Tag: Sin

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Bad News, Good News

Daily Reading

Romans 4-7

Daily Thought

You could attempt to not sin. Benjamin Franklin tried, and recorded the effort in his autobiography, “I conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other.” He made a chart of virtues: Temperence, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, Humility. He recorded his success (and failure): Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and “was supris’d to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined.”

A good way to become aware of our sins is to try not to. 

The Apostle Paul became aware and cried out in despair, “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:18-19). Our sin is not merely personal, but ultimate, against God our Creator, who made us in his image to be holy, and thus, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), eternal separation from God. In trying to be good, Paul discovered he cannot be good enough for heaven, but he is certainly bad enough for hell. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). When we become aware of our sin, we become aware of our need, not for a system, but a Savior. Then we begin asking the right question, not can I be good enough, but who is good enough?

“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” ~Romans 7:25

It is an oft-asked question, do you want the good news first or the bad? We need the bad news first, “for the wages of sin is death,” for the good to sink in, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). The bad news of sin prepared Paul for the good news of a Savior.

Daily Prayer

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. We worship You, adore You, praise You. But how, then, do we approach You? For we are not holy. Far from it.

By the blood of Jesus Christ, who bore our sins, we are made righteous with his righteousness. I may approach You, O God, with confidence, through a holiness not of my own, but through my Savior, my Lord, my God, my friend, Jesus Christ.

Amen

Daily Question

Are you good enough for heaven? Are you bad enough for hell? Why or why not?

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Crucify Him!

Daily Reading

Matthew 27-28

Daily Thought

From where he sat in a prison cell, Barabbas could not hear Pilate speak, but only the shout of the raucous crowd in the courtyard. “Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’” (Matthew 27:17). It was the governor’s custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by this crowd, and the crowd cried, “Barabbas” (Matthew 27:21). Barabbas, in chains, in prison, a rebel, a murderer, and a thief, heard his name shouted from the crowd. “‘Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” (Matthew 27:22).

Alas, all Barabbas could hear, over and over, was, “Barabbas! Barabbas! Crucify him! Crucify him!!” Imagine, then, his astonishment when he was set free. “Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified” (Matthew 27:26); and an innocent man was crucified on the cross of another, one who was guilty and deserved the punishment Jesus would endure. 

The horror of this is I find my place in the crowd and the criminal, and it should and would have been on the cross, but, there, Jesus took my place.

Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed. ~Isaiah 53:4-5

Replace the name of Barabbas with my own and I begin to grasp the wonder of the salvation. 

Daily Prayer

My Father in heaven, I am not forsaken. I deserve to be, but You loved me by death, death on a cross. Your Son took what I deserved. He took my place and my penalty and set me free.

I show someone the smallest amount of grace and I pat myself on the back–as if I’d done something grand. You demonstrate Your love in this, that even while I sin, and keep sinning, and delight in sin, you died for me.

Now, how can I keep sinning? I must not. I must embrace righteousness because I have received grace and mercy. I am newly born, a saint. Thank You, Jesus.

Amen

Daily Question

How much do you like your sins?

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The Perfect

Daily Reading

Matthew 5-6

Daily Thought

Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18). Jesus then elaborates on the what exactly are the iotas and the dots of the Law. Murder is a big one, but Jesus says anger and hate are the same thing. Adultery is bad, of course, but Jesus says if you lust you are guilty. Do not swear to tell the truth, just tell the truth, always. Turn the other cheek and go the second mile. Love your neighbor and love your enemy. In summary, “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). 

Fat chance. No one can claim what Jesus claimed, that he fulfilled all the Law, that he is perfect. 

Jesus holds two expectations of you, the first, perfection, the holy expectation of heaven, extravagant righteousness, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:21). Jesus gave you a standard you cannot reach, not to frustrate you, but to inspire you. 

Perfection is our aspiration, but Jesus knows we will fall far short because he knows our fondness for the forbidden fruit. He knows we will sin. That is his second expectation, that we will fall short. We will fail at times. Or a lot. 

Jesus stands in the middle of two expectations, perfection and failure, and so he says, simply, “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19), and that is our choice. Will it be Satan or Savior, sinner or saint? He demands a choice, for “no one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24), and if we choose to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” then “all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33), all the iotas and dots. We will be perfect, because “for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus took our place so we could take his.

