Personal Sin "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." Psalm 139:23-34
Yesterday was the Lord's day, and many of us celebrated the Lord's Table -- a time to remember what Christ did for us on the Cross. How easy we forget that He paid the full penalty for our sins.
We need to be reminded of sin and what it can do in our lives. We don't hear messages about sin anymore -- and if we do, we have joined the ranks of the culture and try to make the words that scripture uses for sin politically correct.
We need to be reminded of sin and what it can do in our lives. We don't hear messages about sin anymore -- and if we do, we have joined the ranks of the culture and try to make the words that scripture uses for sin politically correct.
Glynn Evans words about personal sin were powerful in my reading today. Listen to what he writes in his daily devotional, DAILY WITH THE KING (Moody Press):
I can never be a true disciple of Jesus Christ until I adequately despise sin. It is not enough for me to abandon sin; I must loathe it. God refers to sin in terms of beastliness, the stubborn horse, the wily snake, the mud-loving pig. That is not accidental. The beast does what is natural to it; his behavior is instinctive, and it is not redeemable. The beastliness of sin represents sin in its farthest distance from God, not merely that which is DIFFERENT form God, but that which is OPPOSITE!
My true feeling about sin is never reflected about sin in general; it is always sin in ME! God never redeems abstractions or principles; He redeems people. UNTIL I LOATHE THE SIN THAT I COMMIT, the "darling sin: as George Whitefield once called it, I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND GOD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD MY SIN AND HIS UNDYING DETERMINATION TO REDEEM ME FROM IT.
My true attitude toward a SPECIFIC sin seldom is formed BEFORE I commit it; that occurs afterward. It is difficult to see sin in its true light when it approaches me to tempt me. Then sin may often appear as "good" to the taste, "a delight to the eyes," and "desirable to make one wise" (Genesis 3:6). But once it has done its work, I see its viciousness, I feel defiled, I mourn my actions, and I turn to God in pitiful humiliation for His cleansing power.
To be a true disciple of Christ I must see the beastliness of sin before it works its devastation upon me. I must hate it everlastingly. I must never lose my grip on the fact that is was my very own sin that drove Jesus to tears, to loud outcries, to moaning and groaning, and to bloody nails. When I feel this way about my sin, I will understand Isaiah's "Woe is me" (Isaiah 6:5) and what it means to be cleansed with a coal from the altar.
I need to be reminded of this daily!!! I must view sin just like my Heavenly Father -- He hates it and so must I. -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK
Dig This Quote: God will lead you to no waters He cannot part, no brink He cannot cross, no pain He cannot bear. – Bruce Wilkinson
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