This made me chuckle. Goes out to my son, Sam and his good friend Gavin
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Forgiven yet confess
As I have said many times, the Christian life is a life in tension because we are saved but not yet able to find true relief and peace this side of heaven. Tonight's 2 Bible verse will illustrate my point.
Colossians 3:13
"bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive."
1 John 1:9
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse of from all unrighteousness."
So we are a forgiven people yet we must confess our sins? That is a huge tension in the Christian life and something that we must contend with on a daily basis. Simply put we must be broken and repentant before the God who has already forgiven us and shown us grace and mercy.
It is amazing and beautiful to know and live in the fact that when we give our lives to Jesus and have faith and trust in His death in our place, we now stand forgiven and holy before God. We now can live a confident life in Jesus knowing that even though we are not perfect and will continue to sin and struggle with our flesh, we will someday stand before God forgiven and welcomed into heaven as a child of the King. Being forgiven and being seen by God the Father as His holy child is something that the Christian must never forget. This will then drive us to take this amazing news and go and tell the world.
But being forgiven and standing before God as holy and blameless does not mean that we are done and perfect. We still sin and fall and that means we must continually confess our sin to God and be a broken and repentant man before Him. Sometime I would love to write about true repentance but for my point tonight we need to understand that we must confess our sins continually and with a brokenness that needs Jesus to forgive us at that moment. That means that every time we sin even if it is the little white lie, we need to confess and be broken and repentant about that sin before God.
Colossians 3:13
"bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive."
1 John 1:9
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse of from all unrighteousness."
So we are a forgiven people yet we must confess our sins? That is a huge tension in the Christian life and something that we must contend with on a daily basis. Simply put we must be broken and repentant before the God who has already forgiven us and shown us grace and mercy.
It is amazing and beautiful to know and live in the fact that when we give our lives to Jesus and have faith and trust in His death in our place, we now stand forgiven and holy before God. We now can live a confident life in Jesus knowing that even though we are not perfect and will continue to sin and struggle with our flesh, we will someday stand before God forgiven and welcomed into heaven as a child of the King. Being forgiven and being seen by God the Father as His holy child is something that the Christian must never forget. This will then drive us to take this amazing news and go and tell the world.
But being forgiven and standing before God as holy and blameless does not mean that we are done and perfect. We still sin and fall and that means we must continually confess our sin to God and be a broken and repentant man before Him. Sometime I would love to write about true repentance but for my point tonight we need to understand that we must confess our sins continually and with a brokenness that needs Jesus to forgive us at that moment. That means that every time we sin even if it is the little white lie, we need to confess and be broken and repentant about that sin before God.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
A New Hope
In preparing for my ministry with the church in York, I have began to fall in love with the book of 1 Peter. In preparing for my first sermon, God has shown me a lot of who He is, what that means for me, and how I should then respond. What I would like to share tonight is part of the sermon I am going to preach this coming Sunday morning. I have stated that I will not share sermon's on my blog that I have either preached or will preach in the future. But because I know that those who read this will not be there this coming week, and also because of the busy and fast pace of my life this week, this will help me formulate thoughts in my head as I prepare.
It only takes 5 small verse to start the letter that Peter wrote to the church to show and tell 3 amazing truths and principles. 1 Peter 1:1-5 teaches us 3 facts that every Christian should know and respond to in their lives.
So what did God do for us? God in His foreknowledge chose us for the work of His sanctifying Spirit to be cleansed in the blood of Jesus for a life that is a new birth. God loved us and knew us completely before we ever existed. This in itself is an amazing truth and a great comfort for us during this life. God chose us to this new birth because He foreknew us. Most Christian will get hung up on the part about God choosing and forget about the part that God loved us first and foremost before we ever existed. This means before we could ever do anything good or any act of praise God intimately loved us. God then in this foreknowledge and love for us sent His Son Jesus to die so that His blood could be sprinkled over us and make us clean and pure in His sight. Again what an amazing God we have that before we even existed He had a plan to redeem us and make us a holy creature in His sight. Then to top it off with what God did for us, He gives us the Holy Spirit to work our sanctification to lead us to live lives growing and maturing before God. And this is all called the new birth. Wow God did a lot for us and what an amazing God we have who did all this for us in His foreknowledge and His choosing.
