I must realize that the closer I walk with God, the more subtle sin will become. The natural man does not hate sin as sin; he only hates the mess he has gotten himself into. But the disciple soon discovers that sin has great undoing power, the power not only to neutralize the present but also to cancel the past.
Israel made a calf of gold and said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt" (Exodus 32:4). This was a direct contradiction to what Israel said earlier, "Thou hast led the people whom Thou hast redeemed" (Exodus 15:13).
Sin is always contradiction. It is the great no to every manifestation of God's truth and power. Even more, it destroys the present benefit that past blessings have brought us. The great strength occasioned by the song of Moses was wiped out by the creation of the calf.
God answered prayer for me yesterday, and I found that it still nourished me today-until I made my calf of gold. Yesterday's blessing is dissolved by today's idolatry.
The subtle power of sin is that it prevents me from relying on my spiritual savings account. Sin not only defeats me but it also strips me of my armor.What is my defense against the insidious thing? Only my bedrock relationship with God. That is one thing sin cannot change, remove, or
dissolve. God has vowed my salvation, not on the basis of what I experience, but on what His Son experienced for me. While sin can eliminate a day's or a year's growth in my soul, it cannot eliminate the thing that made that growth possible-the vibrant, pulsating life of God.
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death" (Romans 8:2).
From Daily With the King, Moody Press
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