2010 – Day 2. Jan. 2 – The Problem of Sin

Passage for Study: Genesis 4: 6 - 7 … NIV 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

My Journal for Today: Do you have trouble dealing with sin? I sure do. Sometimes I feel like the Apostle Paul wrote about in Romans 7: 13 – 24 [linked for your study] . And when I struggle with my wretchedness (Paul’s term; but mine too!), I have actually wished that God had refrained from giving us free will, … that we just would always make the right choices automatically. However, it just doesn’t work that way, does it?

We are sinners; and that sin nature – our Adamic DNA – came from one who was created to live and walk with God in a perfected setting, … The Garden. But God gave Adam (and Eve) free will, the ability to choose good versus evil; and we know that Eve first and then Adam, being her responsible head, chose evil. And we certainly could ask why would they do that, being so close to God? Why do we, now, choose evil when we know – full well – what is right versus what is patently wrong?

Well, as my devotional author, F. LaGard Smith, writes today, perhaps we choose wrong over right at times because it just feels so immediately good [what a lie Satan perpetuates and we buy]. Perhaps we do so because we just rationalize our humanity, excusing our sinfulness because we think, “I’m only human; and aren’t humans expected to sin.” Maybe we even go so far in our sin habits to pin the blame on God, saying something like, “Well, since God’s in control, He could prevent me from sinning if He so desired.” But none of those excuses or “rational lies” hold water, do they?

No, sin is sin; and it never can be excused or rationalized! God allowed for EVIL in this world so the concept of GOOD would have meaning. If there was no evil in the world, we’d never be able to recognize goodness; and the concept of free-will, the part of us that makes us like God, would be neutralized and made null-and-void. One cannot have free-will without the ability to make choices; and choices require an ability to recognize two opposing forces from which we can choose. Hence, good cannot be good unless there is evil to give definition to what is good.

So, we have the law of God’s good working in the universe He created so that we can honor God by choosing to avoid what is recognized to be not-good (or evil). And without this ability to choose (i.e., free will), the entity of faith has no meaning as well. God chose to allow evil in the world and for us, His created children, to see that evil, recognizing its nature as not-good, so that we can exercise faith in our loving, grace-giving God. If we didn’t have the inborn ability to recognize good and evil, we could not have faith in a God who has created evil to allow us to recognize good.

I know that can be somewhat convoluted in its logic. But it’s important for us to realize God has engineered into mankind the ability to choose good or evil; and when we do NOT have faith in God and choose evil (i.e., sinning), there will be consequences; and we recognize those consequences, as Smith points out, as “shame, guilt, fear, and regret.” And this ability to recognize the consequences of sin (as was evidenced in that passage of Romans 7 to which you were referred above) becomes infinitely more acute in the born-again Christian who has God’s Spirit residing in him/her. It is easy for the non-believer to develop human, emotional calluses which blind him to the consequences of his sinfulness (i.e., doing or perpetuating evil). But when one is in Christ, he/she is tuned into the mind of God by His Spirit residing in our hearts; and this allows us born-again Christians (prayerfully you as well) to more easily detect the consequences of sin.

So, may we thank God for this sign of our salvation in being able to detect, regret, and even to hate our sin nature; and may we celebrate – as we move into this New Year – God’s grace in allowing us to be cleansed from our sin when we come to His throne of grace and confess (as we read and believe from 1st John 1: 9). Today I (and you) have a choice. I (we) can pursue self or my Savior. We can choose to ignore God’s law and respond to the law of sin in our nature; or we can avoid sin and walk in victory with a God Who created us for His glory as we choose His way over the way of sin.

My commitment today is the latter; … my challenge - everyday - is always the former.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, make sin ever apparent, every moment of this day. Shine Your light so brightly that I cannot help but see my own sin choices. And give me Your strength so that I can choose Your good over Satan’s evil. Amen

2009 – Day 92.Apr. 3 – Anger’s Bitter Fruit

2009 – Day 92.Apr. 3 – Anger’s Bitter Fruit

Passage of the Day: Numbers 20: 1 - 13 … Link to study today’s passage ...

My Journal for Today: The primary message of today’s passage is twofold. First there is a message about God’s grace, which is truly amazing grace even when we don’t deserve it. Then there is the red flag warning about the danger of giving in to anger, which can lead to sin; and sin always has consequences.