What does it mean than that God did these things for us?So what does this new birth do for us in life? First the new birth gives us a living hope. This living hope is certain, sure, real, and secure. It is not a hope that is deceptive, empty, fake, or false. This is the kind of hope that will get us through life's circumstances no matter what they are. The persecution we face, trials of a broken world, or just a life that is not perfect, cannot stop this living hope. The new birth also gives us an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade because it is hidden in heaven and protected by God. God shields the inheritance from this broken world and from the devil so that is a secure and safe prize waiting for us in the life of salvation in God. God also not only shields the inheritance from the world, He also shields His children and those who have experienced the new birth in Him. I also love how Peter ends His greetings to start the letter because when he says grace and peace (shalom) he is reminding his readers that those who experience this new birth in God also have this grace and peace from God for a life that is as strangers in this world.
How should we then respond to this new life of hope and inheritance in Jesus? I see that the text points out 3 human responses to this new life and blessing from God. The first response is how Peter responds in verse 3 when he praised God and explodes in doxology. Peter praises God for 11 different things over the next 3 verse starting with God as the Father of Jesus and all of the amazing aspects and gifts that having God not only as Jesus' Father but also our Father. Peter praises God for living hope, the resurrection of Jesus, shielding His children, and the revealing of Jesus among other things. Praise must be the first response of us. The second response is highlighted by Peter early in verse 5 when he talks faith. The new birth must brood a faith in God who foreknew us and loved us and sent His son to purify us. Salvation is by faith alone, shown by a life of obedience. Peter highlights this 3rd response when he says that we were chosen for obedience in Jesus. So a believer in Jesus, someone who has experienced this new birth that was given by God and then gets to experience all the blessings that that means would respond by praise, faith, and obedience. Is that how we respond to the work that God does for us and blessings He gives us?
It only takes 5 small verse to start the letter that Peter wrote to the church to show and tell 3 amazing truths and principles. 1 Peter 1:1-5 teaches us 3 facts that every Christian should know and respond to in their lives.
So what did God do for us? God in His foreknowledge chose us for the work of His sanctifying Spirit to be cleansed in the blood of Jesus for a life that is a new birth. God loved us and knew us completely before we ever existed. This in itself is an amazing truth and a great comfort for us during this life. God chose us to this new birth because He foreknew us. Most Christian will get hung up on the part about God choosing and forget about the part that God loved us first and foremost before we ever existed. This means before we could ever do anything good or any act of praise God intimately loved us. God then in this foreknowledge and love for us sent His Son Jesus to die so that His blood could be sprinkled over us and make us clean and pure in His sight. Again what an amazing God we have that before we even existed He had a plan to redeem us and make us a holy creature in His sight. Then to top it off with what God did for us, He gives us the Holy Spirit to work our sanctification to lead us to live lives growing and maturing before God. And this is all called the new birth. Wow God did a lot for us and what an amazing God we have who did all this for us in His foreknowledge and His choosing.
What does it mean than that God did these things for us?So what does this new birth do for us in life? First the new birth gives us a living hope. This living hope is certain, sure, real, and secure. It is not a hope that is deceptive, empty, fake, or false. This is the kind of hope that will get us through life's circumstances no matter what they are. The persecution we face, trials of a broken world, or just a life that is not perfect, cannot stop this living hope. The new birth also gives us an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade because it is hidden in heaven and protected by God. God shields the inheritance from this broken world and from the devil so that is a secure and safe prize waiting for us in the life of salvation in God. God also not only shields the inheritance from the world, He also shields His children and those who have experienced the new birth in Him. I also love how Peter ends His greetings to start the letter because when he says grace and peace (shalom) he is reminding his readers that those who experience this new birth in God also have this grace and peace from God for a life that is as strangers in this world.
