'Sin' Tagged Posts
FIRST PLACE SINNER
We live in a world that loves competition. When you run a race in track you run to get first place beating all others. If you are in sales you want to be the leader of your company with the most sales. The thing with competition is that there are winners and losers. I believe one of the reasons that Paul was used by God in such a mighty way was not because he desired to have the most followers, but because he viewed himself to be in first place of all sinners.
MORAL RELATIVISM
There certainly isn’t anything new under the sun! Moral Relativism was just as prevalent in those days as it is in ours! According to moral relativism, there is not a single true morality. There are a variety of possible moralities or moral frames of reference, and whether something is morally right or wrong, good or bad, just or unjust, etc. is a relative matter-relative to one or another morality or moral frame of reference.
VOMIT (YUCK)!
It’s interesting how often the Bible compares us to animals. Sheep, wolves, beasts, dogs etc. Sheep aren’t very bright, wolves devour sheep but what about dogs? Every dog owner has witnessed at one time or another their dog going back to their vomit (yuck!). We are disgusted when we see that and make sure they don’t come back anytime soon to give us kisses! Yet God compares those who go back to their folly or foolishness to those dogs that return to their vomit. Ponder that a moment. Makes you think twice about going back and doing that very thing that God told you not to do, right?
EXCUSES
Have you ever given it any thought how sin makes one say stupid things! It’s amazing how Aaron just took the gold, threw it in the fire and presto! out comes this golden calf! We kind of chuckle at this but how often have we’ve been guilty of making up the most fantastic excuses once we get caught red-handed in our sin? I’m sure it’s more than we’d like to admit. Be smart! Don’t get caught up with the crowd that’s egging you on to something that God wouldn’t approve of.
SENSITIVITY TO SIN
Before God destroyed Sodom, he sent His angels to warn Lot to get out of the city along with his family. We see here in our text that the angels tried to get Lot out in a hurry yet he seemed to linger, certainly in no hurry to leave the place that God was ready to destroy due to it’s overwhelming wickedness. In fact, he seemed to make light of the fact that the city would be destroyed! The Hebrew word for “mocked” means “to jest, play, to laugh repeatedly”. When we surround ourselves with wickedness on every side, we have a tendency to become acclimated to it. We are no longer “shocked” as we once were. We become less sensitive to sin, even making light of it as Lot seems to have done. How about you? Does sin still shock you or have you become friends with it?
WHAT IS SIN?
I recently had a friend ask me what “sin” was. Good question! What is sin? This particular word pictures an archer aiming for the bulls eye of a target As he draws the string back and lets go, the arrow flies but falls desperately short of the target. God has a “target” so to speak, a standard if you will, that we are to hit. That standard is absolute perfection. I’m sure we all will agree that no one is perfect and we do fall short of that standard, however, without attaining to that standard we will never be able to enter heaven apart from God lowering the standard or providing a mean’s by which we attain it vicariously through someone who can hit the mark. That someone is Jesus Christ.
NO FISHING
I’m not much of a fisherman but I know a few who can spend the whole day out on the water just waiting for that 3 lb. bass to take a strike at his bait so he can reel him in and then spend the rest of the week telling all his friends how he pulled in that 4 pounder! One thing I know not to do, if there’s a sign that says “no fishing” then I’d better leave. Oftentimes we’re just like that angler that spends the whole day trying to catch those sins that we’ve been forgiven of, reminiscing over them or perhaps sorrowing over them all the while not noticing the sign that God posted that says, “no fishing” as He’s buried those vilest sins in the depths of the sea, to remain there for eternity!