Tag Archives: sin

Genesis 33:16-34:31 A Measure Of Obedience

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Often when I’m reading this portion of Scripture, I notice that at the end of chapter 33, Jacob does something different than what he’d said he would do. He told his brother he was coming home. Instead, he got as far as Succoth, about a day’s journey short of going home, and settled there. Not quite the Promised Land. But close. I find myself wondering about this change of plans.

But then chapter 34 starts and I get caught up in Dinah’s tragic story. Jacob forgotten.

It occurred to me that just because a chapter ends and another begins doesn’t mean they’re not connected. So I pulled out some commentaries to see what others think about it. Here is a synopsis of my study:

To begin with, the Lord, in 31:3 told Jacob to go “back to the land of your father and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” Jacob kind of did that. He got just inside Canaan, like a kid who puts his toe on the line he’s told not to cross. Then, and this is what hit me, he had the audacity to buy land, makes shelters, and build an altar to God, naming it “The God of Israel.” Did he think if he named the altar after God, God would be appeased and overlook the disobedience Jacob was committing?

I’m wondering if a person can sort of obey God.  Can  someone ask Jesus into their heart, yet hold on to a sin or two? Can a Christian go to church, give generously, yet harbor hatred toward a brother, and still be considered obedient? Is God ok with our outward display of partial obedience?

Let’s look at the result of Jacob’s actions. His daughter was violated, his sons committed mass murder and theft. And in the end, God told him to keep moving and do what He’d told him to do in the first place. All of that heartache could have been avoided if Jacob had obeyed from the start.

As I read this portion of Scripture I am challenged to check my level of obedience. I believe God is telling me that having a measure of obedience is disobedience. And there are serious consequences for holding back on God.

And I am reminded that God doesn’t demand total obedience because He is a buzz-kill, or some control freak. God knows that there are blessings that come with total obedience, and He is anxious to pour those blessings over His children. God knows that when we obey Him we are spared from the heartaches that come from disobedience. And He wants us to live lives free from those heartaches.

Just obey Me, He tells us. Then see what life can really be.

Genesis 19-20 Do The Right Thing

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Abimelech thought Sarah was Abraham’s sister. And she was. They had the same father. But that wasn’t the whole story.

Sarah must have been a stunning mature woman because when Abimelech saw her, he liked what he saw, and took her into his house. (I want to know where she got her face cream) He had every intention of sleeping with this woman.

God appeared to Abimelech in a dream before he did the deed, and told him Sarah was Abraham’s wife. He replied, “I DIDN’T KNOW!”

I read a couple commentaries on this passage and was puzzled at what one of them had to say on the subject. The author said that Abimelech’s heart did not condemn him because he was not “knowingly and wittingly” sinning against God. He goes on to say that God knows the honesty of the heart and will acknowledge it.

So why are we sending missionaries into remote tribes in Africa? If they don’t know they’re sinning and will get a free pass, aren’t we complicating things by telling them about Jesus? And why did Jesus tell us to go tell the world about Him if people who don’t know about Him aren’t condemned when their hearts are honest?

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man can come to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

Does that mean what I think it means?

Here’s what I see in the account of Abimelech and Sarah. Abimelech was sinning. Maybe not physically, but certainly in his mind. God told him to stop. He did acknowledge the fact that Abimelech didn’t know Sarah was a married woman, that he’d been deceived. God got his attention before Abimelech went any further.

Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die. (Gen 20:6-7)

Abimelech listened to God’s warnings. He didn’t go through with his plan to take Sarah as his wife. And that’s how God wants us to respond to His attempts to get us to stop sinning, too.

You’ve heard His warnings. They may have come through the voice of your pastor on a Sunday morning. They may be your mother’s voice in your head, or from the uneasiness you get when reading His Word. His warnings may come when you find it hard to pray because of that sin you are planning, or living with. You may feel guilt, or shame, or sadness, or uneasiness, and those may be God’s way of getting your attention before you go any further in that sin.

The problem comes when we get so used to living with God’s promptings, we become masters in ignoring them. We learn to live with guilt. We stop trying to pray. And we postpone spending any time in His Word.

