God's favorite game: hide the commandment.

It's easy to want to find commandments in the New Covenant even when they don't exist. It's often said that we have to interpret the Bible through command, example, and necessary inference. The last one is dubious, because God doesn't play hide the commandment. In fact, what matters is very clear:

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor 6:9-11).

What if I've already sinned so much that it's impossible to change?

Many Christians let their past failures accumulate to the point where they have a hard time resisting temptation. They think, "What difference would one more sin make?"

There's a way to beat that. 2 Cor 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."  That's a beautiful statement, but God alsosays, "you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Rom 6:11)

We ARE new creations. We ARE dead to sin. But we have to actually believe it—we have to consider it, buy into it, and act in faith on that. Do you really consider yourself as dead to sin? If not, start today. 

When should I stop getting drunk?

Boy oh boy, God is a heavy hitter when it comes to His people. Take a look at this gauntlet that He throws down in front of us and tell me if ya like it! I know that I thought it was flat-out impossible and insane for a while:

"For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.  In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you." (1 Pet 4:3-4)

So God just tells it like it is, huh? There are no excuses! Time's up, now move on into Godliness! By the way, my main point for this is actually that, if you have bad habits and stop, you might see your old party/sin buddies get kinda mean. Guess what! That's a good thing. Time to make new buddies! And it's a sign that you're growing. If the old crew doesn't see a change in you, you've got a problem! :)

Is slavery ok or: are you a slave, too?

BQ: It's a great thing to want to be Christian, but it's a greater thing to know what that entails. What some don't realize is that being a Christian costs a lot. In fact, God says,

"Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?" (Rom 6)

Wait! Slaves? Obedience? What? God works hard for us—in fact, He worked Himself to death. It is therefore no surprise that he expresses some incredulity and says, "You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin."  (Heb 12:4) That may be a lot to take in, but God also gives us the power to live up to it—He is both King and Comforter! Let's go for it! 

Deceit and backsliding...they're just like, the best friends ever, man.

Have you considered what happens when Christians start to fall away, or when they start to backslide and regress?  God expressed his frustration in Jer 8:5 saying,

"Why then has this people turned away

    in perpetual backsliding?

They hold fast to deceit;

    they refuse to return. (Jer 8:5)"

Deceit is almost always present when Christians start to regress. In fact, it's deceit that allows backsliders to get around the pain of leaving God. And like a child taking a piece of duct tape off his skin, it's often done a little bit at a time.  As Christians, let's pray that we don't deceive ourselves, and that if we start to, we realize it quickly and return humbly! 

I can watch as much porn as I want!

Something awesome about being a Christian is that I can do home and watch as much porn as I want. I can drink as much alcohol as I want!  Wait, are you confused? Is this some grace-type post? Nope! It's even better.

The Psalmist pleaded, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me!" (51:10)  So beautifully, God promised in Ezekiel, "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (36:26)

That new heart is invaluable. 20 years after starting in AA, an alcoholic will introduce himself as still being an alcoholic—the desire is still there.  As Christians, God's power can change our very desires, if we embrace it. We can go home and think, "There is no way that I'd want to drink. There's no way I'd want to ever watch porn!" Our heart can feel sick at the very thought. And that is a huge blessing. 

Shrapnel.

When people get hurt, they won't hesitate to have shrapnel and debris removed for their wounds. Sin is debris in the soul, and like the physical type, if left untreated it can fester and spread infection.  God reminds us, "for sin will not rule over you, for you are not under law, but under grace." (Romans 6:14)

Let's live up to that and scrub out the sin. 

Knocked on your butt? Get back up.

My favorite business professor once said, "The reason I'm successful is because I got back up when I got knocked on my butt." As Christians, we can't let a failure haunt us—it should not define us, but rather inform us of areas we need to work on.

