What Do We Do About Sin?

Because you trust me as a Bible teacher, I want to tell you that sin is not an issue in my life. I want to tell you that, but it would be a lie. Yes, I belong to Jesus, He has saved me and redeemed me and continues every day to transform me into His image. He has done such a work in my life where sin is concerned. But like every other human being, I was born with a sinful nature and sinful desires – perhaps different from the things that tug at you, but sin is a real and present danger for me just as it is for you.

How do we handle our bent towards sin? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Recognize sin for what it is and don’t make excuses or exceptions for it. (Psalm 51:3)
2. Keep God’s Word close – in your hands, in your mind, and in your heart. (Psalm 119:11)
3. Keep God closer. (James 4:7-8)
4. Keep sin at a distance. Don’t put yourself in positions you know lead you into sin – whether places, events, movies, T.V. shows, websites, or even people. Take the way out. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
5. Repent when you do sin. (Acts 3:19).
6. Pray. 

The prayer I find myself returning to again and again is: “Lord cause me to love you so much that sin has no appeal to me.” I came to that prayer while meditating on Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desire of your heart.” I realized that if God is my delight, then I will desire only Him and that is a desire He is more than willing to fulfill. And if God is the delight and desire of my heart, I will take no delight in sin and will instead be repulsed by it because I love God with all my heart. And if I love God with all my heart there is no room in my heart to love sin.

I know I have a very long way to go before that is the reality of my life. Sin still beckons to me.  But this is my prayer – and the desire of my heart. Beloved, will it be yours too?

Jesus Loves Sinners

In the days after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the disciples wondered what they should do. Jesus had appeared to them and they recognized that He was the living Son of God. But what now? They had received no direction from the Lord at this point. Was their ministry season over? Peter, carrying the additional weight of his betrayal, decided to go back to doing what he knew best, fishing. I understand him. I’ve been in a season where my life was full of ministry, then a fall in my character took it all away and I wondered if God was done with me. Just like Peter, I discovered that the Lord doesn’t give up on His people.

After a night of futile fishing, Peter and the disciples who had joined him headed toward home. A man stood on the shore and called out, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” (21:5) “No.” they replied. He then directed them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat, where they caught more fish than they could manage. That struck a memory in John. He knew that man on the shore! “The disciple whom Jesus loved said, “It is the Lord!” (John 21:7).

Peter, the impetuous one, jumped out of the boat and into the water. The shame of his betrayal must have nearly drowned him. But to Peter’s credit, he didn’t try to dodge Jesus. He was oblivious to everything else but his Lord.

It is so easy to fall into sin; even the greatest saint is one temptation away from the pit. What do you do when the dust clears and you’re standing there in the aftermath of your failure? Judas refused to come to Jesus for forgiveness. But Peter splashed his way to Him. We don’t have a record of those few private moments before the rest joined them, but I have this picture of a repentant Peter standing on the shore, dripping with water and tears. Oh, the blessed, tender heart of Jesus. He forgave His rebellious disciple and restored him fully.

Beloved, have you fallen into sin? Have you stumbled in your walk? Do not sit in your guilt. Do not run away in your shame. Run to Jesus. He has promised, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). He stands on the shore waiting for you with forgiveness and restoration in His hands.

Are you sorry for your sin?

The Apostle Paul had such a heart of love for his fellow believers. He prayed for them continually, asking for God’s blessing, favor, light, peace, Joy, hope, wisdom, and power. He encouraged them in the face of great opposition and persecution, even from his own prison cell. But one thing Paul did not do was coddle them in their sin. He called out their squabbling, arrogance, greed, gluttony (ouch), selfishness, and especially their sexual immorality. He would have none of it among God’s people. He was quick to chastise the Corinthian church for tolerating – and even applauding – gross sexual sin among the believers (1 Cor. 5).  He would be appalled at the church today. He later wrote, “I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while – yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance” (2 Cor. 7:8-9).

