He said to me, "Son of
man, can these bones live?" —Ezekiel 37:3
“Can a sinner be turned into
a saint? Can a twisted life be made right? There is only one appropriate
answer— “O Lord God, You know” (Ezekiel 37:3). […] Do I really believe that God
will do in me what I cannot do? The degree of hopelessness I have for others
comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own
personal experience such a wonderful realization of God’s power and might that
I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any
spiritual work been accomplished in me at all? The degree of panic activity in
my life is equal to the degree of my lack of personal spiritual experience.[…]
When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from Himself, He
shows it to you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has ever given you a vision
of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He will only do this when His
Spirit is at work in you), then you know that in reality there is no criminal
half as bad as you yourself could be without His grace. My “grave” has been
opened by God and “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good
dwells” (Romans 7:18). God’s Spirit continually reveals to His children what
human nature is like apart from His grace.”
CHAMBERS
Has anyone ever said to you “Do
I have to remind you?”, maybe your parents?
The answer is “yes”, we have to be reminded. Have you ever wondered why God does not
remove our propensity for sin when we are born again? Wouldn’t that be wonderful. If only I no longer had to struggle with my
old nature. But then, upon reflection,
that same struggle reminds me what I have been saved from. So …. does that suggest that sin is OK because
there is a spiritual benefit? No! Sin is
never OK. It is never excusable. It is
never to be accommodated or hidden like some aspect of your body that you find
unpleasant but are incapable of changing.
Sin is a reminder, yes, but sin is not inevitable. Your sin should motivate you to draw closer
to God, not to hide from Him. “I am weak
but Thou art strong, help me Jesus from all wrong. I’ll be satisfied as long as I walk close to
Thee” Your sin should remind you that without
Jesus, you are incapable of holiness but are in fact, the very essence of un-holiness. So don’t thank God for allowing you to sin,
thank Him that He has saved you from the consequence of sin through His Son.
And when you do sin, confess it and repent. Unconfessed sin and an unrepentant
heart keeps you from the Father and cripples the Christian life. Confession and repentance brings restoration. And that is found only by faith in Jesus. (Galatians 2:20)
One last thought. Is there someone that you have condemned to
hell? You have decide that they could
never be saved? Many if not most of us
know someone like that. Someone we have
written off. Perhaps they will not be
saved, but that is not up to us. The
same Jesus that died for your sin died for their sin. The same salvation that you enjoy is available
to them. Don’t judge other people, but
at the same time, be careful that you don’t find yourself unequally yoked with
an unbeliever. Thinking that somehow you
can redeem them. That has led to the
spiritual defeat of many well-meaning Christians. You can’t save anyone, but on the other hand, anyone
can lead you to sin. (1 Corinthians 15:33) “Do not be misled:
“Bad company corrupts good character.”” CHARLEY
No comments:
Post a Comment