Intensify My View of Sin

John 5:14-15 says, “Afterwards Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.’ The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.”

To give some background on what’s going, we see a man that has been infirm for thirty-eight years. We don’t know for sure, but it’s possible that he was born with infirmity. Jesus found him sitting at the pool of Bethesda where an angel would come and stir up the water and whoever got into the pool first would be healed of his or her sickness. This man wanted to get into the water to be healed, but as previously stated; he was infirm and couldn’t get there in time. Jesus told him to take up his bed and walk, healing him of his infirmity.

The Jews see this man carrying his bed and tell him that he is being unlawful by carrying his bed on the Sabbath. The man looks around to find the man that told him to do so, but Jesus was nowhere to be found. However, later Jesus found the man who had been healed and delivered this statement. The man receives this and then goes out and tells everyone else about Jesus and what he had done.

Verse fourteen is pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it? I mean, no one really needs to study Greek to figure this one out. Jesus simply says, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” If it’s so simple, why do we find it so complicated? We see this theme throughout the Bible, especially in Romans 6. Romans 6:1-2 says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” If you need to look more at this idea, read Romans six; it’s so good!

This idea is so simple, but for some reason, it doesn’t ever seem to register with us. We know sin is wrong, but even after we sincerely apologize for it; we run right back into the heat of it and commit the same sin again. What is with us? Think of a convict who lives in a cell for murder, adultery, stealing, and every other crime you could ever think of. Suddenly, he is set free by the guard with the key. He is let go; no accountability, no house arrest, nothing. However, after a few days he runs back into his cell, asks the guard to chain him up and lock him in.

Yes, we’ve heard this before, but do we understand how stupid this person must be? To be completely real, this man is an idiot! But oh friends, isn’t that us?! Oh God, isn’t that me?! The issue is we don’t see our sin as a prison cell, but instead a getaway, or a cruise. Somewhere secluded where no one will ever know what we do, so we can do what we want. Is this how you see it? When you’re about to gossip or watch porn or do anything that is unrighteous, do yourself about to step into a prison? I know I don’t, but it is!

This morning, or today, or tonight, or whenever you read this. Let this be your prayer; “God, let me see the intensity of my sin. I know to You it is repulsively disgusting, but I don’t share the same vision. Give me that vision. Teach me to see sin the same way You see it.”

This is my prayer today for myself and for you – Forsake All

What Holds You Back?

John 4:28-29 says, “So the woman left her water pot, and went into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” This is such a cool chapter for so many reasons. One chapter earlier, we see Jesus talking to one of the Pharisees and telling him what salvation looks like. Then we see a huge transition in his ministry when he talks to this Samaritan woman.

When he talks to this woman, he is breaking so many social ideals; it’s not even funny. First of all, he, being a Jew, is talking to a Samaritan; the half-breeds. Next, he was talking to a Samaritan woman, which was even more prohibited in the social norms. Even worse than that was that he was talking to a Samaritan woman adulterer. This was unfathomable and we see this upon the return of his disciples who stood and watched in silence.

You have to understand this! It’s the same for us because comparatively we are the same as that Samaritan woman. In God’s eyes, all the good things we have ever done are considered filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). For God to come down and even talk to us would be considered completely outrageous. It would almost be the same as throwing a diamond into a pile of coals except multiply the contrast by infinity. He should have nothing to do with us, but despite all of His glory, He became flesh and died to spend the rest of everlasting with us.

I want you to note a specific element in the story. We see in verse twenty-eight that she left her water pot. This is something we can easily pass over because there is no big road sign saying “REREAD THIS! IT’S IMPORTANT!” in our Bible; or at least in mine. However, these few words are so significant to the intensity of the message. She understood that this man truly was the Christ, the Messiah, who would teach them all things about worship and communion with God. Because of her comprehension, she understood that she was unclean because of the previous comment Jesus made to her about her husbands. She knew she couldn’t live a life dedicated to God and still “sleep around.”

When she left her water pot, she did two things. First, she showed that her water wasn’t sufficient; she needed something more that only this man could offer. Jesus said in verses 13-14 that He had a source of water that would never let anyone who partakes in it thirst again. When she left her water pot, it symbolized that she was done trying to satisfy herself and that she was ready to run to the arms of Jesus for comfort and complete satisfaction. She stopped resisting and collapsed in the grasp of her Savior. Oh God, how I still continue to fight for my own satisfaction.

She also made the statement that she was going to leave her occupation completely for the sake of the Gospel. If we can imagine a little bit, we can probably guess that she was getting water for her family, just like all of the other women would do. However, we know that she doesn’t have a family, but only a man that she is living with. She was probably only getting water for the two of them to have. When she left the water pot, she symbolized that she was done with what she was doing and that she was going to break off the connections with the man living with her. He probably didn’t get a drink that day and in return left his spirit-filled prostitute.

