 5:28 says, “anyone who even looks lustfully in another woman has committed adultery in his heart.”

But there is no sin God can’t forgive.

By Jesus’ death on the cross, he covered over every sin we have committed or will commit in the future.

We can be assured God forgives us when we confess our sin and repent of our behavior. But sometimes the person we can’t forgive is ourselves. We struggle with the process of forgiving ourselves for the difficult sins we have committed.

Don’t believe the lie that you can’t stop doing what you’re doing.

With God’s help anything is possible.

4. It’s Not as Big as Other People’s Sin

In Galatians 6:4-5, Paul encourages the church to restore someone gently, especially if they are in sin.

He then continues, “Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load.”

It’s easy to get into the trap of comparison and allow pride to enter your heart.

One of the sneakiest sins we commit is pride because it’s so easy to go on and on unchecked.

We then compare our sin to the person who needs to be restored, and believe we are better people because our sin is not as bad as theirs.

But again, we deceive ourselves into thinking certain sins are worse than others.

All sin separates us from the love of God.

All sin needs to be confessed and forgiven.

All behaviors must be repented before freedom can be achieved.

The next time you hear someone else’s sin, don’t be quick to allow pride to enter your heart.

Show gentleness and humility, helping that person and praying for them so that they can achieve the same freedom you’ve come to know.

5. I Can’t Stop

When we are entangled in sin, and repeat the same behavior again, it becomes more difficult to break free.

This is especially true of sins which are still considered shameful in front of society. We can easily lie to ourselves and say we don’t have the willpower to be able to stop this. But our finite willpower isn’t the key to freedom; only Jesus is.

When we lie to ourselves and tell ourselves we cannot stop, we put God in a box.

We underestimate his power and presence in our lives.

If Jesus can raise people from the dead, then he can certainly stop a sin from dominating our lives.

A good place to start is confess your sin to someone.

Tell them you need help to stop. Through a renewed reading of the word, prayer and constant accountability, freedom is possible. It may be hard at first and you may stumble, but don’t give up. All freedom is possible to those who believe.

We live in a divisive society where people don’t want to be judged for their sin.

Therefore, it gets much easier for us to conceal our sin and allow it to become a stronghold in our lives.

But through open confession, prayer, reading the Word of God and renewing our minds, max reliance on Jesus is key. When we rely on Jesus and trust him to remove the sin, we can experience freedom, Shalom, as we never have before. 

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Praying …

Psalm 15 Lexham English Bible

A Description of Those Who May Dwell with Yahweh

A psalm of David.[a]

15 O Yahweh, who may reside in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy mountain?
2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right.
He who speaks honestly in his heart.
3 He does not slander with his tongue.
He does not harm his friend,
nor bring up[b] a disgrace against his neighbor.
4 In his eyes a rejected one is contemptible,
but he honors those who respect Yahweh.
He takes an oath to his own injury and does not retract it.
5 He does not lend his money at interest,
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, normalizing Our Emotions; sit still, stand still quit our Hurrying! Psalm 34:14-18

Psalm 34:14-18 Living Bible

14 Turn from all known sin and spend your time in doing good. Try to live in peace with everyone; work hard at it.

15 For the eyes of the Lord are intently watching all who live good lives, and he gives attention when they cry to him. 16 But the Lord has made up his mind to wipe out even the memory of evil men from the earth. 17 Yes, the Lord hears the good man when he calls to him for help and saves him out of all his troubles.

18 The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking; he rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins.

Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

In my younger days I struggled to express sadness or fear, thinking they made me look vulnerable and weak.

A wise teacher told me, “Emotions are like busy little children. If you don’t acknowledge them, they get louder and louder to grab your attention. Once you acknowledge them, they feel seen and calm down.”

This slowly helped me to see my emotions as valid and to understand myself and my needs.

I remember a former preacher sharing his own struggles with anxiety.

His honesty and reliance on God’s strength gave me the courage to face my own feelings without shame.

This was a powerful reminder that even the people we look up to can experience emotional challenges.

A late friend once confided in me about struggling with depression.

That friend’s openness helped me slowly realize that sharing our emotions with trusted friends can bring comfort and support. Being honest about our feelings can lead to healing and deeper connections. James 5:16

Psalm 34:18 reassures us that God understands our emotions and is present in our struggles. Normalizing our emotions means acknowledging them, sharing them, praying with people we trust, and seeking God’s comfort and guidance.

Feeling a broad range of emotions is normal and healthy. When we embrace our emotions, we can grow wiser, mature from our toughest experiences, leading to greater emotional and spiritual well-being.

Achy Breaky Body and Wildly Disquieted Souls

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Psalm 32:3–4

Those who work in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and social services are often confronted with a strong correlation between what is happening in a person’s heart and mind and what is being displayed in that person’s body.

God’s word speaks into this connection and then goes deeper, for it tells us that there is a connection between the state of our body and the state of our soul.

Psalm 32, David speaks very personally to God, acknowledging the heaviness he experienced when he hid in the shadows and refused to confess his sin against Bathsheba and devised the murder of her husband, Uriah (see 2 Samuel 11).

And through David, the Spirit teaches us that there is a link between a tortured conscience and lack of repentance, and our physical wellbeing.