In Numbers 20 we read how the people were grumbling to Moses and Aaron – AGAIN – about their lack of water, thinking – in their unfaithfulness – that God was going to let them die in the wilderness . What a short memory these people had, letting their privation and circumstances overwhelm their memory of how God had delivered them over and over again in their trek through the desert. And Moses apparently had had about all he could take of this disbelief; and after God had given Moses the instructions as to how to bring water to the people to meet their needs, Moses let his anger boil over; and he railed against God’s thirsty children, also showing distrust of God as he struck the rock, not once, but twice, in anger bringing forth the water. And Swindoll points out that Moses actually may have been surprised that the water came forth, possibly thinking that the people deserved their dry throats in their disbelief. But God’s grace poured forth in spite of Moses’ angry tirade. The water was provided

And notice that the water came forth in spite of Moses’ angry and sinful outburst. God’s people truly did need the water; and their merciful God provided water for them – in ABUNDANCE. But the water came even as Moses, God’s anointed deliverer, disobeyed God. And we know from reading forward that sin, especially from those who are God’s anointed leaders, always has consequences. And much later in his life, we read in Deut. 34: 1-3 [link provided] that God took Moses up to Mt. Nebo to see the Promised Land where this now elderly leader was never allowed to enter because of the sin committed in the scenario we read today.

Have you ever sinned against God; and He was merciful and brought you grace to move forward in life? I certainly have. But sin always has consequences; and those consequences may not show themselves until much later in life. King David experienced the death of a son, the son of his sin of passion with Bathsheba. The death occurred years after sin; but we know that it was a consequence of the sin. Moses struck the rock in anger, disobeying God; and it was years later that the consequences for that brief outburst of sin were felt in the life of Moses.

I hope we get the message; because our sin will leave its mark on our lives – even if God is merciful and provides us with His grace to move onward in life.

My Prayer for Today: Oh, Lord; thank You for your mercy in my life; and I accept any of life which I have brought about because of my past sin. Amen

2009 – Day 79.Mar. 21 – Historical Joy

2009 – Day 79.Mar. 21 – Historical Joy

Passages of the Day: Exodus 12: 29 – 30 … 29 And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. 30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

Psalm 105: 26 - 38 … Link to Psalm 105 for study …

My Journal for Today: Today Chuck Swindoll focuses on the joy expressed by the elated Hebrew people as they recognized they had been passed over by the Angel of death; and they were leaving 400 years of slavery behind and heading toward the promised land of Canaan. Joy, joy, joy!!

And then Swindoll asks his devotional readers to compare that historical joy with the very personal realization of freedom when we left our chains of sin behind and walked from our slavery to self into the promised land of freedom in Christ; and I remember that day and time well. And yes, there great joy in my heart as I came to realize that this Jesus of Nazareth was THE CHRIST; and He had died for my sins, setting me free and giving me the grace to choose freedom rather than to wallow in my sinfulness. I still revel joyfully when I relive that morning when I was set free and began my walk toward the promised land of freedom in Christ.

Some of you, who read here, however, may not have had a clear time of passover and release into freedom as I did. Maybe you’ve been a Christian for as long as you remember, … maybe having come to Christ at a very young age. Maybe you’ve just come to forget the joy of being released from the prison of sinfulness and breathing freedom for the first time. I still remember that time, which was a little over 25 years ago; but Swindoll makes a good point for all Christians, whether they had a later life conversion or not. He asks us to remember that every day we can and should revel in the joy that there is more to our life than just being saved from our sinfulness.

Yes, any Christian at any time – like today – can (and should) live in joyfulness because God wants to move us even further out of our “Egypt” and away from the land of slavery to sin. Remember, fellow Christian, … God wants to lead us – everyday - toward His promised land of freedom. As Swindoll points out, God has given us a way – everyday – of celebrating joyfully the reality that we can, by His grace, choose to avoid sin and be free in Christ. Plan A for God, was salvation; but his Plan B in your life or mine is the walk to freedom which we should recognize and celebrate EVERY DAY of our lives as Christians.

So, let’s you and me join the voices of over 2,000,000 Jews at the time of the first Passover, singing God’s praises and joyfully thanking our Lord for setting us free on that Cross so that all who receive Christ as Lord and Savior can be freed from our bondage to sin; and we can march toward the promised land of freedom in Christ – FOREVER!

Yes, for sure … JOY, … JOY, … JOY !!!

My Prayer for Today: On this first day of Spring, as Your timing would have it, Lord, I walk to freedom, following You. Amen