How should we then respond to this new life of hope and inheritance in Jesus? I see that the text points out 3 human responses to this new life and blessing from God. The first response is how Peter responds in verse 3 when he praised God and explodes in doxology. Peter praises God for 11 different things over the next 3 verse starting with God as the Father of Jesus and all of the amazing aspects and gifts that having God not only as Jesus' Father but also our Father. Peter praises God for living hope, the resurrection of Jesus, shielding His children, and the revealing of Jesus among other things. Praise must be the first response of us. The second response is highlighted by Peter early in verse 5 when he talks faith. The new birth must brood a faith in God who foreknew us and loved us and sent His son to purify us. Salvation is by faith alone, shown by a life of obedience. Peter highlights this 3rd response when he says that we were chosen for obedience in Jesus. So a believer in Jesus, someone who has experienced this new birth that was given by God and then gets to experience all the blessings that that means would respond by praise, faith, and obedience. Is that how we respond to the work that God does for us and blessings He gives us?
Sunday, February 23, 2014
God's Guidance for Life
Today's topic and thoughts come right from the point in my life that I need them most. For those who know me, I have been chasing seminary for a few years now and still am having thoughts about going to Boston this fall. Then there is also the pursuit of an active paid formal ministry in the church, that I have been actively running after for over a year now. Then comes my ministry in March with a very neat and friendly church family in York. At this point in my life and the life of my beloved and 4 "little me's" I definitely need the guidance of God in my life. So as I have been pondering this, reading about it, and praying over God's leading my my life I have come up with, with much help from others, that God gives us guidance in 4 big and important ways.
God guides us first by His Word. What is the most plain and strait forward way we can understand what God wants from us and our lives and actions? Through His words in the Bible. In the Bible God gives us commands on how to live. God tells us what sin is and what worship looks like. Jesus in Matthew gives us the Sermon on the Mount so that not only is our actions in check but also our hearts. God in the Bible lets us know what idolatry is and tells us plainly what the Christian life should look like. God says this is right and that is wrong. God lets us know point blank that the job of the human race is to live to bring praise and glory to their Creator. That is also the point of the Christian life shown in the Bible, to give worship and praise to our Savior Jesus and to go multiply ourselves by telling others what Jesus did for us. So the first guide to the daily life and what each day means for us the Bible.
The second way God guides us is by wisdom. God gives us a brain and experience for a reason. God also shows us by His word what wisdom is in each circumstance. God gives us the book of Job so we have wisdom in suffering. He gives us Proverbs so we can have wisdom in action. He gives us the Psalms to see wisdom in prayer. Song of Solomon so we can see wisdom in love. And Ecclesiastes to see wisdom in joy. God gives us the brain and wisdom in life so that we will have understanding in decision moments. God gives us wisdom so we know when to get help and more understanding about something in life because we need help. God gives us wisdom because that is how He best gives help to His children to walk a Christian life upright and wise even to the world. A wise life and the wisdom that God gives us, peppers the Bible everywhere and using our brain without fear is another gift from God in His guidance in life.
The third way God can guide us is by the support and help of friends and others in our life. God not only designed the the church for a community feel, but He also made humans social creatures for a reason. God also gives us a brain so we know when we need help and guidance. I know in my life alone I need help and guidance when it comes to areas like finances, hunting, politics, science, preaching, and working on my car. And that is just to name a few areas that when I have decisions to make I need incite and impute in my life. I have also discovered that in areas that I need guidance in, God has places men and women in my life that can give me a better understanding or impute that will guide me better than I could ever do on my own. What people has God placed in our lives that will help guide us? People, leaders, and friends are an amazing resource for guidance as we search what God is calling us to not only do daily but also with bigger decisions.