Those who were in David’s immediate company may not have been aware of what was going on inside him spiritually, but they could not have avoided the obvious indications of what was happening to him physically.

The description he provides adds to the account he gives elsewhere:

“My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me. My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off” (Psalm 38:10-11).

It’s a quite devastating picture.

David recognized his condition for what it was: a punishment.

The Bible makes it clear that there is a natural outcome to lust, excess, and a disregard for the commands of God (see Romans 1:24-25)—all of which David was clearly guilty of.

Frailty, weight loss, sleeplessness, a sense of rejection, melancholy, anxiety, despair often haunt individuals who are seeking to hide their sin from God and deny it to themselves.

What restored David was not a health kick or getting to bed earlier but rather dealing with the root cause—his sin:

“I acknowledged my sin to you … and you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).

God kept His hand heavy upon David until David placed his sin into God’s hands and asked Him to deal with it.

It is a blessing to us when God does not allow us to forget our sin—when we feel chronic physical heaviness because of our spiritual sickness. It is His means of bringing us to do what we most need: to confess it and ask for forgiveness for it.

Are you harboring sin?

Do not cloak it; confess it. David experienced liberating relief from his pain and distress when he sought God’s forgiveness.

You too can know that joy, for the promise of God’s word is that

“if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

IF ….

IF …

IF …

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Praying …

Psalm 46 Living Bible

46 God is our refuge and strength, a tested help in times of trouble. 2 And so we need not fear even if the world blows up and the mountains crumble into the sea. 3 Let the oceans roar and foam; let the mountains tremble!

4 There is a river of joy flowing through the city of our God—the sacred home of the God above all gods. 5 God himself is living in that city; therefore it stands unmoved despite the turmoil everywhere. He will not delay his help. 6 The nations rant and rave in anger—but when God speaks, the earth melts in submission and kingdoms totter into ruin.

7 The Commander of the armies of heaven is here among us. He, the God of Jacob, has come to rescue us.

8 Come, see the glorious things that our God does, how he brings ruin upon the world 9 and causes wars to end throughout the earth, breaking and burning every weapon. 10 “Stand silent! Know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation in the world!”

11 The Commander of the heavenly armies is here among us! He, the God of Jacob, has come to rescue us!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Our Walking through our Valley, Our Walking through the Fires; Finishing our struggle, Surrendering unto God. Psalm 51:10-17

Psalm 51:10-17 Common English Bible

10 Create a clean heart for me, God;
    put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!
11 Please don’t throw me out of your presence;
    please don’t take your holy spirit away from me.
12 Return the joy of your salvation to me
    and sustain me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways,
    and sinners will come back to you.

14 Deliver me from violence, God, God of my salvation,
    so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness.
15 Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
16 You don’t want sacrifices.
    If I gave an entirely burned offering,
    you wouldn’t be pleased.
17 A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God.[a]
    You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Our Continually Struggling to Surrender to God

Psalm 51 was written by King David after he committed the sin of adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed to cover his sin (2 Samuel 11).

It has been said of David that he sinned big, but repented bigger.

But only after he was ‘publicly’ caught by Nathan in David’s throne room. One has to wonder how this scripture would read if Nathan never confronts David.

But God, who sees everything no matter how hard or deep we try to hide our actions, was not blind to David’s severest of transgression – his Capital Crime.

God sent Nathan to David’s throne room and fortunately so – lest the wrath of God be meted out without any scriptural announcements – a bolt of lightning strikes David on his throne with no witnesses to testify or witness the event.

David is consigned to a violent death and we probably do not have a lineage that would have been steadfastly honorable, or noteworthy to proclaim as Psalm 51.

Let us shout “Thanks Be to God” for sending Nathan with God’s message of life!

Because now generations of men, women and children are blessed by Psalm 51.

David became for us an inspiring, empowering model to us of what real heart felt repentance looks like. He mightily struggled with his sin, so much so that he took off his crown and regal regalia, and surrendered his throne which God granted to him and walked sullenly to the tabernacle to take a lonely seat before God His Judge for his righteous Judgment – keep the throne or be publicly tried.

He had no promises that God would permit his return to the throne, he might well have done the same as he first did to Saul, to remove His Spirit from Him, essentially permanently remove His support, from which Saul never recovered.

David understood the gravity of his crime against God and understood that God could do the same to his as Saul, and nothing short of absolute surrender would be acceptable sacrifice. Psalm 51 is David’s agonized cry to God for forgiveness.

Psalm 51:17 says, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”

The meaning of this is connected with Verse 16 says, “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.”

David is stating that there is nothing we can offer God to appease Him when we have sinned. When we have strived more mightily to stay in control. More not superficial but well intentioned animal sacrifices were not what God was going to be looking for nor even .00001% accept as our God desires true repentance.

Many people miss this truth. Rather than repent, they try to rush in with their superficial “clean up their act,” give more, pray more, or busy themselves in other religious activity in hopes God will finally “get over” being mad at them.

In Psalm 51, David is saying he knows that God wants none of that. External religious activity cannot replace internal, heartfelt contrition (1 Samuel 16:7).

Psalm 51:17 points out the one and only thing God desires more than any other: brokenness over our own sin. When we agree with God about how bad our sin is, we take the first baby steps toward a sincere heartfelt reconciliation with Him.

As long as we try to “pseudo-surrender” justify, excuse, or rationalize the evil of our own sin bent hearts, we will never find our way back into God’s presence.

Something Jesus Himself made a point of declaring at the start of His Ministry;

Mark 1:14-15 Amplified Bible

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

14 Now after John [the Baptist] was arrested and [a]taken into custody, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the good news of [the kingdom of] God, 15 and saying, “The  [appointed period of] time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins, live your life in a way that proves repentance; seek God’s purpose for your life] and believe [with a deep, abiding trust] in the good news [regarding salvation].”

Nothing less than 100% surrender and repentance is our doorway to freedom.

Satan knows this better than us, does everything he can to detract us from it.

He suggests things that our selfish nature likes to hear:

“Your sin wasn’t that bad.” “Compared to others, you’re okay.” “God has forgotten it already. No need to confess it.”

When we listen to the devil’s cunning oily words, we will veer away from the doorway to freedom and remain in bondage. We may feel remorse or regret, but neither is sufficient substitute for true repentance (Genesis 3, Hebrews 12:15-17).

Hebrews 12:15-17 Amplified Bible

15 See to it that no one falls short of God’s grace; that no root of resentment springs up and causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; 16 and [see to it] that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single  meal. 17 For you know that later on, when he wanted [to regain title to] his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance [there was no way to repair what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], even though he sought for it with [bitter] tears.

David reminds us in Psalm 51 that the only path to forgiveness is a broken heart and a humble spirit (cf. Matthew 5:3).

When we throw ourselves on the mercy of God, He delights to lift us up (Luke 18:13-14). When we openly acknowledge our sin against God, turn from it, and cry out for cleansing, God promises that He will hear us and forgive (1 John 1:9).

It is interesting to note that, although David sinned against Bathsheba and her murdered husband, Uriah, David surrenders this stunning confession to God:

“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4).

David gets straight to the heart of why God so hates sin. It is an abomination, a hardcore heart hardened willful malicious pre-meditated violation of His very nature. We are each created in that image, but our sin mars it (Genesis 3), like a giant smudge of blackest tar on a mirror. Our broken spirit, our contrite heart, invite God to clean that smudge and restore us to right relationship with Him.

Now, Ponder long and hard the 100% authentic state of your “contrite” heart!

Now, Ponder long and hard the words “utter surrender.” then “Before God!”

Then … “prepare ye, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make your paths straight.”

OMG … Stand still, Quit striving against Him, “What will God wrought now?”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 139:23-24 Amplified Bible

23 
Search me [thoroughly], O God, (investigate my life) and know my heart;
Test me and know my anxious thoughts;
24 
And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

Psalm 19 Amplified Bible

The Works and the Word of God.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

19 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And the expanse [of heaven] is declaring the work of His hands.
2 
Day after day pours forth speech,
And night after night reveals knowledge.
3 
There is no speech, nor are there [spoken] words [from the stars];
Their voice is not heard.
4 
Yet their voice [in quiet evidence] has gone out through all the earth,
Their words to the end of the world.
In them and in the heavens He has made a tent for the sun,
5 
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
6 
The sun’s rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

7 
The law of the Lord is perfect (flawless), restoring and refreshing the soul;
The statutes of the Lord are reliable and trustworthy, making wise the simple.
8 
The precepts of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether.
10 
They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
11 
Moreover, by them Your servant is warned [reminded, illuminated, and instructed];
In keeping them there is great reward.
12 
Who can understand his errors or omissions? Acquit me of hidden (unconscious, unintended) faults.
13 
Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous (deliberate, willful) sins;
Let them not rule and have control over me.
Then I will be blameless (complete),
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
14 
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable and pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, my [firm, immovable] rock and my Redeemer.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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About Being Honest With Ourselves. Knowing true happiness in What and Whose We Are. Psalm 32

Psalm 32 New American Standard Bible 1995

Blessedness of Forgiveness and of Trust in God.

A Psalm of David. A [a]Maskil.

32 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!
2 How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

3 When I kept silent about my sin, my [b]body wasted away
Through my [c]groaning all day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My [d]vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. [e]Selah.
5 I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the [f]guilt of my sin. Selah.
6 Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You [g]in a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with [h]songs of deliverance. Selah.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;
And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s book The Brothers Karamazov, one of the characters gives another this advice: “Above all, do not lie to yourself. A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others.”[1] 

1 Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov: A Novel in Four Parts with Epilogue, trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (1990; reprinted Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2002), p 44.

Nearly three millennia before, David also described the potential effects of self-deceit about what we are really like.

3 When I kept silent about my sin, my [b]body wasted away
Through my [c]groaning all day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My [d]vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. [e]Selah.

Honesty with self is vital to the discovery of happiness. Joyful, contented people do not lie to themselves or to anybody else. We cannot deceive ourselves and enjoy genuine happiness too; deceit and happiness don’t sleep in the same bed.

The Bible calls us to be as honest about ourselves as it is repentance. (Psalm 51)

It directs a great searchlight straight onto our hearts and minds, revealing the hardcore truth of the seriousness our impossibly sinful human predicament.

