sin

It’s not surprising when skeptics ask, “Why trust God when trusting God doesn’t seem to help?” It’s only human for Christians to ask the same question. Let’s consider two biblical responses:

As fallen human beings, if we are not submitted to the Spirit, we are by default submitted to the “flesh.” If we are not empowered by the Spirit, we are empowered by the “flesh.” How can we tell the difference?

This week we’ve been discussing redemptive ways Christians can relate to a culture that is, in New York Times columnist David Brooks’ assessment, “falling apart at the seams.” As we have explored ways we can share with our fellow sinners the good news of God’s grace, we have focused on the urgency of compassion. Today let’s discuss the compassion of urgency.

Yesterday I cited extensively from New York Times columnist David Brooks’ dire description of our culture as “falling apart at the seams.” I noted my belief that our country is experiencing God’s permissive judgment whereby he allows us the consequences of our freewill choices to reject his word and will. But then I stated that today we would “focus on ways to respond with compassionate courage and truthful grace.” The key is recognizing and embracing our solidarity with our fallen society. You and I should do this for three reasons.

When we yield to temptation, we don’t want others to know it. We want to maintain the façade of external godliness. It's like we are living under a false identity, projecting an image to the world that is untrue to our real selves. And we think we are getting away with our “private” sin. So long as no one sees our hidden sins, no one needs to know. But Someone does.

Yesterday we discussed Satan’s temptation strategies and the importance of seeking God’s power over our Enemy each day. Today, let’s focus on a very practical way to do so.

While God forgives all we confess and forgets all he forgives, Satan does not. You may think you erased your sins from your spiritual “hard drive,” but he keeps them until a time he can use them most effectively against us.

I encourage you right now to take a moment for a spiritual inventory. Ask the Spirit to bring to your mind any “private” sins you are committing, then confess whatever comes to your thoughts, claim God’s forgiving grace (1 John 1:9), and ask for his help in refusing them in the future (1 Corinthians 10:13).

For hundreds of years, theologians have asserted that pride is a great and destructive sin.

Solomon once observed, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper” (Proverbs 28:13a). The main reason we “will not prosper” is that so-called secret or 'private' sins “grieve” and “quench” the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the means by which God empowers, leads, sanctifies, and prospers his people.