Paul boldly pointed out their sin in all its ugliness and they were deeply convicted and greatly sorrowed. Have you ever been truly sorry for your sin? Have you ever let the Holy Spirit convict you to the point of grieving for your offense before God? Or have you let the world soothe you with mushy half-truths about love and tolerance? Let me give this to you straight – God loves you, but He does not tolerate sin. He convicts and chastens His children (Hebrews 12:6). That’s how you know He is your Father. The point of this chastening is not just to make you feel bad about yourself (which is how the world spins it). God calls out our sin so that we will turn away from it and turn back to Him. “Godly sorry brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret” (1 Cor. 7:10).

Let me get very personal. Is there a cherished sin in your life – one you just don’t want to let go of? It may be something “big” like stealing from your job or sexual sin, or it may be something “small” like bitterness or – gulp – gluttony. Take off your worldly glasses and listen to what the Spirit says about it. Beloved, the tug on your heart is godly sorrow. It’s your Father calling you to repentance. Calling you to wholeness. Calling you to Joy.

Are You Hiding From God?

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?'” (Genesis 3:9)

Did God really not know where Adam and Eve were? Is it possible that the omniscient, omnipresent God was clueless to His beloved creation’s whereabouts and actions? Not a chance. I believe God was asking Adam, “Do YOU know where you are?” “Do you realize what you have done?” They had walked with God every day in the goodness of His creation, but now they feared His presence and thought they needed to avoid their Creator. Sound familiar?

When you and I fall to the temptation of the enemy, when we surrender to sin, our first inclination is to hide, to cover ourselves so God can’t see our shame, and to avoid Him at all costs. But do we really believe that He is unaware of our actions? Do you think God doesn’t see us cowering in the bushes? We can’t hide from Him. We can’t cover up our sin. But the love of God can (1 Peter 4:8). The blood of Jesus covers over our sins and makes us acceptable in God’s sight.

When David sinned, he tried to dismiss it, but it was futile. Eventually, he had to confess “I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (Psalm 51:3). You and I know that too. We can try to dodge it and hide it and pretend it didn’t happen. We can even rename it and make it sound like less than a sin, but it’s always there. When David finally came clean with God, confessed his sin with brokenness and sorrow, he found sweet forgiveness. His spirit was renewed, The Joy of God’s salvation was restored and he now had a testimony of redemption. (See Psalm 51)

Where are you? What are you trying to cover up? God knows all about it. It’s time to bring your sin out of hiding. God will forgive you. He will hide your sin under the blood of Jesus. He will restore your Joy and turn your failure into a beautiful testimony. Come out of the bushes Beloved, your God stands ready with arms open wide.

Come Home

Quick!  Bring the best robe and put it on him.  Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet (Luke 15:22).

When I was a girl I always loved to dress up in my mom’s things, especially her jewelry.  She had a beautiful necklace that I adored with blue and green stones all around it that caught the light with a thousand sparkles.  I played with it constantly.  When I put it on, I felt so beautiful and elegant – just like my Mama!

Little girls in mama’s jewelry.  Little boys in daddy’s shoes.  Children love to borrow their parent’s things because they want to be just like them.  But somewhere along the way, those children grow up and reject what they once emulated.  They don’t want to be like their parents anymore, they want to be their own person and live their own life.  That was the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.  This young man wanted life on his terms so he demanded his share of the father’s estate (essentially telling his father that he wished the old man was dead) and left for the world beyond his father’s house.  But wild nights and parties with friends soon exhausted his supply. Alone and hungry, he decided to return home. He was a defeated man and didn’t even think himself worthy to be his father’s son.  But his father had never counted his son out.  He had looked for him every day.  And when he saw him, he ran to him. He told his servants, “Bring the best robe . . . and a ring” (Luke 15:22).  The best robe was the father’s robe, the ring was the father’s ring.  The overjoyed father was claiming his son again.

I don’t know where you’ve wandered or how long you’ve been away.  I don’t know what worldly things you’ve wasted your life on.  But I know that God has been watching the road, ready to welcome you home. Take one step toward Him Beloved and He will run to you. Come home child – Your Father is holding a robe and crown of Righteousness for you (Isaiah 61:10, 2 Timothy 4:8).

