Who's A Sinner?

I fell into sin yesterday, and I was wondering this morning about that and how it's the little things that trip us up. You know the sins that don't really seem like much, but end up hurting our relationship with the Father. Jesus told us that if our eye offends us we should pluck it out, well that seems a little extreme doesn't it? Yet there it is, a command from our Lord. So what are we to do with that?

One thing that I've come to realize in Christianity is that we as a people group try to rate our sins or categorize them into various degrees of evil. Murder is at the worst end of the spectrum, while gossiping may end up on the "little sin" end of the scale. One of the things that I find really funny, is the fat Christian who points his finger at the person who drinks or smokes and condemns them as one of those really big sinners. The truth is, gluttony is just as much a sin as what they are pointing out, but lets don't talk about that, after all a person's gotta eat, right? And don't you know that we are told to fellowship with other believers, and we do that around meals. Yeah I know, just next time skip the third helping and two deserts, how about that? (And I've been guilty of this so don't stone me).

There are no degrees of sin with God period. Sin causes separation from God. It breaks the fellowship that we have with Him, and that is why it is bad. Regardless of what sin you commit, this will hinder you in your relationship with the Father. This is why He hates sin, not because He has this big list of do's and dont's, but because He knows that when we sin it keeps His best from getting to us, and He is all about doing good for us. Remember, "For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11"

And that is the point really, the relationship I have between me and God. So when I sin, and we all do, this barrier raises up which keeps me from receiving God's best for my life, and the devil knows this. He works very hard to trip us up in this area. Now before you come to the conclusion that we are just pawns in some big cosmic chess game, I'm not saying that the devil can "make" us sin. What he does is plant thoughts in our little pea brains to see if we will act on them. Take a look at James 1:14 - 15 in the Amplified Bible:

"But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions). Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death."

"Baited by his own lust and passions". Hmm, now this is interesting, we are not driven along by the devil and his minions with pitchforks prodding us to do wrong. No, it is the lust and passions within us that cause us to sin. So, while the enemy has a part to play, we can no longer just blame him for our short comings can we? I think not. You know the bait covers up a hook, and it is the hook that causes the problem, for it snares us and brings the destruction of our fellowship with God.

So what are we to do then? If it is our lust and passions that trip us up then we need to learn to control those things. But how do I do that Dave? I'm glad you asked. You have to have a working knowledge of God's Word. We can no longer take a casual approach to the Bible and it's teachings, to do so allows sin to have it's way with us. We must master those things that would try and trip us up. Now before you go any further, just because you read the Bible does not mean that you will magically never sin again. You may read in the Word that you should not do something, but just having that knowledge won't save you, you have to act on that knowledge.

Just as sin starts as a thought and then you act on that thought. God's Word is a thought which you must act on too. The key here is that we have to do the acting, either for good or for bad, it is our choice. No longer do we have the right to say that we couldn't help ourselves because that is a lie, we can..."IF" we make the decision to do so. So get a Bible reading plan and start it, then act on those things that you learn there and you will see the things that once tripped you up will begin to have less and less ability to entice you.

Now I wonder as you read this today, did you get the point I've been making this morning, or have you just been trying to decide which sin I committed yesterday? Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Shut Your Mouth!

There is an interesting story about John the Baptist's dad Zechariah found in the book of Luke 1. As he was burning incense in the temple, an angel of God appeared to him, telling him that his wife Elizabeth was going to bear a son, and then gave him instructions about the things that John was to do and not do.

The angel was Gabriel, and he tells Zechariah that his prayer has been answered and that he will have a son. Wow, that's cool, how would you like to get the answer for your prayer delivered by Gabriel? Anyway, Zechariah listens to what Gabriel is telling him, then answers him by saying, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man, and my wife is along in age." It is at this point that Gabriel says, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time."

Zechariah did what a lot of us do, he chose not to believe the Word of God and what it was saying to him. He did not believe Gabriel's words, and consequently was mute until the time of John's birth. We have a choice just like Zechariah did, each and every time God shows us something in the Bible. We can either choose to believe it or not believe it. The only difference is that we don't have an angel shutting our mouths to keep us from speaking words of doubt and unbelief.

The Kingdom of God works on this principle; you believe it, and speak it and it will come to pass. In Romans 10:9 - 10 we see that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. Because it is by believing in our hearts that we are made right with God, and it is by confessing with our mouths that we are saved. This is how everything works in the Kingdom of God, we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths and we will have what we say.

The interesting thing is that people want to put everything off on God, and the reason they don't have what they desire is because it is just not His will for their life. The thing that really bothers me about this line of reasoning, is that they don't understand what His will is for their life, and if they don't get something, or see an answer to a prayer they attribute that to the fact that God must not want them to have it. Never mind what the words are that are coming out of their mouths, that part just doesn't figure into the equation for them.

For instance, let's say that I pray for the Lord to help me out of a financial bind that I've gotten myself into. I see in Scripture that it says that God will supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19) Then after I pray and ask Him to help me, I begin to talk about how hard things are, that the economy is bad, my needs aren't being met and I don't know how we're going to make it. What I have done in effect is basically undo all of my praying and believing. Truthfully if I do that, (And I have to be quite honest with you.) I am not believing what the Scriptures say. And so I am getting what I say, not what I pray.

It is really simple to know God's will for our lives, it's in the Scriptures. We just have to choose to believe it and then act on it with our faith. Remember faith is believing what the Bible says is true contrary to what our five physical senses tell us. We're called believers, because that is what we do, believe. But we can't discount our part in all of this, saying the right things, and not just speaking words of doubt and unbelief.

If we can learn this one thing, I believe we will see huge growth in our spiritual lives...I for one need to learn this better, and that's what I'm going to work on this week, watching what I say! Get 'em up folks, let's go out and whip something for the Kingdom this week!