Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Shaking Off Death

I screwed up yesterday, fell into sin, and God called me on it.  What was it?  None of your business.  I've confessed it, repented and it's under the blood.  But sin is sin and we've lost sight of the fact that sin is deadly.  We tolerate it, allow it to flow around us, permeating our homes, coming into our lives, sleep with it.  It has teeth and talons and without the saving power of Jesus' work at the cross would drag every one of us to hell.  It murdered even the innocent Son of God, flaying the flesh from his body, rendering him a bloodied, beaten, and broken man, sending even the one who was there at the formations of the worlds to hell.  But we're ok with this because we've conveniently forgotten it.  We all know that Romans 6:23 says "the wages of sin is death" and subconsciously, we've chalked this up to a listing of "salvation" scriptures to quote should we ever be bold enough to actually lead someone down the trail to Christ.

God is working in my heart get rid of the junk that snakes around my ankles and trips me up.  In Hebrews 12:1 the word puts it this way "let us strip off and throw aside every encumberance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (cleverly and deftly) clings to and entangles us" (Ampliphied).  In Exodus through Deuteronomy, God had to lead the Israelites in the desert for 40 years to get Egypt out of their hearts before they were ready to go in and possess the promises he had for them.  Did you know it was only a jouney of a few weeks from Egypt to the Promised Land.  It took them that long to "throw aside every encumberance and the sin which so readily clings".  I believe God is calling everyone of us to get rid of the junk.  He is coming back for a Holy Church and what we've been is anything but holy.  He wants commitment like none of us have yet realized.  Want to know the depth of the commitment he's looking for?  Study Luke 14.  But in that commitment, He will take us to heights we've never imagined.  We haven't been capable of imagining them because our spirits haven't been in sync with his to the degree that he wishes.  He can't reveal himself to us until we align with him.  He is the unchangeable one so that means we are the ones who have to align. 

For me, I've got to lock down these lips.  Words can be terrible things and too often they flow too freely.  We forget they are how God formed all of creation.  They are little faith filled energy packets and when we are speaking the wrong things into being we are doing far more damage to our own lives than we can comprehend.  James says the tongue can set the world on fire and I've come to believe it.  It's as innocent as the good natured joking about the guy who deserves to be ridiculed because he's obnoxious and gets himself in trouble, or the boss who knows better than everyone and gets proven wrong.  But it's also following the link on the web browser to the new SI Swimsuit cover to look over the curvateous adultress splayed on the sand, or allowing impatience within you to snap into rapidly rising anger towards others, or seeking self above others in a multitude of ways beyond count.  "So easily entangles". 

Do I have to be a neuorotic mess all day wondering if I'm about to fall into sin?  I don't believe so.  I believe the Word that states the Holy Spirit is given to us a helper, to be with us, help in time of need.  I believe that if we are pursuing holiness, that God honors this and helps us dodge the potholes.  Does He jump them for us?  NO.  Yesterday I felt the twinge in my spirit that I was involved in something I should not have been, but I continued, and that is sin, that is rebellion.  It doesn't matter how you paint it, it is what nailed my Savior to an instrument of criminal torture and condemned him to die.  That was the Holy Spirit in my spirit leading me and God's word promises He will do this when we pursue/follow him.  No doubt, we'll have to choose.  In Deuteronomy 28-30, God lays out for the nation of Israel the blessings of following him and the curses and hardships of going their own way, and in 30:19 he puts it to them "here's life and here's death, choose life!"  Likewise, he'll never override our will, but he will help us see the difference.

Today, he's calling to me to shake off the sin, get rid of the extra weights, shake off the death, and choose life.

No comments:

Post a Comment