SIN GUILT AND RELIGION
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
THE WAYS WE LOOK AT SIN can be devastating to the Christian. We can either acknowledge it and put it in its place in our lives or we can be governed or remotely controlled by it in many ways. The problem is so often in the ways we look at sin in our lives. Our first response to the recognition of sin in our lives is to feel guilty about it, but it is in how we respond to that guilt we feel as a creation that makes a huge difference in our relationship with God.
The fact is that our response is built primarily on the ways we have been taught by the church or religion that we have allowed to influence us the most so our views and attitudes about sin will vary widely. What usually happens is that we start to look around for people who think the ways we do about our particular set of sins and those who agree with us the most. Then we try to lessen the guilt we feel by finding a way to justify it through a support group of some kind. The problem with that is two-fold. We either find a group of people who are willing to twist scripture to allow us to continue in our sin, or we abandon our relationship with God thinking that there is no common ground that can be reached. Neither of those is real answers for the problems that sin brings. Let's first realize that we have no way of preventing ourselves from a sin of some kind, and then understand that there is no one sin that is looked on as greater than another. After that, we need to put into perspective that Christ has died as a sacrifice for all sin. That does not mean He has forgiven all sin, but what it does mean is Jesus was the perfect sacrifice of love to open the doors once again between God and mankind to have a relationship like Adam and Eve had with God. The problem was that we would have to be the ones to pursue it from this point. God is innocent and has perfect love, but He is not ignorant or fooled by flattery. In other words, it will take much more than going to church services and singing praises to God for Him to be able to really trust what we say. You see from the beginning God has wanted a complete relationship with us which means a perfect God will not settle for second best.
God has always wanted a family more than anything else and so with that in mind, He has desired to be able to trust in what His children say and do as a member of His household. When we think about that for a moment we all want the same kind of thing in our families. This is different because God is perfect, and His family is perfect and sinless in His sight. The only way that can happen is through our forgiveness in Jesus Christ who is our sacrifice for sin.
The problem is that we need to come to Jesus and ask for forgiveness as we repent of sin. Here's the problem; we know that we are going to sin again because we are born into a sinful world, and after we are forgiven we are still living in a sinful world. This is a loop of events that cannot be prevented, but we are also protected if we stay close to God from that time on. What Paul was saying to the Roman church is that it isn't the sin that sends you to hell, but your acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ in your daily and moment to moment life. It is rather God's grace toward us that made Him so compassionate in His love that He would send a part of Himself in the form of a man, and to live among us, and experience what it was to live as a man within the constant temptation of sin of this world; yet still not sin. God literally showed us the way that we needed to live to deal with the evil of this world by staying as close to Him through His Spirit as we could through prayer.
This does not mean that we won't sin, but if we are close to God we can ask and receive His forgiveness through a right heart's intent to love God as He has loved us. The man-made doctrines of religion do not teach this because they cannot understand it any more than the Scribes and Pharisees of Christ's time could. It is that drive and desire for control that has driven this world to hate the things of God. We remain God's children once we have accepted Jesus as Lord of our lives and begin living as a child of God should live, but the results will always be battle with the forces of this world, and the deceit that comes from a bent and frustrated world that can never find heartfelt peace. What is the greatest sin? What will God not forgive? That's what we will have in our next discussion. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
THE WAYS WE LOOK AT SIN can be devastating to the Christian. We can either acknowledge it and put it in its place in our lives or we can be governed or remotely controlled by it in many ways. The problem is so often in the ways we look at sin in our lives. Our first response to the recognition of sin in our lives is to feel guilty about it, but it is in how we respond to that guilt we feel as a creation that makes a huge difference in our relationship with God.
The fact is that our response is built primarily on the ways we have been taught by the church or religion that we have allowed to influence us the most so our views and attitudes about sin will vary widely. What usually happens is that we start to look around for people who think the ways we do about our particular set of sins and those who agree with us the most. Then we try to lessen the guilt we feel by finding a way to justify it through a support group of some kind. The problem with that is two-fold. We either find a group of people who are willing to twist scripture to allow us to continue in our sin, or we abandon our relationship with God thinking that there is no common ground that can be reached. Neither of those is real answers for the problems that sin brings. Let's first realize that we have no way of preventing ourselves from a sin of some kind, and then understand that there is no one sin that is looked on as greater than another. After that, we need to put into perspective that Christ has died as a sacrifice for all sin. That does not mean He has forgiven all sin, but what it does mean is Jesus was the perfect sacrifice of love to open the doors once again between God and mankind to have a relationship like Adam and Eve had with God. The problem was that we would have to be the ones to pursue it from this point. God is innocent and has perfect love, but He is not ignorant or fooled by flattery. In other words, it will take much more than going to church services and singing praises to God for Him to be able to really trust what we say. You see from the beginning God has wanted a complete relationship with us which means a perfect God will not settle for second best.
God has always wanted a family more than anything else and so with that in mind, He has desired to be able to trust in what His children say and do as a member of His household. When we think about that for a moment we all want the same kind of thing in our families. This is different because God is perfect, and His family is perfect and sinless in His sight. The only way that can happen is through our forgiveness in Jesus Christ who is our sacrifice for sin.The problem is that we need to come to Jesus and ask for forgiveness as we repent of sin. Here's the problem; we know that we are going to sin again because we are born into a sinful world, and after we are forgiven we are still living in a sinful world. This is a loop of events that cannot be prevented, but we are also protected if we stay close to God from that time on. What Paul was saying to the Roman church is that it isn't the sin that sends you to hell, but your acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ in your daily and moment to moment life. It is rather God's grace toward us that made Him so compassionate in His love that He would send a part of Himself in the form of a man, and to live among us, and experience what it was to live as a man within the constant temptation of sin of this world; yet still not sin. God literally showed us the way that we needed to live to deal with the evil of this world by staying as close to Him through His Spirit as we could through prayer.
This does not mean that we won't sin, but if we are close to God we can ask and receive His forgiveness through a right heart's intent to love God as He has loved us. The man-made doctrines of religion do not teach this because they cannot understand it any more than the Scribes and Pharisees of Christ's time could. It is that drive and desire for control that has driven this world to hate the things of God. We remain God's children once we have accepted Jesus as Lord of our lives and begin living as a child of God should live, but the results will always be battle with the forces of this world, and the deceit that comes from a bent and frustrated world that can never find heartfelt peace. What is the greatest sin? What will God not forgive? That's what we will have in our next discussion. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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