The fourth way I find that God gives guidance in our lives and leads us is through the Holy Spirit. Following the Holy Spirit though does not mean that we cannot move or make a decisions unless the Spirit gives us a sign in the sky. Sorry we are not Gideon or Paul, they were exceptions and we are normal. This also does not mean then that we use the Spirit like a dart board and just stab at the "right" guide. What following the Spirit means is we pray and listen to the ways He guides and directs us. We follow or allow God to give us peace when the way seems clear. And we also do not grieve the Spirit by our decisions either. Listening to the Spirit guide and direct us can be through friends, wisdom, or a path that stretches or strengthens our faith. No matter what, following the Spirit and His guidance means then that as long as we do not sin and worship ourselves with our decisions, He will walk with us and be our guide even if we make the "wrong" decisions. For example, if I would chose the "wrong" decisions and go to the wrong church, it is not a sinful act and even though I did not go the way God intended, His grace in my life and the work of following the Holy Spirit will cover my mistake and guide me into new paths for Him. The Spirit in our lives is the greatest gift and tool that God gives us as we follow His guidance.
No matter whether we make a "wrong" or "right" decision as we follow God and His guide, His grace and love for us will lead us and be with us as we walk in the life He calls. Just please do not grieve the Holy Spirit by sinning in the decisions because yes God grace will cover the sinful choice, but God will still have to punish us like a loving Father.
God guides us first by His Word. What is the most plain and strait forward way we can understand what God wants from us and our lives and actions? Through His words in the Bible. In the Bible God gives us commands on how to live. God tells us what sin is and what worship looks like. Jesus in Matthew gives us the Sermon on the Mount so that not only is our actions in check but also our hearts. God in the Bible lets us know what idolatry is and tells us plainly what the Christian life should look like. God says this is right and that is wrong. God lets us know point blank that the job of the human race is to live to bring praise and glory to their Creator. That is also the point of the Christian life shown in the Bible, to give worship and praise to our Savior Jesus and to go multiply ourselves by telling others what Jesus did for us. So the first guide to the daily life and what each day means for us the Bible.
The second way God guides us is by wisdom. God gives us a brain and experience for a reason. God also shows us by His word what wisdom is in each circumstance. God gives us the book of Job so we have wisdom in suffering. He gives us Proverbs so we can have wisdom in action. He gives us the Psalms to see wisdom in prayer. Song of Solomon so we can see wisdom in love. And Ecclesiastes to see wisdom in joy. God gives us the brain and wisdom in life so that we will have understanding in decision moments. God gives us wisdom so we know when to get help and more understanding about something in life because we need help. God gives us wisdom because that is how He best gives help to His children to walk a Christian life upright and wise even to the world. A wise life and the wisdom that God gives us, peppers the Bible everywhere and using our brain without fear is another gift from God in His guidance in life.
The third way God can guide us is by the support and help of friends and others in our life. God not only designed the the church for a community feel, but He also made humans social creatures for a reason. God also gives us a brain so we know when we need help and guidance. I know in my life alone I need help and guidance when it comes to areas like finances, hunting, politics, science, preaching, and working on my car. And that is just to name a few areas that when I have decisions to make I need incite and impute in my life. I have also discovered that in areas that I need guidance in, God has places men and women in my life that can give me a better understanding or impute that will guide me better than I could ever do on my own. What people has God placed in our lives that will help guide us? People, leaders, and friends are an amazing resource for guidance as we search what God is calling us to not only do daily but also with bigger decisions.