Daily Prayer

My God, You sent Your Son the first time to bring salvation. His second coming will usher those who are saved into Your Eternal Kingdom.

My salvation is in knowing You as my Savior and Lord, and I desire to be at all times excited at Your coming. Help me live each day believing it could be The Day, the day that You return. May I live with the freedom and confidence that comes from knowing that this world will pass, so there is nothing in this world that should hold me. There is nothing more valuable than You. May I love You, therefore, with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love my neighbor as myself. May I live the life You saved me to live.

Amen

Daily Question

Why does Jesus tell you to “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), if he knows you cannot live up to that challenge?

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Scandalous

Daily Reading

Matthew 1-4

Daily Thought

Matthew begins with what is important to a Jew, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). The Hebrew people are not as concerned with what you do as where you come from; specifically who was your father and your father’s father. They are notably patriarchal. It was a bit of a surprise, then, to find four moms in the family tree: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the unnamed (though everyone knows it was Bathsheba) wife of Uriah (Matthew 1:3, 6); all the more scandalous because they were mostly women of scandal and non-Jews.

Most shocking is the fifth woman, a virgin “found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20). Joseph will be the husband of Mary, but not the father of Jesus, and his role is secondary in the story, the B-side of the hit single. Conductor Leonard Bernstein opined, “second fiddle” is the most difficult instrument to play, “Every one wants to be first violinist, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm – that’s a problem. And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.” Joseph played a faithful harmony, “when Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus” (Matthew 1:24). We do not know a great deal of Joseph, but what we do know is Joseph played his part well, he obeyed when God spoke.

The scandals, the women, the second fiddles, and the Gentiles in the genealogy set the stage for a Savior who came to save not merely the privileged, but the outcasts, not the well, “but those who are sick; not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13). This is good news because Jesus came to save the lost, like me.

Daily Prayer

My Lord and Savior, You came not as expected, not in majesty, but humility. I’m so glad you choose the company of sinners over saints. Otherwise, I would never have met You. Thank You for meeting me where I am. You loved me that much. Teach me faith and obedience, to follow Your commands for they are good, to live in harmony with Your Spirit.

May I be an ambassador of Your good news, an example of what You do in the life of one who is saved. May I love as You love, almost scandalously, going to unexpected places and bringing good news to the sick, the outcasts, the marginalized, to the sinners like me.

Amen

Daily Question

Do you think you can sin too much to be saved by God?

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The Kingdom Come

Daily Reading

Daniel 7-9

Daily Thought

Daniel, the interpreter of dreams, had his own, and they are terrifying. The latter half of the book of Daniel is filled with wild visions of future events. The course of history is contained in dismaying images of kingdoms, the first “like a lion and had eagles’ wings” (Daniel 7:4); the second, “like a bear, raised up on one side, it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth” (Daniel 7:5); next, “like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back, and the beast had four heads” (Daniel 7:6); and, finally, “a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet” (Daniel 7:7). Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, we know their names. But there is another.

“Behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him. ~Daniel 7:13

A keen awareness of sin accompanies Daniel’s vision of a righteous King, and he makes no excuses, “we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled” (Daniel 9:5). God hates sin, but loves repentance more, and grace the most, and Daniel appeals to God’s mercy, “O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name” (Daniel 9:19). This is the call to another kingdom and a righteous king. There is a future for Israel and all called by the name of God,

And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.” ~Daniel 7:14

Empires will rise, and all will fall, except one, one that rises not from the dust of earth, but comes down from the heavens.

Daily Prayer

God, full of righteousness and grace, justice and mercy. It is a wonder that I can approach You. It’s wonderful that You listen. My life does not warrant Your attention, but through the goodness of Your Son and the righteousness He gives me through His death, I can speak with You. I can even speak confidently. I have Your promises, written in Your Word, and I trust You completely.

So, God, I bring You praise, and I also bring the needs and concerns that surround me. I lay them at Your feet, and I pray in the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Your will be done.

Amen

Daily Question

Do you make excuses for your sins? If so, what are some of them? If not, why not?

