He is…a Man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. —Isaiah 53:3
“We are not “acquainted with
grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live
through it, but we do not become intimate with it. […] We look at life through
the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and
educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of
God. But 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. […] 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.” CHAMBERS
Think about what events have
brought you great pain in your life. Personal
loss, relational problems, physical injury, sickness, poor life choices. All of these things are the product of living
in a fallen world. Some things happen to
you, while others happened because of you.
Where can we find relief from the burden that they bring? Where can we find peace. Have you ever thought about the attraction
that underlies your appreciation of beauty of the mountains or the sea? There is a peace that enters in as you gaze
upon them. It’s as if you are looking upon something that is unblemished,
untouched, pure. And yet, if you were adrift in the midst of the sea or alone in
the middle of the wilderness, I suspect that your perspective might be different. God created us and part of that creation was
the need to be connected to God. Being
created in His image … actually the words are “in our image”. (Genesis
1:26) “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness… “ In their image there is unity. (John 17:20:21) “I pray also for those who will believe in me
through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in
me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that
you have sent me.” But there can be no
unity where there is sin.
Wouldn’t it be great if after
we are saved, we no longer had the desire to sin? Sin were no longer crouching on our
door-step, waiting for a sign of weakness so it might rush in and rule over
us. Wouldn’t it be great if we only had
to make one decision to be obedient and didn’t have to make that choice every
day, many times during the day? And yet, that is not the case, is it? No. We
are faced with choices every day. The face
of the sin changes over time. Specifically,
with maturity, the sins become more internal, less apparent, than external,
obvious sins. Jesus spoke to that.(Matthew 5:27-28) “You have heard that
it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who
looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his
heart.” Sin is sin inside or outside, thought or acted upon. But sin still has the same result. … “sin
will kill the life of God in us.” And
that is no way to live, especially when you have the power within you to live
another way. Charley
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