The fourth way I find that God gives guidance in our lives and leads us is through the Holy Spirit. Following the Holy Spirit though does not mean that we cannot move or make a decisions unless the Spirit gives us a sign in the sky. Sorry we are not Gideon or Paul, they were exceptions and we are normal. This also does not mean then that we use the Spirit like a dart board and just stab at the "right" guide. What following the Spirit means is we pray and listen to the ways He guides and directs us. We follow or allow God to give us peace when the way seems clear. And we also do not grieve the Spirit by our decisions either. Listening to the Spirit guide and direct us can be through friends, wisdom, or a path that stretches or strengthens our faith. No matter what, following the Spirit and His guidance means then that as long as we do not sin and worship ourselves with our decisions, He will walk with us and be our guide even if we make the "wrong" decisions. For example, if I would chose the "wrong" decisions and go to the wrong church, it is not a sinful act and even though I did not go the way God intended, His grace in my life and the work of following the Holy Spirit will cover my mistake and guide me into new paths for Him. The Spirit in our lives is the greatest gift and tool that God gives us as we follow His guidance.
No matter whether we make a "wrong" or "right" decision as we follow God and His guide, His grace and love for us will lead us and be with us as we walk in the life He calls. Just please do not grieve the Holy Spirit by sinning in the decisions because yes God grace will cover the sinful choice, but God will still have to punish us like a loving Father.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Jesus Yoke
Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
We all have our thoughts about Jesus' yoke of burden and what that means for us. I am reminded by this picture though and the verse above it that Jesus yoke is not something we have to bear alone. Just like in this picture the older ox (with the bigger horns on the left) is walking with and training the younger ox what the job is. So too Jesus walks with us as we together with Him bear the yoke of the Christian life. Jesus is walking right next to us, in the yoke with us, teaching us and guiding us. Only will the younger ox learn by walking step in step and mirroring the mature older ox. Just the same with us. We need to mirror Jesus and walk step in step with Him and then the yoke and burden it is pulling will be easy. So next time you think about the Christian life, or as I affectionately call it the Jesus lover life, remember that the yoke of burden is easier when we are step in step, mirroring the ox, Jesus, beside us in the yoke.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
We all have our thoughts about Jesus' yoke of burden and what that means for us. I am reminded by this picture though and the verse above it that Jesus yoke is not something we have to bear alone. Just like in this picture the older ox (with the bigger horns on the left) is walking with and training the younger ox what the job is. So too Jesus walks with us as we together with Him bear the yoke of the Christian life. Jesus is walking right next to us, in the yoke with us, teaching us and guiding us. Only will the younger ox learn by walking step in step and mirroring the mature older ox. Just the same with us. We need to mirror Jesus and walk step in step with Him and then the yoke and burden it is pulling will be easy. So next time you think about the Christian life, or as I affectionately call it the Jesus lover life, remember that the yoke of burden is easier when we are step in step, mirroring the ox, Jesus, beside us in the yoke.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Free Slave
A few verses that God has shown me over the last week have illustrated another tension in the Christian life that I think I have needed to be reminded of.
Romans 6:18
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Romans 6:22
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
1 Peter 2:16
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover up of evil; live as servants of God.
So we are free but yet at the same time we are slaves. That is very interesting, challenging, and important to think and pray about. I will not take the length to give a full explanation of what I think all this means but I believe it has a few very important things to remind us of.
Being free means first as Romans says we are free from the bondage of sin. This also means that we are free from the bondage to the flesh and the sin of being a dead person. We are free from our old self, the ball and chain that the life of a dead person brings. We are free from the bondage of this world and free from the deep seated desire in us to call this world home and settle in for a long stay. We are free from making our selves happy and having happiness as the only pursuit in this life. We are free from the desire and passion in ourselves for our own good at all cost and the drive of self. Being free sets us free in many ways and gives us an ultimate freedom that a person not in Jesus could have.