We are told that we live in iniquity, which results in an internal bias towards wrongdoing and a nature corrupted by sin.

We’re perpetual transgressors, going where we shouldn’t go. We’re sinners, failing to live up to our own standards, let alone the standard God has set.

I believe that the surprise of this verse is that David starts off with the word “blessed” or “happy,” but then immediately introduces such hard realities as our iniquity and our impossible capacity for lying to ourselves and God about it.

But the reason he can do that is because the predicament(s) he faces is more than outmatched by the cure God offers.

32 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!
2 How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

Notice that David doesn’t say, Blessed is the individual whose iniquity the Lord does not count.

He says, “Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity.”

Because God is holy, He must count sin—but He counts it against someone else.

He counts it against His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We find in David’s words the amazing doctrine of justification by faith, which we first see in God’s relationship with Abraham, who “believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).

Genesis 15:4-7 New American Standard Bible 1995

4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own [a]body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and  count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your [b] descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 7 And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to [c]possess it.”

The moment we honestly truly believe that our sins have been counted against our Savior, Psalm 32 says we’ll be blessed; we will be happier than ever before.

So the path to blessing starts with honesty.

We are not good people who make the odd mistake.

We are not wonderful individuals with a few flaws that can be blamed on our upbringing, our environment, or our lack of sleep last night.

We are sinners with impossibly deceitful hearts, who fall far short of God’s glorious standards and by nature stand to inherit only wrath (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:1-3).

We are trying to be more like our Savior Jesus Christ, better imitators of the life lessons Jesus revealed in, throughout, His Gospel Narratives and we are failing.

Social Media wreaks severest havoc on what is said is truth and is to be the truth according to “fact checkers” who are themselves being fact checked against all that someone else with a secretive financial and politically motivated agenda.

That someone with “authority” declares the lie “The truth is what I say it is!”

Then Social Media flies in every which direction imaginable to “make it so.”

Then it becomes a jumbled mass of every kind of confusion and chaos possible.

Then who is going to be the “believable one” to dig in both heals and sort it out?

That is the significantly complex, deeply conflicted situation in which we each find our hearts and souls in right now and who is going to show us the path out?

Who do we send shipwrecked people to if we ourselves are just as shipwrecked?

Psalm 51 New American Standard Bible 1995

A Contrite Sinner’s Prayer for Pardon.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when [a]Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

51 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For [b]I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
4 Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You [c]are justified [d]when You speak
And [e]blameless when You judge.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the [f]innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
7 [g]Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
[h]Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 [i]Make me to hear joy and gladness,
Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create [j]in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew [k]a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will [l]be converted to You.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, [m]open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise.
16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

18 By Your favor do good to Zion;
[n]Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then You will delight in [o]righteous sacrifices,
In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then [p]young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

Be honest about who you are. Be specific about how you have sinned against the Lord. Then you will be ready to embrace the most joyful news in the world: that each day, though the magnitude of our sins they are much, His mercy is more.

Finding True Honest Happiness in What We Do

Psalm 119:89-112 New American Standard Bible 1995

Lamedh.

89 Forever, O Lord,
Your word [a]is settled in heaven.
90 Your faithfulness continues [b]throughout all generations;
You established the earth, and it stands.
91 They stand this day according to Your ordinances,
For all things are Your servants.
92 If Your law had not been my delight,
Then I would have perished in my affliction.
93 I will never forget Your precepts,
For by them You have [c]revived me.
94 I am Yours, save me;
For I have sought Your precepts.
95 The wicked wait for me to destroy me;
I shall diligently consider Your testimonies.
96 I have seen [d]a limit to all perfection;
Your commandment is exceedingly broad.

Mem.

97 O how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
98 Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,
For they are ever [e]mine.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the aged,
Because I have observed Your precepts.
101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
102 I have not turned aside from Your ordinances,
For You Yourself have taught me.
103 How sweet are Your [f]words to my [g]taste!
Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 From Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.

Nun.

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
106 I have sworn and I will confirm it,
That I will keep Your righteous ordinances.
107 I am exceedingly afflicted;
[h]Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word.
108 O accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord,
And teach me Your ordinances.
109 My [i]life is continually [j]in my hand,
Yet I do not forget Your law.
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me,
Yet I have not gone astray from Your precepts.
111 I have inherited Your testimonies forever,
For they are the joy of my heart.
112 I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes
Forever, even to the end.

True, Honest Happiness is not just about avoiding the way of wickedness and folly. And it’s definitely not about staying away from people. The life of the monk, the hermit is not the ideal of the Christian faith, as some early Christians believed. Christianity is distinguished by a lifestyle in tune with the will of God.

How can we know what God’s will is for our lives? 

Psalm 1:1-2 answers, “Blessed is the one . . . whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.”

The Word of God is our source of joy and happiness.

We are encouraged to meditate on it daily. We must fill our minds with God’s truth. We must feed our hearts with the promises that come from the Word of God. His Word is infinitely better than all refined gold and sweeter than honey.

Honestly, all of God’s Word restores the soul and gives wisdom to the simple.

2 Timothy 3:10-17 New American Standard Bible 1995

10 Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love,  [a] perseverance, 11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is [b]inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for [c] training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

In this time when so much garbage circulates in local and national news, on the internet and other media, the Word of God is bread that nourishes, water that purifies. Through it we keep our hearts pure, and we triumph over the enemy.