Peter denied even knowing Jesus three times while Jesus was being crucified. Jesus had predicted it, and Peter had denied it, yet when the rooster crowed , Peter realized what he had done and wept bitterly. The ANGUISH of failure is intense!  But it CAN'T haunt us an ruin us. 

In Acts 2, we see Peter giving the first sermon after Jesus’s ascension into heaven–to a crowd of thousands of people when he had previously denied Jesus in front of just a few days earlier. Christians mustn't become discouraged when they fail. They shouldn't wallow in self-pity and give up due to the mishap. Instead, they should pick themselves back up and continue on. As leaders in Christ, for Christ, we will do better next time. 

It's only a struggle if you fight it.

Yes or no: Some people just need to come to their senses! What if you were working for the enemy and didn't even know it? God says that we should be "with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,  and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." (2 Tim 2:25-26)

That's a scary thing! How can we make sure that we're not Satan's unwitting POWs? God explains 3 verses before by saying, "flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." Embracing unrighteousness—even just by refusing to fight it—can lead to us being held captive by Satan to do his will. 

It's not a struggle with sin if you're not fighting it. Flee it. Fight it. Don't be captured by it. And if you have friends who are captive to Satan, fight for their freedom, but don't let them snare you for Satan. :)

The Swiss Cheese Model of Sin and Catastrophe

WARNING: PG-13. Have you ever heard someone say, "I didn't mean to have sex, it just happened?" If you'd like, replaced "sex" with "I didn't mean to get drunk and then drive," or "I didn't mean to lie and then have to tell a bigger lie to cover it up."  The concept in all of these is the same: something went from OK to disaster in one step. However, that's very rarely the case. 

Look at the attached picture. The Swiss Cheese model of accident causation is a model used in risk analysis and risk management. It shows that we have multiple layers of defenses against accidents, and that multiple failures, when aligned, can spell disaster. This is also true spiritually. 

Usually people don't just instantly fornicate. Instead, they like each other. They talk to each other. Then maybe they kiss, talk about sex, start spending time alone together, start taking off clothes, touching sensually, and THEN it happens. That's why God warns us, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." (Romans 13:14) Each of those steps toward sleeping with someone is us allowing a provision for sin, but each is a chance for us to stop sin in its tracks. 

James 1 explains it like this: "But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." (v14-15) Let's use every chance we have to prevent sin! 

A deadly process.

"Wait, you drove to see her while you were drunk? Seriously? That's horrible and dangerous, you could hav—"  "OH SHUT THE **** UP, I should have known you'd judge me. Like you're perfect. Everyone's driven drunk. It wasn't that bad."

That's from a conversation I had with a Christian in my past. This person had a billion good qualities of stunning magnitude, but refused to address this particularly strong fondness for drinking to excess. Satan has a flowchart to deceive us. First, he hooks us with a sin. But he needs us to think that it's normal to sin. To do that, he gives us friends who do the same things, because bad company corrupts good morals. He wants us not only to practice that sin, but to give approval to those who do; to feel more comfortable letting loose with them than being around the saints. (Rom 1:32)  Consider this escalation of thought: 

My friends drink, so I'll try it, too. -> You know, everyone drinks a little. -> Everyone likes to let loose and party with friends. -> Everyone gets drunk. Everyone drives drunk. -> Wow, my friends don't criticize me for this! No wonder I hang out with them. They're compassionate. You're not. Get out of my life.

That escalation can occur with anything. Everyone watches porn, right?  Everyone cusses, right? Everyone sleeps around, right? 

Because we go down that process of thought and are so desensitized toward sin, we fail to have the proper response toward it, whether it is our own sin, or sin in others. We minimize it, justify it, or ignore it and go on our way unaffected by it—or so we think it has no effect. We look at those billion good qualities and feel proud of our spiritual accomplishments and tell ourselves, "This outweighs that sin I'm keeping—that's what grace is for!" 

God says, "And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." (Mt 24:12) Our love for righteousness grows cold.  We exchange the truth of God for a lie, and become liars seared in our own consciences. We become dead men walking. Don't let that happen to you. Nip it in the bud. 

