Author Steven Lake
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| Thought for the Day: The Subtlety of Sin Monday, August 4th, 2014 8:58am Keywords: (None) |
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| Interesting thought for the day. Satan, aka Lucifer, hates everything that God loves, God made, God sets apart, or God chooses, and he will fight against it, twist it, distort it or create fake copycats of them in order to either destroy them or make himself greater than God in some way. So think about this. God loves life. Therefore Satan loves death because of it. If God loved death, believe it or not, Satan would in turn be a massive proponent of life. I kid you not. It's because Satan always tries to do the exact opposite of God. It's also how Satan infects our life with things that are not of God, and ultimately brings sin into our lives. So consider this. Is there something in your life that Satan is using to draw you away from God? Are you doing something that is opposite of what God wants? Or maybe it's not quite that black and white. Perhaps you are doing what God wants, but not exactly according to the bible. Remember, Satan doesn't have to take you 180 degrees from God's command to make it sin. All he needs to do is swing you just a degree off course and he's gotcha. It's like the example of lying I use quite often. That story you just told. Even though it's 99% right, it's still a lie, because that 1% that's incorrect, which you know is an outright lie or fabrication, rather than an incidental one that was not your fault, is still a lie. And that's how Satan can take the subtle approach to making you sin. Or for example, you might say you don't lust, yet you're walking down the street happily soaking up all the soft porn bra ads and double double and triple looks at cute men and women when they walk by, secretly lusting after them as you do. That's all part of the subtlety that Satan uses to get you to sin. Sure, sometimes it's the "big win" type sins that Satan tries with you, going for the mega sin rather than the subtle one. But quite often Satan only uses those when he already has numerous smaller wins against you. If he has those, it means he's got a beachhead from which he can attack you with bigger and bigger temptations and further crumble your walls of defense. So you must fight both the big temptations, as well as the subtle ones. It's like the idea of the cat poop cookies. Already sounds appetizing, doesn't it? I'm sure your stomach just started churning like a washing machine upon thinking about that. Even so it provides an excellent illustration of the subtle sins and temptations and how they can look innocent and demure on the outside, but be deadly or unappetizing to us on the inside were we to really seek out what was inside them. IE, us seeking out the truth of what's before us every second of every day. Anyhow, allow me to tell you the story. It begins with a dad who had two daughters who were caught watching a movie one afternoon that they really shouldn't have been. When they dad advised against some of the things in it, the daughters replied, "But dad, they're only doing a little bit of that. It's not a big deal. It won't hurt us any." The next day the dad baked chocolate chip cookies and set them out on the table. As the girls came by they saw them and were ready to chow down into them, but their dad told them to wait. He said, "I've baked these cookies for you. I know they're your favorites and you're really wanting to eat them. However, I wanted to warn you there's a little cat poop in them. I mean, it's only a little bit, so it won't hurt you. In fact, you probably won't even notice it. So go ahead, have a cookie." Needless to say the girls wouldn't touch them. The dad then pointed out the fact that, just like the tiny little bit of poop in the cookies ruined them and made them inedible, a tiny little bit of sin can ruin your walk with Christ in the same way. I know I'm not telling the story perfectly, but it still makes the same point. You don't have to do the big sins to ruin your walk with Christ. As Galatians 5:9 says, "A little leaven (yeast) leaveneth the whole lump." In the same way, a little sin soils the entire life. Yes, it's true that if you're saved Christ has paid for and cleansed all of your sins. However, that doesn't give you free reign to sin. Romans 12:2 - "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." God did not give us His only Son so that we could be saved, yet live like the devil. So we must flee from all sin, even the most subtle of them, or even the most pleasurable, and always strive to be more and more Christ like every day. That even includes denying ourselves some of the things which bring us pleasure, even if they seem innocent and demure. If they are called sin by God's word (and not by *our* twisted interpretation of His word) then we must flee from them. And this has been your little thought for the day. |
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