Thinking of Sin

I think about this subject often and I not only think about it, but I fall into it far more than I like to admit, to my shame.  I’d like to say that I live a sinless, perfected life but that would be a lie.  As for me, I don’t believe in sinless perfection or that the Word of God teaches it.  When a person is born-again, they are no longer a slave to sin, they have been set free of the hold that sin had on their lives.  They don’t practice sin like they did before their conversion, but temptation is still there because they still have the sin nature, plus, the enemy of their souls is still in the business of destroying people’s lives and we deal with temptation daily.  

If you think that isn’t true then think about this, Jesus, the very Son of God, was led into the desert by the Spirit for that reason and what took place, please read Matthew 4:1-11, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’ But He answered and said, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.”

Now you tell me, do you think Satan didn’t know who he was messing with?  Of course, he did!!  Do you think he thought he could destroy the Son of God’s testimony?  Of course, he did, if he didn’t, he would not have even tried to tempt Jesus.  Just think of who Satan was before he became Satan, the enemy of our souls.  He was an angel that stood in the presence of God, very powerful and now he is out to destroy everyone, even those that bow down to him every day.  Now think of this, if Satan could deceive one third of the angels into following him in his plot to overthrow God, thinking that he would be number one in the kingdom of heaven, trying to put himself above God, do you think that he isn’t trying to destroy God’s followers in the same way he tried to destroy God’s only begotten Son?   Don’t kid yourselves!  The enemy of your souls would be able to accomplish his plan, except for God standing in his way on behalf of Himself and His Son and also on behalf of His chosen people.  Our enemy is a very powerful enemy, but God is all powerful and Satan is powerless when it comes to Him.

How does sin start in a believer’s life?  I believe it starts in the mind and festers there for a while, then it can turn into lust, or pride or jealousy or envy or even hatred or bitterness or numerous other things, depending on what the temptation is and because like I said we still have that sin nature.  The thought is not the sin, it is sin in its embryo stage, I heard this from a pastor years ago.  Now think of this as I try to paraphrase it, you can’t keep a bird from flying over your head, which relates to the thoughts, but you can keep the bird from building a nest in your hair, which relates to the thought when it is meditated on.  Then it goes from the mind to the heart and that is usually when it is acted upon and becomes full blown sin and becomes a real problem in the person’s life.  When deception takes hold of a person’s life it is hard to resist the temptation and Satan is a great deceiver.  And, make no mistake about it, God never tempts anyone, and He cannot be tempted, but people are drawn away by their own lust and enticed by sin.  God always provides a way of escape so that we may be able to bear it.  So, when a person sins, the blame always rests on that person’s shoulders with no one to blame but themselves.  

We have been given a free will, so we can choose to make the right or wrong choice.  Let me share how the gnat gets deceived and goes into the trap.  They go through a very small hole in the trap when they are enticed to eat what smells good to them, the problem is they cannot get back out once in the trap because they can’t find the tiny hole to get back out.  Last Sunday, my son-in-law was telling me about the gnat and how it gets trapped.  If we are not careful, we can get enticed to sin by many trappings and fall in the trap and we can have a very hard time escaping like the gnat.   

Think of this we can’t blame all sin on the evil one either, some are because of the bad choices we deliberately make, and we need to pay the consequences of our actions.  The Word of God says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord!!  In the book of Hebrews, in the 12^th chapter it says that God chastises those He loves.  Have you ever heard this saying, ‘The devil made me do it?’  That is never true, he may entice us or tempt us, but when it is all said and done it is always our choice either to do, or not to do, so we can never blame anyone else.  When we choose to sin, it causes a separation between us and God.  Let me throw this in, sometimes we can be tempted by other people, for which they will be responsible, and so will we for yielding to the temptation.  But praise be to God, He always provides a way of escape so we will be able to bear it.

God will not be angry with us forever and, if we truly repent and confess our sin, God will forgive us, please read 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  I am not advocating a license to sin, God forbid.  Please keep praying that the Lord will give you a hate for sin, your sin and also for

the sins of others and give you a true love for the sinner.  

I pray that this was a help and encouragement to all who read it and may the good Lord bless you and yours and may each of you have a blessed and great day and may all of you bless and praise the Lord for He is truly worthy!!