Grace doesn't make sin less dangerous.

Satan wants us to say that we're not ready or not able to break bad habits, and if he can't convince us of that, he does something more insidious: he tries to get us to believe that, "Hey, this sin is fun and that's  what grace is for, so it's not that serious! Ain't God great?"  DON'T FALL FOR IT!  God warns strongly about taking grace (and thus sin) casually, saying,

"Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."(Romans 2, in part)

God's love and kindness are great, but if we make light of it, we store up for ourselves wrath and indignation. Let our prayer be to be those who, "by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, [receive] eternal life." (Romans 2:8)

An unbeatable sin?

Ever had a sin that was SUPER tough to beat, maybe UNBEATABLE? Wait! Even though Goliath was MUCH bigger, more imposing, and super tough, David did not concoct some "special Goliath plan." To do so would actually be to honor the enemy. Nope! All sins are to be understood and processed through David's simple logic with Goliath: Dishonor to God. Affront to God. It must die; cut its head off.

Don't elevate sin's power by making is some super-special thing. God says it's nothing but what's common to man, and He provides a way of escape. When stuff is really clobbering us, we want to make excuses not to fight it, just like people would try to not fight Goliath. "It's too hard to beat. I'm not ready. I don't have the tools."

Don't do that. Knocking out the big ones does something special. You see, after David lopped Goliath's head off, "the Philistines saw that their champion was dead and they fled." (1 Sam 17) So take on that Hulk of a sin in your life and realize how empowered that conquering it will make you! Knock out the big ones and the rest will start toppling like dominoes.

When we make light of sin.

When we make light of sin ("But a little [insert sin type here] won't hurt..."), we make light of Satan. Jude 9 says, " But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

Satan's a powerful, supernatural evil. Take sin, and thus Satan, seriously and with a sober mind.

A Better Way to View Sin

Phil Sutton of Christ's Church in Bozeman, MT, wrote this. It'll encourage you! Give it a read!

"Is it a sin if I . . . ? " For the Christian, I suggest that this not the best question to ask when it comes to life decisions, at least that has proven to be the case for me. If I already really think that it could possibly be sinful, then I know that I myself am at least a little suspicious that the activity might be somewhat shady, maybe a little too close to the line, if not actually over it. Then I try to find comfort from those who would tell me that I should go for it. I find little joy in my faith when I think like this. My focus is on myself, my "rights", my personal safety (after all, I don't want to go to hell, but I really want to do what I want to do), and even my sin. I find myself defending my life (to myself, to others, and to God) more that actually living a meaningful and happy abundant life. My abundant life is better realized when I ask different questions. Here are a few that I ask myself a lot nowadays as I try to make decisions.

1. How am I going to glorify God in this?
2. How am I going to use this to benefit the kingdom of God?
3. How am I going to use this to encourage and help others?
4. How is this decision going to build and strengthen my faith? My family's faith? My Christians siblings' faith?
5. What opportunities is this decision or activity going to provide for fulfilling God's will.

A question to summarize all of these: IS IT PROFITABLE FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND DOES IT EDIFY?

1 Corinthians 10:23 - "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify."
So, even if it is "lawful", is it good and useful?

For myself, I really like the positive, forward-focused questions better. They help me focus on God rather than on myself or sin. They help me make decisions with joy and with a clear conscience, rather than with fear and a somewhat guilty conscience.

Sin is not even an option in the mind of a Christian. If I am suspicious of sin, I already know the answers to the above questions.

Press on in faith, not fear!

If you can't forgive or forget, pick one.

Are you good at record keeping? Have you ever had a falling out with someone? Maybe it was ages ago, but you still don't talk? Maybe it was SUPER-SERIOUS FACEBOOK OFFICIAL and you even blocked them for whatever reason and thought, "Aha, me and Mark Zuckerberg will teach 'em!?" 