*Even though we are free we still struggle with sin and the tension of this life which was looked at in my last post*
But this freedom in Jesus does come with a cost and that cost is being a slave as Romans and 1 Peter highlight. So what does it mean that we are slaves to righteousness and servants of God? Simply put this means we are now captive and slaves to our love, desire, and passion for Jesus. Having become slaves we now lives lives that are in love with the person who set us free and that is Jesus. We then live to serve Him and work for His mission. We live lives that are in love with Him and we become slaves to that love of Jesus so our lives are then centered around a life of service and holiness for Jesus. We become slaves and servants to our passions and pursuit of Jesus. Our life is full of works and acts of service and love in honor of Jesus. We join and are a part of Jesus' bride, which is visibly His church. We spend time talking with Jesus and spend time reading His words and commands to us. In a life of slave love to Jesus we follow His commands and continually live as a broken repentant person knowing that we continually need Jesus to set us free from our sin struggle and tension. We are free with Jesus but now become slaves to the love and desire and want of Him.
This is the amazing tension of the Christian life and it is a great reminder for us as we wake up each day trying to follow and honor God with our words and actions. We are free but at the same time should be slaves. Amen
Romans 6:18
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Romans 6:22
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
1 Peter 2:16
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover up of evil; live as servants of God.
So we are free but yet at the same time we are slaves. That is very interesting, challenging, and important to think and pray about. I will not take the length to give a full explanation of what I think all this means but I believe it has a few very important things to remind us of.
Being free means first as Romans says we are free from the bondage of sin. This also means that we are free from the bondage to the flesh and the sin of being a dead person. We are free from our old self, the ball and chain that the life of a dead person brings. We are free from the bondage of this world and free from the deep seated desire in us to call this world home and settle in for a long stay. We are free from making our selves happy and having happiness as the only pursuit in this life. We are free from the desire and passion in ourselves for our own good at all cost and the drive of self. Being free sets us free in many ways and gives us an ultimate freedom that a person not in Jesus could have.
*Even though we are free we still struggle with sin and the tension of this life which was looked at in my last post*
But this freedom in Jesus does come with a cost and that cost is being a slave as Romans and 1 Peter highlight. So what does it mean that we are slaves to righteousness and servants of God? Simply put this means we are now captive and slaves to our love, desire, and passion for Jesus. Having become slaves we now lives lives that are in love with the person who set us free and that is Jesus. We then live to serve Him and work for His mission. We live lives that are in love with Him and we become slaves to that love of Jesus so our lives are then centered around a life of service and holiness for Jesus. We become slaves and servants to our passions and pursuit of Jesus. Our life is full of works and acts of service and love in honor of Jesus. We join and are a part of Jesus' bride, which is visibly His church. We spend time talking with Jesus and spend time reading His words and commands to us. In a life of slave love to Jesus we follow His commands and continually live as a broken repentant person knowing that we continually need Jesus to set us free from our sin struggle and tension. We are free with Jesus but now become slaves to the love and desire and want of Him.
This is the amazing tension of the Christian life and it is a great reminder for us as we wake up each day trying to follow and honor God with our words and actions. We are free but at the same time should be slaves. Amen
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Struggle with Sin
Tonight I want to take a look at 2 different verses from the book of Romans that are only a mere chapter apart. These verse pinpoint a struggle that every Christian has and after I show the struggle I would like to point out the only 2 solutions that I know of in this battle.
Romans 6:2
By no means! We died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?
Romans 7:19
For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing.
So these verses highlight the fact that as Christians we have a battle with sin. As the first verse shows us that when we accept Christ as our Savior and begin a life of faith and love in Him we die to our sin. This simply put means that we are set free from sin. We are no longer have a ball and chain around our neck called sin and the death because of this sin. Christ in His death for us and because of His life of holy perfect righteousness has set us free from the bond of sin.
But, the second text from Romans reminds us though that even when we are set free from sin we still have to deal with it. This verse simply put shows us we still yield to the power of sin and still have a bent to sin. So even when Jesus frees us from the bond of sin we still live a life in the flesh this side of eternity. A life in the flesh still has passion and desires that are contrary to God and will cause us to sin. Even when Jesus frees us we can not escape sin. We still struggle and deal with temptation and giving in and sinning as a result. We battle the sin every day in our lives and still yield to it continually.
So what do we do about this struggle with sin even after we are free and how do we deal with this tension in our lives as we face temptation? I have two simple yet very challenging solutions.
