Tag: Sin

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horseshoes and Hand Grenades

Daily Reading

Numbers 16-17

Daily Thought

Korah and his company were rebellious. God had heard enough of their grumbling and complaining, and punishment was coming, so God warned Moses and Moses warned the nation of Israel, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins” (Numbers 16:26). No one could say God didn’t warn them.

Harry Truman (not the president) was in his cabin when Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. For two months the mountain rumbled. For two months they told Harry to move. “The danger is overexaggerated,” Harry determined. It wasn’t. He died. 

You may have heard it said that close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. “And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods” (Numbers 16:31-32). It counts in wickedness, too. Get away! The danger is not overexaggerated. Close counts in volcanoes, too, and it counts in wickedness. 

Daily Prayer

Holy God, Your ways are perfect. Teach me to follow them. God may I have a heart that loves You, loves Your ways, and loves righteousness. May I have a heart that hates wickedness.

God, teach me not to flirt with sin. May I be convinced of its destruction and flee from it. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — may those things consume my thoughts and fill my desires.

Amen

Daily Question

When does purity have a stronger attraction to you than wickedness?

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Back to Egypt

Daily Reading

Numbers 14-15

Daily Thought

Over and over the people complain. The common theme, “Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” (Numbers 14:3). We read this and we ask incredulously, how can these people ignore the memory of slavery in Egypt? 

The same way you and I do.

Just as God had delivered Israel from their slavery of Egypt, he has delivered us from our slavery to sin. And yet, too often, we want to go back. We want to go back to our sin, our prison, our slavery. It doesn’t matter what God accomplished for us on Christmas and Good Friday and Easter. God in the flesh died on the cross, then rose the third day, delivering us from the misery of slavery to sin and Satan. In spite of all that, in those moments when our fleshly desires get the upper hand, longingly look back, we think we had it better in Egypt. We prefer our sin. 

The Israelites forsook the journey because they lost faith in the Promised Land. All sin is lost faith, faith in the Promised Land, faith in the promises of God. All sin is lost faith, the choice of something tangible, however trivial, over the eternal.

Daily Prayer

My God, may I remember Your justice and also Your grace. May I reflect on Your holiness and Your love. I choose sin too often, and deserve slavery. But You are patient. Thank You. Thank You for Your Son who took my sins and pleads my case. That in His Name and by His blood, I have His righteousness. 

Because of Jesus, may I be holy and righteous. May I love what is good and despise the rebellion that leads to slavery. May I live freely a life that displays Your goodness and glory.

Amen

Daily Question

What sins attract you the most, and why?

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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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Rebellion

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 35-37

Daily Thought

The sin common to all is unbelief. It may be a lack of faith in God’s good intent when I fool myself into thinking I know better what will satisfy my desire than God does. Or it may be a disbelief in the certainty and finality of God’s judgment, brushing aside “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), as Eve did when she trusted the serpent above God. “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4), hissed the snake. 

Yes you will. 

These common sins are a terrible sins, yet there is worse, and that is a sin of rebellion. Rebellion is not unbelief; rather it believes and rejects. Jehoiakim “was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (2Kings 23:36-37). His reign was the end of the road for Judah, yet God was still extending grace. The Lord instructed Jeremiah, “Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin” (Jeremiah 36:2-3). 

One last chance.

The scroll was read to the people of Judah, and they responded rightly, with fear and fasting, until the scroll came to the king. As the scroll was read to the king, three or four columns at a time, “the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire” (Jeremiah 36:23).

The sin rooted in rebellion is Satan’s sin, a defiance that says, “I believe God, and his way is true, even good, but I prefer my way because I prefer me.”

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, Your Word is life itself. It lights the path in front of me and leads me in the way everlasting. It is good, and it is good for me. I will read it and hear it, listen to it and follow it. I will put it in my heart and meditate on it.

There are other words, other advisers, calling out to me, distracting me from Your Word and Your way. What they offer sounds fun and free, worldly and wonderful. May I choose what is heavenly and good, what comes from faith and gives hope. May I choose Your joy and Your love. May I choose You.

Amen

Daily Question

When have you preferred your plans over God’s plans?

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Cotton Candy

Daily Reading

Isaiah 28-30

Daily Thought

I admit, I like cotton candy. It is one of the childhood delights we keep as adults. It is fun food. Well, maybe not food–I looked up the recipe. The ingredients include 5 cups of granulated sugar, 1-⅓ cups of light corn syrup, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of water, food color paste, flavored oil, and baking spray. It then listed serving size 28g, calories 180, carbohydrates 28g, dietary fiber 0, sugars 28g.

This all added up to the bottom line, “Nutritional Value: Zero.” It said that on the label. You cannot live on cotton candy. You will die if you try to live on cotton candy.

Prophets are not elected or appointed. They do not inherit the role or take it by force. They are assigned by God and their task is to tell the Truth. They speak the Word of the Lord, and for that, they are accountable only to God. This means they do not have to please the people, and often they do not. Isaiah has been speaking to “a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord; who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’ and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions’” (Isaiah 30:9-10).

Rebellious people want cotton candy. For dinner.

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth” (2Timothy 4:3-4). 

We still do, and we are starving to death.

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, may I keep my eyes on You, the author of life. Because of my rebellion, You took the cross. You traveled the difficult road, You did not give in to the delightful temptations of Satan, but drank the cup of crucifixion. I have got to quit giving in.

There is this overflowing joy in Your Kingdom, and I long to drink from it, but I keep trading it in for things that are fun but don’t last. Yours is the Name above every Name, but not always the popular Name. No matter, I will at all times pursue the joy of Heaven, even during the times it’s not fun on earth.

Amen

Daily Question

What is it about Truth that people don’t like? 

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Bee Stings

Daily Reading

Isaiah 23-27

Daily Thought

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Jesus prays what Isaiah prophesied, “In that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:13). The kingdoms of this world present power and pleasure, but deliver destruction and death. Isaiah declares a day to come when we will return to the mountain of God, where the Lord “will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces” (Isaiah 25:8). Isaiah is speaking of Jesus.

This world offers us pleasure today. We can hold it now, which is the power of temptation. It is in our grasp, but comes with a sting, the terror of sin and promise of death. At six years old, I was scared to death of bees, and a bee flew into the car. Dad rolled the car windows down, offering escape, but this bee was intent on terrorizing me. Finally, Dad reached over and caught the bee in his hand and held it. I did not see it sting, but I know it stung because he opened his hand and showed me the bee. Dead. Dad plucked the stinger out of his palm, and I was brave again. 

“’O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” ~1Corinthians 15:55-57

God offers us joy forever in a day to come. It comes with a cross, the triumph of sacrifice and the promise of life. We can be sure of it, which is the power of trust. That is the choice we must make, between today and tomorrow, between temptation and trust.

Daily Prayer

My Savior God, You warned me. You told me that sin leads to death, and yet I like to sin. And so, I deserve death because I choose a life of sin over a life of obedience. In astonishing love, however, You took the death I deserved, even while I continued to sin. No wonder I learn love only because You first loved me.

It’s an amazing grace You offer me. Through faith, I receive the righteousness of Your Son. I do not need to obey to earn Your love because You freely give it to me. So, now, I obey, not because I need to, but because I want to. You have changed my desires, God, and now I want nothing more than to follow You.

Amen

Daily Question

Often we sin even though we know at the time it will do us harm. Why do we do that?