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Sin

Daily Reading

Ezekiel 13-15

Daily Thought

The Israelites were not happy with God’s prophet speaking judgment, so they employed their own prophets who would eschew judgment and proclaim “‘Peace,’ when there is no peace” (Ezekiel 13:10). We do the same with our words. The Oxford University Press removed “sin” from its latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary. “To reflect the fact that Britain is a modern, multicultural, multi-faith society,” explained the publisher. Or because we want to sin without calling it sin.

“What’s in a name?” asked Shakespeare’s Juliet, “that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” You can smell sin, too, even if you remove its name. It always smells a little cheap, mimicking what is real, but not quite. We call it ambition when it is really greed; we speak of a choice, but it is really a life; we share concerns, but we are really gossiping; we call it holiness, but it is really hypocrisy. “When a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall” (Ezekiel 13:11). Paint over it, rename it, or do not name it at all, we cannot fool God and we do not fool ourselves; but we make ourselves fools, and it destroys who we are.

The true prophet speaks judgment and calls out Israel’s sins by name, not to destroy them, but to restore them, “I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols” (Ezekiel 14:5). God’s Word will restore us, too, should we listen.

Daily Prayer

God, I need You. I try (sometimes) to do what is right, but even then, it’s just okay. Way too often, I don’t even try. I sin, God. I do wrong, and I know it is wrong. No matter how hard I try, I cannot be good enough. Deep down inside, I know what good is. I know You are good, and You made me to be good, but I keep doing things my way instead of Your way. I need a Savior. I need Jesus Christ and His righteousness.

I am going to stop trying to be good on my own, and I am going to call sin sin, and turn away from it. You have offered me Your goodness, Your righteousness, through the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ, my God and Savior. I put my life, all of my life, in Your hands. Change me as You will.

Amen

Daily Question

What are some of the ways we rename our sins to make them sound more positive?

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Bad News, Good News

Daily Reading

Romans 4-7

Daily Thought

You could attempt to not sin. Benjamin Franklin tried, and recorded the effort in his autobiography, “I conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other.” He made a chart of virtues: Temperence, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, Humility. He recorded his success (and failure): Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and “was supris’d to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined.” A good way to become aware of our sins is to try not to. 

The Apostle Paul discovered this and cried out in despair, “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:18-19). Our sin is not merely personal, but ultimate, against God our Creator, who made us in his image to be holy, and thus, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), eternal separation from God. In trying to be good, Paul discovered he cannot be good enough for heaven, but he is certainly bad enough for hell. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). When we become aware of our sin, we become aware of our need, not for a system, but a Savior. Now he is asking the right question, not can I be good enough, but who is good enough?

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~Romans 6:23

It is an age-old question, do you want the good news first or the bad? We need the bad news first. The bad news of sin prepared Paul for the good news of a Savior.

Daily Prayer

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. We worship You, adore You, praise You. But how, then, do we approach You? For we are not holy. Far from it.

By the blood of Jesus Christ, who bore our sins, we are made righteous with his righteousness. I may approach You, O God, with confidence, through a holiness not of my own, but through my Savior, my Lord, my God, my friend, Jesus Christ.

Amen

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Loving Good

Daily Reading

Ezekiel 23-24

Daily Thought

Ezekiel writes of sisters, “Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem” (Ezekiel 23:4); Samaria, the capital of Israel, and Jerusalem of Judah. During the reign of Rehoboam, the Hebrew nation split in half, into two sisters. “To your tents, O Israel!” (1Kings 12:16), cried the older sister as she broke with Judah. Oholah means “her tent,” and Israel began worshipping idols and set up her own temple and priesthood. Oholibah means “my tent is in her,” and God’s temple remained in Jerusalem, but she was no more faithful than her big sister.

Confused yet? The names make this difficult to follow, but here is what happened: “Oholah (Israel) played the whore” (Ezekiel 23:5), and the consequences were terrible. “Her sister Oholibah (Judah) saw this (both the whoring and the consequences), and she became more corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister” (Ezekiel 23:11). It is baffling! Why doesn’t Oholibah learn from the mistakes of her sister and choose to do what is right?

