April 24th

April 24th

Have we gotten too comfortable with sin? Have we taken the tolerance message (that is being preached everywhere by the world) too personally? I’m not talking about the sins of others; I am talking about our own sin. Are we too comfortable with our own sin? Are we minimizing it? Are we ignoring the log in our own eye, so to speak?

Matthew 7:3-5 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Too often we are quick to notice or point out other peoples’ sins and then we are way too comfortable with our own. The problem is that no matter how small it is, our own sin nailed Jesus to the cross. Sometimes our tendency to notice others’ sins is because it makes our own sin seem smaller.

We tend to toe the line for a short time, (sometimes just a few minutes) and then we slip off a little at a time in small amounts that we can be comfortable with, not in huge blatant ways. That’s the problem. We don’t consider all sin equal. But the truth is that those “little white lies” or “fudging on our taxes” or whatever “little” things that we can get away with are just as responsible for the death of Jesus.

Our God is Holy, so Holy that unholy will disintegrate in His presence, burned up by the refining fire of His pure Truth. So our little white lie makes us unable to be in His presence, which is a problem because the Holy Spirit resides in us. This is why we have conviction. The Holy Spirit works overtime to nudge us when we step off the line because He wants us to be able to fellowship with Him. Let’s not find ourselves ignoring that nudging of the Holy Spirit. Let’s ask Him to refresh our sensitivity to His voice so that we are not comfortable in our sin, not even what we call the “little” ones.

1 John 1:8-10 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

So, Let us lay our sins at His feet and ask for His help in recognizing and dealing with those that we have become comfortable with; and not to despair, remember, in Him we have no condemnation, just conviction.

Romans 8:1-4 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Jesus, thank you for making a way for me to be free from the law of sin and death. Forgive me for the ways that I sin against you. Forgive me for not fully appreciating what you did to save me. Help me to live up to the way you created me to live in you. Holy Spirit help me to recognize when I am sinning and help me to surrender that to you. Help me to walk in integrity always. Thank you for your help.