So what does all of this mean? Does God call all of us to leave our occupation for the sake of Christ? We do see this often with the disciples when they left their nets and previous occupations to follow Jesus around Israel. However, we also see people like Zacchaeus who remained a tax collector but also got rid of all the sin in his life. He gave away half of everything he had and paid back four times the amount to those whom he had cheated (Luke 19:1-10). He made sure that there was no sin in his life that was keeping him away from the pursuit of Christ.

Maybe God is calling you to leave all you have and follow Him, or maybe He is just convicting you of sin in your life that is in the way of your ministry. I run into this almost every day of my life as I am reminded of sin in my life that is hindering my ministry and my relationship with God. Pray for me that I will be able to stand up for righteousness, and I will pray the same prayer for you.

Get rid of all that holds you back – Forsake All

Seek You in the Morning

John 4:39-42 says, “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed   the Savior of the world."

There is a struggle in this world between hearing then believing and seeing then believing. If you talked to a lot of seniors they’ll tell you that before they go to college they want to make their faith their own. This is a very noble quest, if it indeed is a quest. Some students say they are out to find what they believe but don’t look anywhere, but instead just let life happen to them. They believe that maybe if they become idle than the truth must come and just hit them in the face.

We see this happen to several people in the Bible. We see the hand of God stretching out to His people and we also see Him saying that He truly is the Son of God and Lord of all. Maybe we’re waiting for this. Maybe we can consider ourselves under the banner of “waiting on the Lord.” We are just waiting for the Lord to show up and when He does, then our faith will become our own.

How should we search for the truth? This is how David describes his search for God. Psalm 63:1 says, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” Can’t we see a huge difference between these two “seeking strategies”? One is an active waiting; reading the scriptures and praying to God so that he may find Him. Understand this not to be a legalistic view on waiting on the Lord. Some will comment on your actions to pursue the presence of Christ and say that you’re trying to please God and find favor with Him. The truth is the battle for your acceptance has been fought and you no longer have to try to achieve the favor of God. Find peace in that.

How are you seeking after the presence of God? What does that look like in “real life”? Maybe it’s reading your Bible or praying or joining a local ministry or being more connected to a church. Not for the sake of gaining the favor of Christ but for the sake of finding the presence of God. I don’t want you to think that God is in one specific place and that everyone on earth is trying to find that place. God is omnipresent meaning that God is everywhere and the search for His presence is longing to be close to Him, to see Him work in our lives.

So today, how can you experience God so that you can believe on your own terms? – Forsake All

Depend on God

1^st Samuel 24:4 says, “And the men of David said to him, "Here is the day of which the   Lord said to you, 'Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.'" Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's robe.”

My father has previously started a Bible Study with our youth group that causes all of us to get into our Bible everyday of the week, and we aren’t allowed to attend the next meeting if we were unable to complete four days of reading our Bibles. It’s been a great accountability plan to get into the Bible everyday. Even though I can’t attend most of the meetings, I follow the reading plan and stay on track just in case I can show up the following week.

We have been going through the book of 1^st Samuel and learning about Samuel, Saul, and most recently David. It’s been great and very enjoyable. Today, we were beckoned to read chapters 24 and 25 of the book and I came across this passage. Things are tense as Saul is directly on the other side of a mountain from David. They are the closest they have been through out this long chase and David has the opportunity to end it.

His men tell him to sneak up behind Saul and take his life. David has the full right to do this, as he has been anointed king and really Saul should be considered his subject. However, David only cuts off a piece of Saul’s garment as proof he doesn’t want to kill Saul. Even later he regrets cutting of the edge of his robe because Saul is the Lord’s anointed. Imagine how his men must have felt. So close, and he let him go. Later David approaches Saul and bows to him and shows him the edge of his garment as a symbol of his intensions. Saul then lets him life as long as he doesn’t destroy his family when David is king.

Think about it; David is on the brink of death. This man that has been seeking his life is now a few yards in front of David and David is in the most vulnerable position possible: a bow. Saul could have taken several steps and had ended David’s life. The whole situation was completely inconceivable. I imagine the men of both David and Saul were thinking, “This is ridiculous. How am I going to explain my absence to my wife now?”

If you flip over Psalm 34, you see David praising God for His deliverance. We also see his dependence on God through this Psalm and through our story. My father wrote in our study notes, “How do you depend on God?” This question scares me a little. The Creator of the universe, Who has made all things and has set things into motion, is in my backseat as jumper cable just incase my car battery needs some help. Isn’t that how it is for most of us?