At youth events, speakers often share with teenagers how bad they had been when they were young teenagers, and the consequences of their badness. “If the kids hear what I went through,” they reason, “they won’t make the same mistakes.” The speakers are usually wrong. What teenagers hear is if someone speaking up front at a youth event did bad things then they could do bad things, too. They ignore the consequences. Why? Because they like bad. Oholah liked bad, and Oholibah watched the bad things Oholah did and the bad things that happened and went ahead and did bad anyway.

God created this world and called it good. We chose to do things our way, and it has gone bad ever since. Consequences be damned, we like bad. We will love good again when we love God again.

Daily Prayer

My God, I did not love good, but was delighted with my own way, until You came along and showed me a better way. You loved me and brought me back into a relationship with You, and I found what I needed, my great God and Savior.

Thank You for the righteousness of Your Son Jesus Christ, which became my righteousness when I gave my life to Him. By Your grace, through faith, I can live again displaying Your goodness, serving others with the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. May I, at all times, stand for Your Kingdom and Your righteousness.

Amen

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Sin

Daily Reading

Ezekiel 13-15

Daily Thought

The Israelites were not happy with God’s prophet speaking judgment, so they employed their own prophets who would eschew judgment and proclaim “‘Peace,’ when there is no peace” (Ezekiel 13:10). We do the same with our words. The Oxford University Press removed “sin” from its latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary. “To reflect the fact that Britain is a modern, multicultural, multi-faith society,” explained the publisher. Or because we want to sin without calling it sin.

“What’s in a name?” asked Shakespeare’s Juliet, “that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” You can smell sin, too, even if you remove its name. It always smells a little cheap, mimicking what is real, but not quite. We call it ambition when it is really greed; we speak of a choice, but it is really a life; we share concerns, but we are really gossiping; we call it holiness, but it is really hypocrisy. “When a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall” (Ezekiel 13:11). Paint over it, rename it, or do not name it at all, we cannot fool God and we do not fool ourselves; but we make ourselves fools, and it destroys who we are.

The true prophet speaks judgment and calls out Israel’s sins by name, not to destroy them, but to restore them, “I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols” (Ezekiel 14:5). God’s Word will restore us, too, should we listen.

Daily Prayer

God, I need You. I try (sometimes) to do what is right, but even then, it’s just okay. Way too often, I don’t even try. I sin, God. I do wrong, and I know it is wrong. No matter how hard I try, I cannot be good enough. Deep down inside, I know what good is. I know You are good, and You made me to be good, but I keep doing things my way instead of Your way. I need a Savior. I need Jesus Christ and His righteousness.

I am going to stop trying to be good on my own, and I am going to call sin sin, and turn away from it. You have offered me Your goodness, Your righteousness, through the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ, my God and Savior. I put my life, all of my life, in Your hands. Change me as You will.

Amen

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Ding

Daily Reading

Psalm 51-57

Daily Thought

David displays a desperate desire to deal with his sin and be restored to righteousness. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me,” he pleads. “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Psalm 51:10, 12). You hear in his cries the shame of sin, but it is not that which drives him. He misses his Father, “Against you, you only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). Inside all sin is a sadness, a scarred remembrance of the holy wonder of our creation.

A friend in college, Craig, bought a sporty little 1978 MG Midget. Sweet car, nice looking, good paint. And then he got a ding, a 4-inch gash on the left front fender. Several weeks passed and I asked if he was going to fix it, but it was a lot of money and his insurance would go up, and, “well, no,” he said. “Maybe I can put up with it.”

“How often do you notice it?” I asked.

“Every single time I get in the car,” he said. 

“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me” (Psalm 51:3). 

I gave him the number of a good body shop. 

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1).

Daily Prayer

My God and Savior, what an amazing love You have for me. You sent Your only Son, the only sacrifice sufficient for my sins, so that I might be made righteous. You created me in Your image, and yet I turned to the pleasure of sin and away from the joy of paradise. Still You are willing to forgive me, to invite me back in the family, to create in me again a clean heart.

Restore right desires in me. Renew my love for righteousness and justice. I am sorry for my sins. I will turn away from them and follow You. Make me new again.

Amen