Today, every day, remember to feed honesty with the truth God’s Word and to enjoy the nourishment that sustains us, heart and soul, on the way to full life.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Luke 8:14-15 New American Standard Bible 1995

14 The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of  this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with [a]perseverance.

Psalm 139:23-24 New American Standard Bible 1995

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24 And see if there be any [a]hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Continually Being Reminded by God exactly who we are: the Worlds Worst and Greatest Sinners! 1 Timothy 1:15

1 Timothy 1:15-17New American Standard Bible 1995

15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. 16 Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those [a]who would believe in Him for eternal life. 17 Now to the King [b]eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory [c]forever and ever. Amen.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Am I the World’s Worst, World’s Greatest Sinner?

When we think of the Apostle Paul, we think of a Saint.

Yet, here in the opening words of his letter to his protégé Timothy, in his own words, written by his own thoughts, he counted himself the very worst sinner.

But how is that even possible, because Paul wrote much of the New Testament? 

Paul, more than most of us, had a deep understanding of what it means to be a sinner. He didn’t look at others around him and feel any better about himself.

He recognized the depth of sin that was born within him, and each one of us is so deep, that, without a Savior, sin taints our blood to the point of eternal death.

He understood very well that there is no difference between a little sinner and a big sinner. Without Jesus, all sin leads into the same destructive destination.

A Little Self-Examination Goes a Long Way

It’s easy to look at others and feel like we’re doing better overall. But with this type of attitude can come pride and haughtiness. 

Proverbs 16:18 explains how “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

2 Corinthians 13:5 urges us to “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?”

2 Corinthians 13:5-9 The Message

5-9 Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won’t show that we have failed. But if it comes to that, we’d rather the test showed our failure than yours. We’re rooting for the truth to win out in you. We couldn’t possibly do otherwise.

We don’t just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives.

Sometimes, we decide how we’re doing compared to another person, rather than looking at God’s word to see how we’re doing in life. Often, if we do, we’ll discover more areas of our lives where we are off-track in following God’s ways.

Worldly Effects

So many people today, some Christians included, are living their lives based on how well or poorly others seem to be doing.

With nearly continual moment by moment social media’s daily updates, many individuals, across the globe, are comparing their lives to the lives of others to see if they are succeeding or see what they need to do next to get ahead in life.

But as believers in Jesus Christ, we don’t want to follow the world’s leading but look to God for our future. 

1 John 2:15 warns, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

1 John 2:15-17 The Message

15-17 Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

As well, Paul in Romans 12:2 urges, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Romans 12:1-2 The Message

Place Your Life Before God

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Being conformed to current cultural trends, the world can be so gradual in our lives, that we don’t recognize what direction we may be taking in life. Before long, we can be miles off course without really knowing what’s taking place. 

Feeding Our Faith

When it comes to matters of living into a steadfast and immovable faith, we don’t just stay in one place; we are either growing steadily in it or we’re slowly, steadily slipping back into worldly patterns and thinking without realizing it.

James 1:13-15The Message

13-15 Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.

So how do we keep the world at bay?

Paul states, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

Philippians 3:12-14 The Message

Focused on the Goal

12-14 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

As James 1:27 explains, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

James 1:26-27 The Message

26-27 Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

Jesus Sets Us Free from the Power of Sin

Like Paul, we want to remember that sin can so fool us, easily lead us astray.

Genesis 3:1-7 The Message

3 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”

2-3 The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’”

4-5 The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.”

6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.

7 Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.

Because sin can be so insidious, so maliciously subtle. we do not want to lose sight of where our Salvation lies and where our power to resist sin comes from.

Romans 5:21 explains, “So that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 5:20-21 The Message

20-21 All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

We are set free from its power, as Romans 6:14 describes, “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”

Romans 6:14The Message

12-14 That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.

Intersecting Faith & Life:

Psalm 139:23-24 The Message

23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
    find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
    get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
    then guide me on the road to eternal life.

Am I, are you, are we, the Body of Christ, the church, comparing ourselves to how most people in the world are living their lives for direction in your own?

If so, look to God’s Word, plumb its depths to see where we are in our faith.

119 1-8 You’re blessed when you stay on course,
    walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
You’re blessed when you follow his directions,
    doing your best to find him.
That’s right—you don’t go off on your own;
    you walk straight along the road he set.
You, God, prescribed the right way to live;
    now you expect us to live it.
Oh, that my steps might be steady,
    keeping to the course you set;
Then I’d never have any regrets
    in comparing my life with your counsel.
I thank you for speaking straight from your heart;
    I learn the pattern of your righteous ways.
I’m going to do what you tell me to do;
    don’t ever walk off and leave me.

Ask Him to examine each one of our collectives heart and collective souls and reveal the remotest areas where we have unknowingly wandered far off track. 

