Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Be Like The Fish In The Sea




“[…] as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.  We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.” CHAMBERS

“We don’t really like talking about sin .. oh, we can talk about sin in the past … but not sin in the present … we prefer to pretend it is not there … that we don’t suffer from temptation … that we don’t give in to sin … or that, at times, we prefer sin and our old nature to God and our new nature.  We often wear our new nature like a shirt.  It is a beautiful shirt, but it covers up something needs some work.  What we don’t appreciate is that you can’t embrace both sin and God.  The bible is clear on that … you see our faith .. our relationship with God depends upon our heart .. but that is where sin also springs from.  There is a cosmic battle for the heart of mankind. And it is raging inside of us.  We can think that the solution is to try harder . .and certainly to not let others know that we are struggling … but that is the deception of the Devil.  The Word is clear on that .. Ephesians 2:8,9 … saved by grace through faith and not effort … Romans 7 … we do what we don’t want to do, sin, and don’t do what we want to do, walk faithfully with God, “Who will save us from this body of death?” .. Jesus Christ …

1 Corinthians 10:13 says that we will be tempted just like everyone else that was, that is, and that will be before Jesus returns.  But God has made a way to escape from that temptation .. and it is not trying harder not to sin .. or pretending that we are not sinning … it is Jesus Christ …and the spiritual power that comes from Him through the Spirit and His Word.  Psalm 119:11 “You Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Joshua 1:8 “Meditate on the Word and you will be successful” Ephesians 6 "put on the full armor of God."  Do you see how important a daily relationship with the Lord is?  If you are immersed in the sinful culture that you live in … you must break free . .and like Paul in Romans 7, you can only do that through Jesus.  We are to be like the fish in the sea.  They lives their lives in salt water, but they are not salty inside.  And like them, we must swim in the ocean of our culture .. but we do not have to become infected by its nature … You are new in Jesus .. don’t hide your sins .. don’t pretend they are not there … confess your sins, repent and draw close to Him. ELGIN

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

No comments: