2010 – Day 8. Jan. 8 – Rationalizing Sin

Study from Genesis 20 – 21 ; Passage for Reflection: Genesis 20: 11-12 … NIV Abraham replied, "I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' 12 Besides, she [Sarah] really is my sister, the daughter of my father, though not of my mother; and she became my wife.

My Journal for Today: You’ve no doubt heard it said, “Oh, the web we weave when we practice to deceive.” And here we have Abraham, the so-called “Father of the Faith,” once again deceiving himself that it’s justified to tell a half-truth, which is really an out-right lie, because of his fear of another man. About 20 years earlier old Abe had used this ploy with an Egyptian King; and now here he is with Abimelech, the Philistine king, doing it again. And it’s the same self-deception and the exactly the same sinful deception.

And with this story as our Author’s highlight passage for today’s devotional, F. LaGard Smith asks, ”What persistent sin do I [you] engage in and have rationalized so repeatedly that it now hardly seems to be sin at all?” And to this I said, “OUCH!” It was not long ago, right at the end of 2009, that I covered this very subject matter in one of my devotionals led by Chuck Swindoll [if you want to look it up, it was a series of devotionals I did from Dec. 29 – 31, in fact, beginning with Chapter 15 of 1st Samuel about Saul’s rationalization of sin and into Paul’s exhortation against such sinful deception in 1st Cor. 6.] This was a personally convicting series of devotionals for me; because it revealed my own personal stronghold of sin and self-deception in the area of gluttony and poor body (i.e., “Temple”) stewardship.

In that series, Chuck Swindoll used the weakness of Saul, short-cutting and deceiving Samuel (and God, of course) by holding out, knowing full-well the extent of God’s will; and yet Saul deceived himself that it was okay to only do part of what God had told him to do. And now in today’s passage we see Abraham, … faithful Abraham, succumbing to self-deception and sinful rationalization by choosing to exercise and repeat a personal rationalization of his own. And I think God is telling me something with these two devotionals, timed so closely together. Yes, my God is definitely exposing my own weakness to rationalize (i.e., to tell myself RATIONAL LIES) as I use food to comfort something in my soul which desires fulfillment, something which only God can fill, of course.

Perhaps you who read this have some pattern of recurring sinfulness which is a thorn in your side, … something that leads you to excuse your own personal choices which you really know is sin and strikes out against God’s will for your life. For many years of my life, before I was a Christian, one of my worst areas of rationalize sinfulness was habitual sexual sin; but when I came to know Christ as the Lord of my life, though it was a struggle, God led me out of that tarpit of sinfulness into the light of freedom and deliverance.

However, after over six decades of life being a glutton, I excuse this business of repeated over eating by telling myself that it’s a such a small sin; and I give myself license for it by seeing so many other “Christians” who are obese or who are also wallowing in gluttonous self-denial as well. And then I see my own church enabling me in my sinful weakness by having many venues where I’m tempted with wonderful, fattening foods – potluck dinners, banquets, etc. And I excuse my sinful eating choices as being “not so bad,” thinking that I’m strong in my righteousness in the much more malevolent area of sexual sin. Shouldn’t I have the license to be like other sinners and to satisfy my fleshly desires in this other, much more benign area of sin (or so I tell myself)?

Bill Berry it is sin! And the excuses are lies … LIES FROM THE PIT OF HELL! And when I knowingly deceive myself, rationalizing my sinfulness in this way, I’m not any different than Saul excusing his sin or Abraham telling these kings that Sarah was his sister. And when I choose to sinfully overeat, I short-change my relationship with God; and I’m very likely dampening my ability to use God’s grace in ministry and in my own life by not making the right and righteous choices when I’m tempted to overeat.

But – though I know it’s a platitude – TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE – and I can make eating choices today and in the future which will quit honoring Satan and rightfully and righteously honor my God.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, I know your promise in 2nd Cor. 12: 9; and Your enabling grace is there for me to use Your strength to cover my weakness. May I receive and use Your empowering grace today, … and tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, … to overcome my rationalization and sinful living. Amen

2009 – Day 362.Dec 29 – Rationalization

Blogger’s Note: Today’s entry is the last one in Pastor Chuck Swindoll’s book, Great Days with the Great Lives. I cannot explain why there does not appear to be 365 days of devotionals in the book. However, because of this publishing glitch, I’m going to have to let God lead me to two more devotional subjects to close out 2009 because I don’t want to begin my 2010 devotional project (about which I’ll explain in January) until the first day in January. However, today’s entry is one with which I believe we can all identify and from which we can relearn, repent, and be renewed.

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Passage for Study: 1st Samuel 15 … 1st Samuel 15 linked for study …

My Journal for Today: If you’re following me here, BE SURE to go back and read through the entire true story in 1st Samuel 15 BEFORE you read the remainder of what I’m about to write in my journal entry for today; and see if you aren’t personally convicted by Saul’s sin and his RATIONALIZATION of the sinful choices he made.

So, … I’m assuming that you’ve followed my instructions and have read the entire chapter in question BEFORE reading this. If you did not, though I’m certainly not God, Who commanded Saul in very specific language what to do after God allowed him to defeat the Amalekites, I wonder how you’re rationalizing the shortcut you have made in reading on without following through with my humble request to read the entire chapter BEFORE reading on to this point. If you did go back and read the entire chapter, as I instructed, “Way to go!” And I thank you for respecting my wishes.

But I am Bill Berry, not God! And if you rationalized your choice to read on, ignoring my request to go back and read ALL of Chapter 15, … well, you’re not going to have to deal with God in this matter – that is, unless God also was leading you to follow my instructions and you had the temerity to ignore God’s will as well as mine. But we all have likely done what Saul did in this story, haven’t we? A lot of the time in life, we clearly know what is right and wrong; and we go ahead anyway and make wrong choices, don’t we? And then we rationalize those is some selfish way, trying to convince ourselves that what we did is somehow okay in God’s eyes. And I believe this pattern of “situational ethics,” which leads to rationalization, is becoming an epidemic in the world today.

I’ve heard it said, “To RATIONALIZE is to perpetuate “RATIONAL LIES.” And that’s exactly what Saul tried to do, … did he not? But Samuel wouldn’t let Saul get away with those pathetic and selfish attempts to hold out on God. And I hope you noticed that God reached an end to His patience and mercy with regard to Saul’s sin and his rationalization. And even though Saul weakly tried to ask for God’s forgiveness, God was so grieved over this egregious act and cover-up that the Lord moved to replace him with David as King.

My friend, it is true that God is a God of second, third, or fourth chances; and His mercy is new everyday [see Lam. 3: 22, 23]; but apparently God did not see true repentance in the attempts at forgiveness Saul tried to make before God; because the Lord turned away from Saul. We Christians, now that Christ has died for our sins and has become our Redeemer, have the promise that God will never forsake a true believer [see Heb. 13: 5] and that true repentance will always lead to cleansing from sin [see 1st John 1: 9]. That’s why I believe that being omniscient, God saw through Saul’s anemic attempt at rationalized forgiveness, knowing that Saul was incapable of true repentance.

My dear one, I don’t know just what God sees in my heart; but I do know that He will turn away from my rationalized attempts to be forgiven if my heart is not truly repentant. Repentance requires action decisions to turn away and walk away from sin and to seek and pursue righteousness. Only when we are straight up with God and we reject the RATIONAL LIES, which our sin-ridden heart (see Jer. 17: 9) will want to perpetuate, can we truly and humbly repent and receive the cleansing and enabling grace which is promised by 2nd Cor. 12: 9. Only then will we, with vulnerability and honesty, turn to God and away from our sin nature.

I pray for us in that regard …

My Prayer for Today: Lord, help us – HELP ME – to reject rationalization and to humbly seek to be real and honest before Your throne of grace, knowing that obedience and humility are the keys to Your enabling grace which allows us to overcome our sinfulness in Your Name and for Your glory. Amen