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 119:9-16 The Message

9-16 How can a young person live a clean life?
    By carefully reading the map of your Word.
I’m single-minded in pursuit of you;
    don’t let me miss the road signs you’ve posted.
I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart
    so I won’t sin myself bankrupt.
Be blessed, God;
    train me in your ways of wise living.
I’ll transfer to my lips
    all the counsel that comes from your mouth;
I delight far more in what you tell me about living
    than in gathering a pile of riches.
I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you,
    I attentively watch how you’ve done it.
I relish everything you’ve told me of life,
    I won’t forget a word of it.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Our Sunday will be Coming! Our Sin, Suffering, and our Salvation: Have We Lost Our Grief over Sin? Psalm 38

Psalm 38 New American Standard Bible 1995

Prayer of a Suffering Penitent.

A Psalm of David, for a memorial.

38 O Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath,
And chasten me not in Your burning anger.
2 For Your arrows have sunk deep into me,
And Your hand has pressed down on me.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation;
There is no health in my bones because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities are gone over my head;
As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.
5 My [a]wounds grow foul and fester
Because of my folly.
6 I am bent over and greatly bowed down;
I go mourning all day long.
7 For my loins are filled with burning,
And there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am benumbed and [b]badly crushed;
I [c]groan because of the [d]agitation of my heart.

9 Lord, all my desire is [e]before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.
10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
And the light of my eyes, even [f]that [g]has gone from me.
11 My [h]loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague;
And my kinsmen stand afar off.
12 Those who seek my life lay snares for me;
And those who seek to injure me have [i]threatened destruction,
And they devise treachery all day long.

13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth.
14 Yes, I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth are no arguments.
15 For I [j]hope in You, O Lord;
You will answer, O Lord my God.
16 For I said, “May they not rejoice over me,
Who, when my foot slips, would magnify themselves against me.”
17 For I am ready to fall,
And my [k]sorrow is continually before me.
18 For I [l]confess my iniquity;
I am full of anxiety because of my sin.
19 But my enemies are vigorous and [m]strong,
And many are those who hate me wrongfully.
20 And those who repay evil for good,
They oppose me, because I follow what is good.
21 Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, do not be far from me!
22 Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

As I was preparing my presentation for Good Friday, I was reading the Psalms.

I eventually got to reading David’s disquieting words from Psalm 38 and there was my profound reaction to a reaction by David that leaped off the page at me.

His reaction was over his sin, and when I read it, I thought deeply about how we view sin in our lives.

I know how we often view sin in other people’s lives, many times being quick to highlight it, even quicker to cancel its relevance, or quicker to condemn them.

My concern is not about sin found in other people, but for us to consider what happens within our own hearts, souls and spirits when we sin in our own lives.

King David in and throughout the Old Testa­ment had his fair share of suffering.

That’s clear from Psalm 38, ­described as “a psalm of David.”

He speaks often of being wounded and filled with pain.

Friends and neighbors abandon him. Enemies hate him and accuse him.

Even his own family dynamics turns against him as his son Absalom kills his brother and gathers an angry army against his father to over throw him as King.

Many are sick and tired of all the intrigue emanating from his throne room.

Many do not believe he is not the least bit worthy of such a high office as a King.

Some want to kill him.

It’s “because of my sin,” he says.

And he’s painfully right.

Not every sin leads to a particular suffering.

And not all suffering is from particular sins.

But rebellion against God’s ways does unleash a torrent of suffering into our human experience. So David the sinner suffers, and from the very throne of his self inflicted suffering he cries out to God. Maybe you know what that’s like.

We are no different in our own ways making questionable choices, decisions and getting people all hopping mad, consistently questioning our motives.

God certainly knows all about His creation’s sinfulness. (Genesis 3)

Jesus certainly knows having in these last days of his own life witnessed the fickleness of the human heart and soul, limitless depths of human depravity.

It’s all profoundly expressed there in Psalm 38.

Perhaps Psalm 38 was rolling through Jesus’ heart and soul in Gethsemane.

Yes, this psalm is about sin.

And no, Jesus himself never sinned.

But he did suffer enormously – echelons more than anyone else in all history.

He suffered because the full weight of all the sins of the world, including my sins and yours, were laid on him. He carried that immense burden to the cross.

One cannot imagine the measure of weight of all that sin upon his shoulders.

The silent anguish, the pounding heart, the failing strength, the pained cry of forsakenness—it’s all right there in Psalm 38, and it was all there on the cross.

But that was not the end. From his own suffering, Jesus cried out to God.

And his cry was heard. On the third day, God raised him from the dead.

Jesus had won the ultimate victory over sin.

Yes, we still sin.

And we still suffer.

But sin no longer has the power to separate us from God. Jesus saw to that!

Have we lost our Psalm 38 Grief over our own Sins?

2 Corinthians 5:20-21 New American Standard Bible 1995

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

I am wondering where that attitude toward sin has gone in our westernized interpretation of “Christian” culture – where sin is dismissed all too easily.

The Sheer Horror of Sin Has Not Changed one bit

Hebrews 13:5-8 New American Standard Bible 1995

5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” 6 so that we confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.
What will man do to me?”

7 Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the [a]result of their conduct, imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Regardless of how the world feels, or refuses to believe about God and sin, the way God feels about it has not changed and we should expect, will never change.

It seems as if the church has slowly been adopting worldly attitudes toward sin.

Instead of living out our call as “Ambassadors”, calling people to repentance, and reconciliation, it is as if we give people justifications for continuing in sin.

Yet, the way God sees sin is still the same.

He hates it.