God said love "keeps no record of wrongs." When will you tear up that record and start fresh? After all, the second greatest command is to, "love your neighbor as yourself.’" (1 Cor 13 & Mark 12)  

How do you react to different sins?

How do you react to different sins? I was talking to a friend about struggles we have. Sometimes, for example, we night not think a thing about a Christian sleeping around, or routinely getting wasted with friends, but someone gay, on the other hand, is not even worth bothering with! Blech!

God warns us against this habit, saying, "Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,  nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.  Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. " (1 Cor 6:9-11)

Do you let some sins slide because they're more acceptable to you? Or do you say, "Such were some of us?" Put the sin in the past, and help anyone get on target, no matter how they currently miss the mark! :)

When you just can't stand someone.

"Man, that stinking witch...well, God requires that I love her, but she should have her sins exposed and man I'd like to punch her face!  If only everyone else knew what I know about her!"—an internal thought from a Christian.

"Oh yeah, well you don't really serve Christ; it's all for show with you [censored], go to HELL!"—a Christian phone call gone nasty.

"Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”—Romans 13:14; God.

The above are a symptom of sickness in the lives of Christians; the symptom of a deadly disease which carries with it a host of other maladies. It is called "bitterness," expressed in Greek as being "pikros," meaning that the entire thing is cutting, sharp.  Have you ever seen that sort of response from a Christian in a relationship? Calculated, incisive, meant to cause damage...here is something better to consider:

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice."—Eph 4:31 

Becoming Someone Different

BQ: I knew of a Christian who became involved in promiscuity and drinking, and just had a hard time assembling with the saints. He got away from frequenting bars, yet still found himself at a bar as often as at assembly.

"For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation...For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication!" (II Corinthians 7:10-11)

Sometimes it can be hard to shake the image of sin from us, but to start, we have to make radical changes.  If we used to go the the bar three times a week, and got drunk every day, we can't allow ourselves to "just go to the bar once a week." The change has to be so radical that someone meeting us today would never know that we'd ever been like that at all.  

Secret Sin: Can You Keep It Hidden?

Food for thought and the stout of stomach:

I have personal reasons to address this heavy topic today, but it is my hope to prick your hearts and dampen the power of evil that has so strong a hold on too many souls in this world. And so I ask:

What dark secrets are you hiding?

How long do you think you have before they will be discovered?

It really doesn't matter how clever you are, how carefully you cover your tracks or how masterfully you might be able to manipulate those around you. No matter how hard we try, we cannot conceal our sin from God, and He has the power to reveal it to anyone, at any time.

"Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops." Luke 12:2-3

Are you ready for that?!?

"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption..." Gal 6:7-8a

Sin reaps corruption! That's a harsh saying and a hard truth, isn't it? Some sin is easy to confess and some sin is so shameful, so utterly vile that we might rather die than to speak it aloud, but even that sin is forgiveable.

What do we do?? For one, we could repent and confess of our sins (which means STOP IT! and FIX IT!) letting Christ wash it away OR continue in our delusion that we are in control and will never be found out.

Choosing the first, we can continue in Galatians to see that:
"...the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." 8a-9

Trade the physical for the Spiritual! Do GOOD, have patience, and be determined never to give up! The reward is beyond any fading lust or pleasure we experience here-- it is eternal life in paradise!

Still don't think you're touchable? Still think what you're doing isn't hurting anyone? What they don't know won't hurt them, isn't that the saying? If you've got the idea you are just fine, consider the warning of Titus:

"To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work." Titus 1:15-16

If you aren't obeying God, if you refuse to fight your sin, beware, lest you go so far down the path of destruction that you develop a defiled conscience that cannot guide you back the right way. If you are unfit for any good work, what are you fit for?

No pity parties! No excuses! Your sin hurts those you love and it is your choice to change that path. . . . 

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER your Savior waits for you with love and open arms, He will forgive you. He's pretty awesome like that.