#1- Keep on keeping on. Simply put do not give up on this battle and lose the tension. Once you do not feel the tension in your life of the struggle with sin, sin has conquered you and temptation might not even exist in your life anymore because you have gone back to a life of sin and its bondage. We must as lovers of Jesus keep fighting the battle and running from temptation. So my first solution to this struggle is do not give up. Remember and take hope in the fact Jesus is preparing a place someday where this battle will be over and we will never deal with sin again.
Solution #2- Repent, Repent, Repent and when need be repent again. We all sin and even after being free from sin by Jesus we will still sin and sin and sin and sin when we do not want to because it feels good. The only solution I know for sin, this side of heaven, in our lives is to repent when we do sin and miss the mark. We need first to repent to God and become a broken person before Him crying out in our desperate situations of daily need to win the battle against sin. Then we need to repent and show a brokenness to the party that we hurt with our sin. Sometime later I would love to explore a fuller picture of repentance and what it all means, but repentance is something that every lover of Jesus needs in their daily life. And in the struggle and tension against sin we need to repent and repent continually and turn from our sin way and walk in righteousness.
So we all have a struggle, battle, and tension in our lives with sin and we yield to it continually even though Jesus has given us freedom from sin. So keep on keeping on and repent, repent, and repent again. And tomorrow when we all wake up, repeat those same steps again because remember someday for those who love Jesus, He will get rid of the sin tension once and for all. Amen
Romans 6:2
By no means! We died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?
Romans 7:19
For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing.
So these verses highlight the fact that as Christians we have a battle with sin. As the first verse shows us that when we accept Christ as our Savior and begin a life of faith and love in Him we die to our sin. This simply put means that we are set free from sin. We are no longer have a ball and chain around our neck called sin and the death because of this sin. Christ in His death for us and because of His life of holy perfect righteousness has set us free from the bond of sin.
But, the second text from Romans reminds us though that even when we are set free from sin we still have to deal with it. This verse simply put shows us we still yield to the power of sin and still have a bent to sin. So even when Jesus frees us from the bond of sin we still live a life in the flesh this side of eternity. A life in the flesh still has passion and desires that are contrary to God and will cause us to sin. Even when Jesus frees us we can not escape sin. We still struggle and deal with temptation and giving in and sinning as a result. We battle the sin every day in our lives and still yield to it continually.
So what do we do about this struggle with sin even after we are free and how do we deal with this tension in our lives as we face temptation? I have two simple yet very challenging solutions.
#1- Keep on keeping on. Simply put do not give up on this battle and lose the tension. Once you do not feel the tension in your life of the struggle with sin, sin has conquered you and temptation might not even exist in your life anymore because you have gone back to a life of sin and its bondage. We must as lovers of Jesus keep fighting the battle and running from temptation. So my first solution to this struggle is do not give up. Remember and take hope in the fact Jesus is preparing a place someday where this battle will be over and we will never deal with sin again.
Solution #2- Repent, Repent, Repent and when need be repent again. We all sin and even after being free from sin by Jesus we will still sin and sin and sin and sin when we do not want to because it feels good. The only solution I know for sin, this side of heaven, in our lives is to repent when we do sin and miss the mark. We need first to repent to God and become a broken person before Him crying out in our desperate situations of daily need to win the battle against sin. Then we need to repent and show a brokenness to the party that we hurt with our sin. Sometime later I would love to explore a fuller picture of repentance and what it all means, but repentance is something that every lover of Jesus needs in their daily life. And in the struggle and tension against sin we need to repent and repent continually and turn from our sin way and walk in righteousness.
So we all have a struggle, battle, and tension in our lives with sin and we yield to it continually even though Jesus has given us freedom from sin. So keep on keeping on and repent, repent, and repent again. And tomorrow when we all wake up, repeat those same steps again because remember someday for those who love Jesus, He will get rid of the sin tension once and for all. Amen
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