Self-made Misery

Have you ever really repented of your sins? Or are you just sorry about the mess you’re in because of them? Right now you’re probably thinking, “And good morning to you too, Susie Sunshine!” I know – you much prefer the nice, gentle devotionals, but I speak as He speaks to me through His Word, and sometimes it’s not always pretty. This came into my heart this morning as I read in Hosea. You may recall, Hosea was a prophet of the Lord with a beautiful story of redeeming love. But the love story is just two chapters out of fourteen where the prophet is declaring God’s anger toward and coming judgment over the nation of Israel. He is calling them to repentance so that He might restore them. But they refuse. Even though they are in misery from God’s punishment, they will not turn away from their sin and turn back to the Lord. Listen to Hosea 7:14 – “They do not cry out to me from their hearts but wail upon their beds.” They were crying about their miserable situation, but they would not cry out to God in repentance. Jump back just a bit to 5:15 where the Lord said, “I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery, they will earnestly seek me.”

Here’s a hard truth Friend, sometimes we create our own miserable situations. We sin, we wander away from God and like sheep grazing with our heads in the grass, we are unaware of the danger we’re in. All the while God is calling us to turn back to Him. When we find ourselves tangled in the briars of sin or weighted down from falling into the creek, we wail and whine, but we don’t confess and repent.

John said, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just as will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Beloved, in the kindest, most loving way I know to say it – maybe it’s time to stop whining and start repenting.

 

Is the United States in the Bible?

Amos. If the United States was anywhere in the Bible it is here. God  called out the arrogance and sin of the people of Israel – calling the wealthy women who oppress the poor “cows” (Amos 4:1)  He declared that “the time will surely come” when the godless nation will receive their just consequences – judgement (4:2).

In chapter  3, He said he would send “an enemy [who] will overrun the land, pull down your strongholds and plunder your fortresses” “destroy the altars and tear down” the homes of the wealthy (3:11-15). Then he described the disasters and hardships He brought on them for their sin: lack of basic necessities, lack of rain when the crops needed to grow, pestilence that destroyed what little survived the drought, plagues, and the stench of death from the multitudes of rotting corpses. Despite all that He declared: “Yet you have not returned to me” (4:6,8,10,11) Does any of that sound familiar?

Then He said the most frightening words of all, “Prepare to meet your God.” But first He offered an olive branch and a second chance with a call to repentance: “Seek me and live” (5:4,6). He called to Israel “Seek good, not evil, that you may life. Hate evil, love good; then the Lord Almighty will have mercy” (5:14, 15).

Oh, Christian pray that it’s not too late for the United States. Pray that the disasters that the country is facing – COVID 19, political and social unrest, hate and anger, destruction of public, religious, and private property, and all rest – will cause us to repent and to “seek God and live.”  Otherwise, as I glance ahead in Amos, the worst is yet to come.

Hold fast to what is good Beloved. Hold fast to holiness and righteousness. Hold fast to God. He is your only hope.

But what a hope He is!

Lord, I’m Sorry

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” Psalm 51:17.

“I’m sorry, but . . .” he began and I realized he wasn’t sorry at all.  Once more he had betrayed my trust and crushed my heart and once more he offered a hollow “apology” that absolved him of the responsibilities of his actions.  There always seemed to be some reason outside of his control that made him do the things he did (or not do the things he said he would do).  But the truth is I’ve made the same kind of apology and I’ll bet you have too.  It’s human nature to want to wriggle out of blame.  It’s as old as the first sin.  Adam blamed Eve – and even blamed God – and Eve blamed the serpent.  Shifting blame is a national pastime.  It doesn’t really change what we’ve done or the harm we’ve caused, it just presses the guilt down a little under a false sense of relief.

Our key verse sits in David’s Psalm of lament after he was confronted with his adulterous sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah.  David does not try to dodge his wickedness nor sweep away his guilt.  He says, “I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me” (v. 3).   He confesses his sin to God and says that the Lord’s judgement against him is right and justified.  He pleads for mercy and cleansing and God graciously gives it.

Our sin breaks the heart of God and if we love God it will break our hearts as well. But forgiveness is possible when we confess our sin and repent.  And true repentance never has a “but,” it is raw and honest before the One who knows it all anyway.  It’s the only way to find real forgiveness and peace.  Paul reminded the Corinthians that “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret” (2 Corinthians 7:10). 

A dear friend once told me, “God doesn’t forgive excuses, He forgives sins.”  Beloved, we must stop trying to excuse our sin away and come to God in true repentance.  No “buts” about it.