He hates it because it destroys you and also because it drives a wedge in your relationship with him because he is a holy God. 

I want to be clear, I am not saying we become judges of people in the world.

We need to spare no amount of personal effort and suffering to share the gospel with them and to allow the Holy Spirit to convict them of their sinful condition.

We also shouldn’t expect people in the world to react like David did over his sin.

But, for those in the church, it is a different story.

We have God, we have the Word of God and we have the Spirit of God, so our personal mindset towards sin should radically differ from those in the world.

Instead of focusing on what people in the world are doing first, instead of our cancelling everyone left and right, I am saying we start by calling the people in the church to repent because we all need to change our attitude towards sin. 

Psalm 38 questions to ask yourself about our own Sin

As I stated earlier, I don’t want this to be a focus on someone else.

I want you to ponder about yourself.

Here are some questions that are introspective.

Ask them of yourself, as I am doing the same thing.       

  • When was the last time you felt guilt over sinful behavior?
  • When was the last time you grieved over sin?
  • When was the last time you felt burdened because of sinful actions you had taken?

Think on these questions for a moment, but go to the micro level.

So often we think of the big sins, maybe adultery or some kind of fornication, but we miss the little things such as how we love our neighbor or harbor anger towards someone – up to and including the worst kind of anger against “self.”

When was the last time your heart was anguished over those “insignificant” sins that are just as destructive?

I don’t know the answer to these questions in your life, I do not have all the answers about myself, but I know if we are not careful, the attitudes the world displays toward sin can become the attitude those in the church display towards it as well.

Key Motivators for Changing Your Attitude toward Sin

1. Because You Love Him

John 14:12-15 New American Standard Bible 1995

12 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. 13  Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

Could it be that part of David’s anguish and grief over his sin was because he knew God and loved him?

I think so.

After all, the Bible called him a man after God’s own heart.

When you love God, then you know how much sin hurts him and if you love the Lord, why would you want to hurt him? 

I have colleague and I can see the disappointment that wells up in their eyes when they do something that they feels lets so many people down.

They are devastated over it.

For those of us who claim to love Jesus, we simply cannot continue to have casual attitudes towards sin in our lives.

Again, I am not saying we become judges of others; I am saying we become too harsh a judges of ourselves.

2. Because You Know Him

1 John 3:1-8 New American Standard Bible 1995

Children of God Love One Another

3 See [a]how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or [b] knows Him. 7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil [c]has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

If you claim to know God, then sin cannot be an ongoing part of your life.

These verses are not saying you will never sin.

These verses are saying you don’t live to sin or for sin.

When you do sin, your response becomes like David, one of grief and a call to repentance. This happens because you know him and are in fellowship with him. When that fellowship is broken, you quickly seek to repent and restore it.

3. Because His Life Is in You

Since God’s life is in you, in the person of the Holy Spirit, and you have been born of God, this should change your attitude toward sin.

If your attitudes towards sin are growing lukewarm, then maybe you need more of God’s Spirit working in your life. Remember, he has not changed, nor has his attitude toward sin. If yours has, then we know exactly where the problem lies.

Psalm38 Final Thoughts

This devotion is not about judgment or condemnation.

This devotion is really about a call to holiness.

We must be holy because God is holy.

For those who don’t know what that means, holiness is not a state of perfection.

Holiness is when you are set apart for God’s use.

When we are walking in holiness, we see sin the way God sees it and we see people the way God sees them. 

I can’t say where, when, or how the church got off course, but the remedy is simple.

Return to your first love.

It is mu personal belief it’s long past the time we should suffer for Christ as Christ suffered for us to rekindle that love for Jesus we had when we first got saved, that deep passion that sought to please him in every area of our lives.

When we get back to that place, then our attitudes towards sin will change. Not only will we turn away from it, but we will grieve over it should we fall into it.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 13 New American Standard Bible 1995

Prayer for Help in Trouble.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.

5 But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Habits of Faith: Grace that is Greater than all of our Sins; when we’re at the end of all our resources. Romans 7:15

Romans 7:14-20 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Conflict of Two Natures

14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold [a]into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

“Perhaps God brings us to the end of our resources so we can discover the vastness of His.”

Have you ever felt this way?

“At the end of your resources?”

Have you ever seen or watched a zealous, eager young Christian or older Christian desperately trying to do something for God and ending up after a while so completely discouraged and defeated that they just want to quit?

In fact, they probably do and are on the very brink of making that decision.

But that is a very hopeful stage.

Jesus said that those who are poor in spirit and have come to the end of their own resources are blessed (Matthew 5:3).

Why? That is the time when God can give you something.

When you have come to the end of your own resources, then he can give you his.

That is why the Old Covenant is, 

“Nothing coming from God, everything coming from me, while the New Covenant is, Everything coming from God, nothing coming from me.”

You only have to look at yourself in the mirror for a relatively short period of time to see how much of your life is lived, invested into that Old Covenant.

You expect success by virtue of something resident in you: your ancestry, your training, your personality, character, your good looks or something like that.

This attitude produces the kind of person that reckons upon his own resources: that is they’ll keep repeating to self that “I’ve got what it takes, I can do that.” 

Now they may be very modest in their language.

We learn all kinds of little subtle tricks to hide this kind of egoism.

