No Excuse
I’ve got a friend…a brother in Christ, that i communicate with regularly … we share our messages that God reveals to us as an encouragement … like sharing half your sammich with someone who may’ve come to work without. Doesn’t Scripture tell us to share with others the good things He gives us ( Galatians 6:6-8 ) ? It’s a way to testify about the goodness of GOD, the transforming power of His Spirit and the love of Christ the Son ! One subject we hone in on, on a regular basis, is the ABILITY to NOT sin, as a believer. We, as humans, feel like it’s a natural thing to continue sinning and leading a two-faced lifestyle, even after asking Christ into our lives. We lie, cheat and steal as if we’re free t’ do so, now that we’re “in Christ”. Let’s be real … God’s word HAS never and WILL never condone bad ( sinful ) behavior in a Christian ! I’ll save you some time … you won’t find anything in the Bible that claims otherwise. When we hate on our brothers, take too long a look, treat our spouses worse than an enemy, act a fool in traffic, withhold forgiveness, our witness or our tithe ( HELLO ! ) …it’s still considered “sin” in the eyes of GOD. When we sin, we’re literally telling God, “ I know this is going outside your will, but I’m gonna resurrect my old self for a while…you’ll just haveta turn your head, close your eyes and stop up your ears.” When we believers accept Christ by faith, believing that He died and rose again for our sake, confessing Him as “Lord” ( Romans 10:9 ), we are immediately covered under the grace of God “through Christ’s blood sacrifice”( Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:24-25 ), no longer under the “spell” of sin’s deceitfulness. God puts it like this: “Our sin nature has no control over us anymore ! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer ? We were buried with Christ through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Our “old self” was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. What shall we say then ? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase ? By no means ! Absolutely not ! “ ( Romans 6:1-7 ) Jesus paid far too high a price for us to continue living a life handcuffed by sin. Unless we turn the lordship of our lives over to Him completely, we might as well quit calling Him, “Lord”. To “surrender”, means we wave the white flag and hand over our weapons. We cannot be taken prisoner if we keep firing shots at our enemy. And that’s exactly what we’re doing if we’re telling God that we surrender, but we keep on sinning. We remain an “enemy” of God ( Romans 1:18-32 ). Saying one thing but doing just the opposite is hypocrisy 101 ! It’ll not only land us in jail, it’ll land us in hell ( “Many will say to me on that day, “ Lord, Lord” …but I will tell them, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity; I never knew you.” — Matthew 7:21-23 ). Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will. ( Romans 12:1-2 ). If we will abide in Christ ( John 15:7-9 ) and walk in the Spirit ( Galatians 5:16 ) daily, we wouldn’t have to apologize or see our spouses and kids crying, worry about signing divorce papers, paying high traffic tickets, wake up with a hangover, be looking over our shoulder or waiting for that axe to fall. Sin ought not still be a part of our lives, once we’ve crucified it and been raised to new life in Christ ! Preachers, teachers and most of this world’s people have polluted our minds and sold us a bill of goods that says something completely different from GOD’S WRITTEN WORD … we DON’T HAVETA SIN … we CHOOSE TO , when we walk outside the will of God. Sin doesn’t control a born again believer in Christ ( John 3:3 )…we let it in and welcome it ! If we’re not suiting up in the full armor of God, daily, we’re leaving ourselves vulnerable to the enemy ( Ephesians 6:10-18 ). If we’re not abiding in Christ, daily, we’re leaving Satan an opportunity to get a foot in the door ( 1 Peter 5:6-8; Ephesians 4:27-29 ). If we’re not walking in The Spirit, daily, we’re going to find ourselves on some really dark paths. Lemme end with this…it’s God’s words : “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He won’t let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” ( 1 Corinthians 10:13 ). So see ? We don’t haveta continue making excuses about why we choose to sin … after we’ve accepted Christ. There’s really no valid excuse; is there ?