On a trip to Chicago, a friend recently inspired me to put further thought into the place sin has in my life. His devotion to the pursuit of holiness and his black and white nature regarding it pushed me to further considerations. I love his no compromise, no retreat and no surrender outlook. It drove me into the Word to sharpen, reevaluate and make sure of some things. This is what God is showing me.
Icontinue with part two from this verse that gave me pause:
"14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." James 1:14 - 15
In part one we talked about the first battlefield being the battlefield of identity. In Christ we are made new (2 Cor 5:17) and must not live allowing sin to corrupt the blank slate we have been given. We do that through daily surrender to the fact that we should no longer live as we were prior to our conversion experience (1 Cor 6:11). God doesn't want us there for the simple reason that a life of sin breaks fellowship with God. When we continue in sin, we can not have the relationship with God that He wants and we need. Thank God for grace which leads us to confession and repentance (1 John 1:9). As we confess, right relationship is restored, not to keep us going through a sin-confession cycle, but instead to kill sin in our lives and further us into greater holiness. You will know greater holiness when the things that you used to go to God about in confession become less and He takes you deeper into the recess of your soul, unraveling the root of greater sin in your life.
The second battlefield in killing sin in how it is born. James tells us that sin is the spawn of lust conceived. I believe this to mean that if we can address 2 things: When natural desire becomes lust and when lust gestates sin, we can put the spawn of this right on the firing line for termination.
One of the best definitions I have heard for sin is this, "Sin is my attempt to handle the circumstances of my life apart from God." God has a plan for every aspect of human life but we often step outside of His plan because we don't like the means to the end. We want it faster, with less effort and free of perceived negative consequences. We do not realize that stepping outside of His plan only breeds real negative consequences. Thus we must stop sin from becoming lust by learning the power of 3 words,"I trust God."
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path" Prov 3:5
Trusting God is not blind obedience. Trust is based upon revealed truth that you have seen yield good fruit in the past. That fruit that you fertilized on smaller acts of faith now feeds you when larger acts of faith are needed. Those greater needs require that we act in faith, based upon our renewed mind (Romans 12:1-2). Do this and you will keep natural need from becoming impure lust. Remember that God knows our need, and has a plan, not to keep us from experiencing good things, for they are His gift to us (James 1:17). He truly desires to keep us in fellowship and relationship and understands that the consequences of sin will rob not only us of that experience but also robs God of the relationship He created us to have.
The second part of this compels us to look at the development of sin. Sin is often the byproduct of several steps of development. First, we have a need. Second, Satan attempts to woo us to his solution. Third, we rationalize his solution. Fourth, we entertain his solution and finally we act upon it. This is sins gestation process an thus compels us, as believers in Christ, to address it in 2 ways:
1. Birth control (Abstinence)
2. Abortion
Let's go deeper in my next entry:
Icontinue with part two from this verse that gave me pause:
"14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." James 1:14 - 15
In part one we talked about the first battlefield being the battlefield of identity. In Christ we are made new (2 Cor 5:17) and must not live allowing sin to corrupt the blank slate we have been given. We do that through daily surrender to the fact that we should no longer live as we were prior to our conversion experience (1 Cor 6:11). God doesn't want us there for the simple reason that a life of sin breaks fellowship with God. When we continue in sin, we can not have the relationship with God that He wants and we need. Thank God for grace which leads us to confession and repentance (1 John 1:9). As we confess, right relationship is restored, not to keep us going through a sin-confession cycle, but instead to kill sin in our lives and further us into greater holiness. You will know greater holiness when the things that you used to go to God about in confession become less and He takes you deeper into the recess of your soul, unraveling the root of greater sin in your life.
The second battlefield in killing sin in how it is born. James tells us that sin is the spawn of lust conceived. I believe this to mean that if we can address 2 things: When natural desire becomes lust and when lust gestates sin, we can put the spawn of this right on the firing line for termination.
One of the best definitions I have heard for sin is this, "Sin is my attempt to handle the circumstances of my life apart from God." God has a plan for every aspect of human life but we often step outside of His plan because we don't like the means to the end. We want it faster, with less effort and free of perceived negative consequences. We do not realize that stepping outside of His plan only breeds real negative consequences. Thus we must stop sin from becoming lust by learning the power of 3 words,"I trust God."
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path" Prov 3:5
Trusting God is not blind obedience. Trust is based upon revealed truth that you have seen yield good fruit in the past. That fruit that you fertilized on smaller acts of faith now feeds you when larger acts of faith are needed. Those greater needs require that we act in faith, based upon our renewed mind (Romans 12:1-2). Do this and you will keep natural need from becoming impure lust. Remember that God knows our need, and has a plan, not to keep us from experiencing good things, for they are His gift to us (James 1:17). He truly desires to keep us in fellowship and relationship and understands that the consequences of sin will rob not only us of that experience but also robs God of the relationship He created us to have.
The second part of this compels us to look at the development of sin. Sin is often the byproduct of several steps of development. First, we have a need. Second, Satan attempts to woo us to his solution. Third, we rationalize his solution. Fourth, we entertain his solution and finally we act upon it. This is sins gestation process an thus compels us, as believers in Christ, to address it in 2 ways:
1. Birth control (Abstinence)
2. Abortion
Let's go deeper in my next entry:
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