How do we depend on God? How do we live a life taking steps of faith saying, “God will get me through this situation” or “God will deliver me if I depend on Him”? As many of you know, I auditioned for a ministry team at Liberty University recently and didn’t get on the team. The importance of this audition was, if one was to make it on the team, he would receive a full-ride scholarship to the school. Yeah, it was a big deal. However God must have different plans for me. I ask God, “How can I pay for college now? Do You even want me to attend college? Where do You want me to go and what do You want me to do?”

For me, to live dependant on Christ is for me to sit in the back seat and let God drive me to my destination in the future. For all I know, I could be in Africa or China or Russia sharing the Gospel or a trash man working all day everyday. I have no idea where God wants me, but He doesn’t call me to figure out my own plans; in fact, he discourages it. He says, “Seek me first.” That’s dependence.

How are you living a life dependant on God? – Forsake All

There is Victory

James 4:7 says plainly, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

It’s been a long time since my last post. Honestly, I have felt distance from God in the sense of not being able to feel His presence. I’m sure often this is the case with most of us. I believe in God and in the presence of God but I just am not experiencing it, and I tend to wonder why. I once asked a pastor at a church I was visiting and he came to me with the question, “Is there sin in your life that you have yet to repent of?”

Well of course there is sin in my life, I mean, I’m not perfect obviously. However, the question was really asking if I had repented of all my sin. To this I answered, “Yeah, I said I was sorry.” Should I really have to do anything else? The blood of Jesus has covered my sins so that I don’t have to be perfected but accept the grace that was given. But does my life truly reflect the grace given and accepted? When I sin it doesn’t.

Romans 6:1-2 says, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” This is so true but so radical to modern day thinking. The truth is for my life that I have been saved by grace from my lust, so the fact is I shouldn’t lust any more to reflect the gift given by Christ Jesus and paid for on the cross. But that is not what happens with me, as I still have my issue with lust and struggle with it daily. This is also where grace comes in, but not a grace we can simply sit on. This is to say even though we mess up, we can’t simply sit on the fact that we messed up and carry on messing up. When we mess up, we are to get up and go the opposite way by the grace of God.

This sin in my life, particularly lust, has become more and more of an issue to me and so much more of a plank in my eye as I try to grow closer to Christ. This past weekend was a retreat with the high schoolers in my youth group from my church. This sin was made evident as I sat with a group of guys and contemplated the hold lust has on all of us. However, we have been saved from these chains! They no longer have a hold on us! But God where does this pull come from then?

I met with my group of guys last night and was met with a sense of defeat when it came to lust and other issues. But why do we feel defeated when we know that Christ has paid for our sins? Is it the longing in us for perfection; to struggle no longer with trifles? Is our passion to be completed in the glory of God on His throne in heaven? Quite possibly.

Girls, it’s probably hard for you to understand this issue with the common man, but equate this struggle with yours; why do you run back to it? What makes it draw you in and be captivated by it? Are you frustrated with constant feelings of defeat? Well know this, guys and girls, young and old.

Jesus Paid it All.

Romans 6:14 says, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” You have been set free and the grip of death is no longer over you. But where does the freedom start? The problem is we try to feel free and just live our lives the way we want, but we weren’t set free in the sense that we have no captive. The reason we were freed wasn’t so that we can find out where we are suppose to fit in or do just what we want to do. What are the following lyrics to the old hymn and common contemporary song?
All to Him I Owe.

Jesus has freed us to Himself. This is to say that we have been set free, yes, in order to fall in the role of slavery to Christ and the proclamation of His glory to the entire world. We have been taken from the hold of sin not to roam and be ultimately free but to give glory in all that we do and say. This is our role and this is where we will truly feel free.

So what do we do with sin? What role does it play in our lives? Believe it or not, it actually is used to give God glory in the end. James 4:7 tells us to submit ourselves to Christ. This is what was previously discussed; understanding that we are captives of righteousness (for more questions, read Romans 4-6). Our lives are to be actively lived in a way that choice by choice we give God the glory.

Resist the devil. The devil is also a tool for God to give Himself glory in the end. The devil tempted Jesus in the desert with every type of temptation (Luke 4:17). He uses scripture to resist the devil to show that He has built up such a strong immune system for the devil and his arrows that they literally had no affect on Him. We are to do the same; build up our relationship with God so that when the devil shows up we can resist Him with our knowledge of our call and our purpose: to glorify Christ.

This is all to say that it’s about living an active Christian life, not simply one that wears the title. They call it the Christian walk because it takes active effort to move from our place to where God abides. Don’t feel defeated, for you have been washed by the blood of the Lamb (And I say that to you as much I do myself). These issues are here for your growth and for the advancement of your relationship with Christ and His glory.

Be of good cheer – Forsake All