We say, I have never really had any special training for that, but I have had some experience in it, and I will do my best. 

Thus we are subtly saying to people, I have got what it takes. 

Or we look at the demands, the specific problem, the situation we are asked to enter into or perform, and we say, 

“I don’t have what it takes. I can’t do that. Don’t ask me to do a thing like that. I am just one of those select people that was behind the door when the gifts were passed out, and I just can’t do anything like that. I am not confident enough.” 

But who are you looking at when you say something like that?

You are only looking at Yourself!

You are reckoning on your steadfast belief in your own un-resources but your eye is fixed on the same person, yourself.

So both responses are wrong.

One view focuses on our power, our abilities, our willingness, our experience, our over drive to succeed, while the other view focuses on our un-resources, our inabilities, our inexperience — but both fix the focus only upon ourselves.

Why can we not just Overcome Ourselves?

In his letter to the Roman church, the apostle Paul wrote,

“for what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate… For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.” (Romans 7:15, Romans 7:19-20)

Sound familiar?

Like Paul, many Christians find themselves in a similar spiritual battle.

We want to do what is right but struggle to overcome our rebellious, sinful nature.

We fail, we falter, we do the very things we hate and know are wrong, and when we mess up, we can often grow weary, so disheartened and even overwhelmed.

We ask ourselves:

Why is following in the footsteps of Jesus so hard?
Why do we do the things we know are wrong?
Why do we continue to sin when we’re supposed to be redeemed, new creations in Christ Jesus?

Paul attempted to address these many questions, describing the battle between sin and righteousness, the all-important, life-changing power of God’s grace.

What Does ‘What I Want to Do I Do Not Do, but What I Hate I Do’ Mean?

Amazingly, even a Christian as mature as Paul understood that just because we love the Lord and delight in His ways (Isaiah 58:2), it does not mean that we are perfect or will always obey Him.

Paul went so far as to call himself the “chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15) and a “wretched man” (Romans 7:24), recognizing though God’s way is spiritual, he was not (Romans 7:14).

Even redeemed, Christians make mistakes because we are at constant war with our old, sinful nature, which is continuously fighting to reclaim its true place of influence in our lives.

When we sin, our sinful intrudes again into our nature and climbs back into the driver’s seat, dumping us straight into the backseat, steering us away from God.

This is why Paul wrote,

“if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.” (Romans 7:16-17)

And how do we know we have sinned and are being steered away from God?

God’s word, the Bible, which Paul refers to as the law of God (Romans 7:22).

The law of God is what exposes sin and shows us where we have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

Unfortunately, when we examine our lives by this law, we see just how warped, cracked, and imperfect we still are (Romans 3:23).

And next to the law, no one is righteous, not even one (Romans 3:9-11).

This is why, in Romans 7, Paul places such prominence on the doctrine of grace.

Under grace, Paul argued, believers are free from the law’s condemnation.

This doesn’t mean that the law is useless or obsolete, or that Christians have the freedom to keep sinning and doing whatever they want (Galatians 5:13).

As Matthew Henry writes in his commentary,

“the law may discover sin, and convince of sin, but it cannot conquer and subdue sin.” Forgiveness, redemption, and the power to actually overcome sin in one’s life can only come through the power and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, which is freely offered to those who come to Christ through faith (Hebrews 9:14).

As a man who desired holiness, Paul hated his many sins because he longed to be more like Christ.

His sin was a reminder that no amount of spiritual knowledge, willpower, or hard work can save a person.

Only God can transform and redeem a stubborn, rebellious heart, and only Christ can conquer sin in one’s life.

“Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Paul asked, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)

Saved once and for all (Hebrews 10:10), we are each being transformed into the perfect, holy image of Christ over time. 

How Can I Apply Romans 7:15 Today?

As Christians, our old, sinful nature likes to rear its ugly head and drag us down, hold us back, or keep us from the righteousness of God.

We will sin, make mistakes, fall down, sink, turn back, and otherwise surrender to our sinful nature because we are still works in progress (Ephesians 2:8-10), being changed, and transformed, and fashioned into the likeness of Jesus Christ each and every day (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Like Paul, we will often hate the things we do and regret the mistakes we make because we long to live lives that are holy and pleasing to God.

This longing reveals that the word of the God and Holy Spirit are alive and active, steering us towards God.

The beauty of God’s and grace, however, is that we are no longer judged or condemned for each and every sin or shortcoming.

We are no longer slaves to sin but new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).

And though our salvation comes through Christ’s death and resurrection, the process of becoming more like Him, is ongoing.

So just remember, on your worst day, God’s grace is sufficient for you.

Your greatest victory has already been won.

Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 New American Standard Bible 1995

Purpose of the Preacher

9 In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs.  10 The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.

11 The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like [a]well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 But beyond this, my son, be warned: the [b]writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.

13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

Today, and every moment of everyday, give yourself grace, take it easy, God is always at work in your life, slowly but purposefully making you more like Him.

So be kind to self, patient in His perfect process, and trust in His perfect timing.

His best for you is done, being done, and is still to come.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 13 New American Standard Bible 1995

Prayer for Help in Trouble.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.

5 But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

– The Serenity Prayer, by Reinhold Neibuhr

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