Deal With Sin: Sin Is Serious
OPENING PRAYER:
Dear Father, because I know that you have the words of truth, I ask for insight and encouragement today from your Word. Where else would I go? In Jesus name, Amen.
“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2 (NIV)
REFLECT:
I hate to admit it, but I really like my cell phone. It gives me a feeling of power, safety, and connectedness. I am in touch with the world. A free-flowing source of knowledge and people and social interaction. So, over Thanksgiving weekend we are in the mountains hiking and we get separated from family. It happens. No cell service. I am cutoff from the world, people, power, safety net…. everything. I panic just a little…. over no cell service.
The Bible is crystal clear: our sin (“iniquities” in our text today) separates us from God. When we continue in sin, he cannot be in fellowship with us. “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” (1 John 3:6 NIV) Sin is serious to God. So serious that sin shuts down communication with the Father. Sin must be removed for relationships to be complete and communication restored.
APPLY:
Deal with your sin immediately. Do not let it simmer or fester. An unclean wound will only get infected and never heal. Eventually it will kill the body. Sin is serious and moves you away from God. Did you note that the Scripture does not make a distinction between big or little, major or minor, serious or trivial? If you are aware of any unconfessed sin, the verse applies to you.
CLOSING PRAYER:
Dear Lord, I confess today that I often trivialize sin in my life. I do this by comparing, ignoring, or just simply denying that my heart is nothing like yours regarding the gravity of sin. All sin. Forgive me just now and make my heart super sensitive to anything that offends your holiness. Amen
CONTINUED READING:
Matthew 18:1-9; Matthew 5:27-30; Psalms 5:4; 1 John 3:6
WORSHIP: