Thursday 20 Jun 2013

Thursday Reading: Psalm 36:1-4

Key Verse: Psalm 36:4
4  He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

Devotion:
If we declare ourselves to be Christian but we do not turn away from sin then we are fooling nobody but ourselves. Besides God being able to see straight through our false profession we will also find that many people will be able to see through it as well and will not see us as the true Christian we like to think we are! When our bibles talk of the fear of the Lord it is that admission and knowledge that God knows our innermost deeds and thoughts; if God should know our thoughts and desires then we should be trying to change them to fall in line with His teaching instead of our own wanton lusts!

We will be labelled as the fool if we continue to sin because we are in effect saying that there is no God because we declare that we can get away with the sin in the first place. God is the one who declared His love for us and has demonstrated that love time and time again. As Christian we should be striving to return that love and reverence toward Him as our one true God. As long as we continue to go in our sinful ways we continue to say that we enjoy the sin more than the company of God – or at least that is what is in our hearts.

We may not think of it in that way because we think we love God. But true love means that we will not strive to hurt our partner in a daily walk; as long as we continue to sin then we are continuing to hurt Him in our daily walk. If we simply fear Him as being a wrathful God then we are giving ourselves as slaves to Him which again is not all that He desires. Yes He does want our undivided attention, but He has given us free choice so that we are not slaves but willing and able servants. Servants work for a living. Slaves work for fear.

The more we get trapped in our sinful state the more we find that we design and devise sins whilst in our state of rest. If we sin whilst in a state of panic, we may well be forgiven, but devising and plotting sin whilst in a state of peace and rest shows that we are more willing to sin than to love our God. We are fooling nobody but ourselves in this case! The more we go in that direction the deeper the trap and the harder to come out of that state because it becomes our way of living. I know that it is difficult to come out of a state of perpetual sin because I have been there myself. Fortunately God is merciful and has shown this to me in the past to give me the chance to bring it all to Him: that we must!

Points to Ponder:
Do you enjoy certain sins?

Are you willing to stop them for Christ?