By David Brown
Work! Chores! Sickness! Pressure! Stress! Bills! Debt! Taxes! Strife! Schedules! Family responsibilities! This is normal life. Then add the racial strife, angry politics, riots, anger, the pandemic and the death we’re dealing with these days… Well, the list goes on and on. In this “new normal” and the present state of our world, I’m thinking it’s easy to lose sight of “the greater issue”.
What is God saying? Doing? Thinking? Is it the end? Is Jesus coming soon? Will America be saved? Will it be destroyed from within? Will the world get worse? Or better? What is satan’s part in all this? Will the Antichrist soon appear? What should we do? What should we pray?
Let me shift gears. Let’s talk about sin for a moment. Sin is defined as “missing the mark”. God’s mark or target for human beings is humble and faithful obedience to his will and plan for our lives. Therefore, scripture clarifies that sin is disobedience to God!
Why does God desire us not to sin? Is He against us having a little fun, a little liberty, a little wiggle room? No.
First of all, God is pure Himself and desires us to reflect His image and character as His children. That was his original idea when He created us. Secondly, He loves us and doesn’t desire us or any part of our lives to be destroyed. You see…
God knows that sin is destructive.
…sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.
James 1:15 NKJV
…the soul that sins, it shall die.
Ezekiel 18:4 NKJV
God knows that sin makes life hard.
…the way of transgressors is hard.
Proverbs 13:15 NKJV
God knows that sin brings a curse (which is essentially the absence of blessing or to lose the touch of God on a thing).
And unto Adam (God) said, Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow (worrisome labor) shall you eat of it all the days of your life.
Genesis 3:17 NKJV
God knows that sin brings a curse on the land itself causing it to rebel against mankind.
Don’t make yourself unclean by doing any of these wrong things!
Those who lived in the land before you have done all these terrible things. So the land became filthy. If you do these things, you will make the land filthy. And it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were there before you.
Leviticus 18:24, 27-28 ERV
In addition to all of this, the Hebrew Scriptures teach us that mankinds’ sin is the root cause of poverty, sickness, famine, drought, insanity, relational failure, slavery, shame and more! (See Deuteronomy 28.)
This information should remind us of something that’s pretty important. As we deal with the hardships of life and its many sufferings and frustrations, we must remember that the Greater Issue of life is Sin!
We have to get this! Sin is our enemy. It’s not a plaything. It’s not a healthy pastime. It doesn’t produce anything good and it comes at a high price for those who practice it.
Why is our world filled with extreme weather, pandemics, sex slavery, political oppression, racism, violence, murder, hatred, strife and deception by those in power? Sin!
It’s not just that sin can make you sick! All of our sin makes us all sick! We live in a sin cursed world that is filled with sin cursed people who continue to upset God’s creation with unrepentive sinful behavior. My sin affects you and your sin affects me. Doesn’t sound fair? It’s not fair…it’s family! The whole human family affects the rest of the human family. Don’t blame God for the sufferings of mankind! We can’t really just blame satan either. We must accept responsibility for our own sin! From Great Grandad Adam down to each one of us, WE have done this to ourselves through our rebellion and sin against God.
The truth is, Earth will never be completely free of its curse until Jesus returns, judges the world , puts death underfoot and ushers in a New Heaven and a New Earth! In the meantime though, you and I can mitigate our own pain by living in humble and faithful obedience to God!
Jesus came into this world to save us from sin and its curse! He didn’t come only to forgive us of our sin. He died and rose again to SAVE us FROM sin! This is a truth that has been taught too seldom in our churches.
The law says we are under a curse for not always obeying it. But Christ took away that curse. He changed places with us and put himself under that curse… Because of what Jesus Christ did, the blessing God promised to Abraham was given to all people.
Galatians 3:13a, 14a
The truth is, we can live in victory over sin in this life!
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present age;
Titus 2:11-12 NKJV
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but undr grace.
Romans 6:14
Let’s get with God’s plan! Let’s declare war on sin and a peace treaty with God’s will and design for our lives! Let’s wake up and walk in God’s ways for our own sake and for those we influence! Let’s…
Awake to righteousness, and sin not;
1 Corinthians 15:34
By changing our thinking (repentance) and following Jesus (faith) we can…
Attract God’s blessing to our lives.
Model God’s love and righteousness to those around us.
Become the witnesses that God called us to be.
Stand against the wave and curse of sin that plagues our world.
Glorify God by helping bring about the Second Coming of Jesus to this world!
Praying for You and the World!
Pastor David