SIN-Aaaahhh!!

I’m sorry I didn’t post anything last night. My usual routine is posting something right before I go to bed so that you guys can read it the next day. Last night I fell asleep on the couch . . . go figure, me falling asleep on the couch—I always do that. Anyways, I’ll try to make it up to you guys. I did put a list of books that I’ve recently read, am currently reading, and would like to read on my sidebar so if you guys want to check those out. They are ALL amazing reads!

So what’s with this topic of SIN! Such a loaded topic! Everytime I hear the word that's my reaction (Aaaaahhh!). It's such a scary word. So what is SIN in the Real World? Let’s start from the beginning. When we accept Jesus Christ in to our hearts and turn our lives over to His leadership (because we know we suck at life on our own), Jesus POWER-WASHES our souls (I love that image!). So any sin we have done, any sin that we are doing, and any sin we are going to do he has already died for once and for all! It says in Hebrews that our “sins and lawless acts [He] will remember no more (Hebrews 10:17).” In other words, God says “You are forgiven totally.” If you ask Him “Well, what about THAT sin, God,” He responds with “What sin?” He totally forgives and forgets. Isn’t that awesome to think about?! No matter what rotten things I’ve done in my life, if I make Jesus the Lord of my life, He forgets it all!

So if he forgets it all, what’s the big deal? Can’t we theoretically just keep on sinning and rely on God’s grace and forgiveness to get us through life? The big deal is that sin separates us from God. God is so holy, just, and perfect that he cannot co-exist with sin. Paul says in Romans, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? BY NO MEANS! We died to sin; how then can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1-2)” So if we continue to let sin rule our lives, Jesus’ reign on our lives takes backseat because He cannot sit on a “joint throne” with sin.

My girlfriend, Amanda, lives 12 hours away from me. So the only thing that we can do to keep our relationship up is talk on the phone. Well, not even that is possible now that she has given me up for Lent. (See Lent Hurts). So, what separates us now? Miles and miles of highway AND a lack of communication. Believe me, I would do ANYTHING to bridge that gap that separates us just so I could hang out with her and experience her company first-hand.

The same thing’s true with God. We have the opportunity to hang out with Him on a daily basis, first-hand, like a best friend, yet the sin in our lives separates us from really and truly being able to EXPERIENCE Him. That is why this “Sanctification” thing—being without sin—is so important. (Sanctification - the million dollar word. Don't you wish people would put simpler terms to this kind of stuff?)

Davey, c’mon now, I’m human, you’re human, we’re all human. There is no way we can live without sin in our lives. Let’s face it, we screw up all the time! We are far from perfect people. That is the human race. How can we deceive ourselves into thinking that we can actually live sin-free lives? I think the Bible points out awesome truth’s that will clue us in on a little of what God expects out of us and how we can actually meet up to God’s expectations! More about this tomorrow . . .

BASEBALL UPDATE: Keep praying that God’s hand will be at work. I’m getting kind of discouraged with some of these guys on the team. Sometimes I wish we could have a steady stream of people coming to know the Lord instead of spurts of a big harvest and then longer dry times (to put it into a baseball application: I would rather go 1-3 every game of the season then go 4-4 one game and 0-4 the next two). But God works in mysterious ways and it’s during these dry times that we realize how dependent we are on God and the work of the Holy Spirit in these guys’ lives. KEEP PRAYING!