Hear God say, “Stop.” Consider the truth that every sin comes with a death penalty. And understand that God wants to stop you before you go any further, because He loves you. He wants you to obey Him because He wants to fellowship with you. He wants you to confess your sin and allow His blood to cover that sin.

Maybe you honestly don’t know that what you are doing is a sin. But that doesn’t mean God isn’t trying to get your attention to point that important fact out to you. Ignorance doesn’t get a free pass, and He will stop at nothing to get you to recognize sin so He can forgive you when you ask.

Abimelech did the right thing in response to God’s warnings. I pray we all will do the same.

 

Genesis 18 – The Lie

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My fifth grade English teacher, Mrs. Majors, was collecting homework one day. She always collected the papers alphabetically so, with a last name beginning with Z, I had plenty of time to sweat. I hadn’t done my homework. I watched her praise the kids who put their papers on her desk, and yell at and lecture the few who didn’t.

So when she finally got to me, I said, “It’s in my locker.”

“Ok,” she said. “Class, you may sit in your seats and talk. Connie and I are going to go look for her homework.”

Mrs. Majors told me to get the trash can. She took me into the hall while I heard my classmates chatting and laughing and enjoying some free time. Then she stood behind me while I pulled every book, every piece of paper, every pencil out of that locker.

A few times I’d look at her with what I’m sure was a helpless look, only to hear her firmly say “Keep going. It must be there if you said it’s there.”

I kept “looking.” I threw away things  I didn’t need, straightened out the things I needed, knowing full well I wasn’t going to find that homework.

She knew that, too.

Sarah was a barren old woman. Her hopes for having a child had been dashed every month for decades. I can understand the sadness, the stress, and disappointment she must have lived with all those years.

In chapter 18 of Genesis she was probably post-menopausal, well past child-bearing years. So when she overheard Abraham’s conversation about her having a child, she laughed. Was it a belly laugh or a snicker, did the thought tickle her or was there bitterness in her laugh? We don’t know.

But when the Lord asked Abraham why Sarah laughed, did she think God couldn’t do what He said, Sarah lied:

“I didn’t laugh.”

The Lord replied. “Oh, yes you did.”

Too often our first response to being “caught” is to lie. I wasn’t speeding, officer. The check is in the mail. My homework is in my locker. But who are we kidding?

I am reminded that God is not fooled. If I hear a sermon that convicts me, I might promise to change, or to do that thing God is calling me to do, knowing full well I probably won’t. If I am talking to Christian friends, I might say something like, “I never drink too much” or “I usually read my Bible every day” or “I’ll pray about that with you” or “I don’t look at porn” or “I would never…” and all the time, if we’re honest with ourselves, we know it’s not true.

Hear what God said to Sarah and know that you aren’t fooling Him a bit. Don’t try to lie to Him. It will never work. He knows.

And He loves you. He created us and understands our imperfections. He died to forgive that sin, that lie. Be quick to ask His forgiveness instead of wasting time denying it.

You might not have to miss recess.

Genesis 9:18-23 – Restoration

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Proverbs 10:12 says, “Love covers all sin,” and that is what we see when Shem and Japheth covered Noah’s naked body. It was the right thing to do. And the way they did it expressed their love for their father.

But covering their dad’s nakedness didn’t erase Noah’s sin of drunkeness.

I’m convinced that many of our modern churches have neglected that fact. God’s love doesn’t cancel out the penalty of sin. His love covers us like a blanket because He IS LOVE. God so loved the world…

But He is also holy and demands holiness of us, His children. He is quite clear that every sin comes with a serious consequence. Every single sin.

We can learn a lesson from Noah’s sons. And it has to do with our reaction when we see a believer sinning.

First, they didn’t ignore it, rationalize it, or judge him for it. They went to him in love and restored his modesty.

Second, they didn’t go around talking about it. Their actions were private and respectful. And they kept it that way.

When we see a brother or sister living with a sin, we need to approach them like Noah’s boys approached their dad. We shouldn’t ignore it, or gossip about it. We need to take that blanket of God’s love, and see if there is some way to restore them, to encourage them to get right with the Lord. Then, we need to walk away and certainly not talk about it to others.

May God find us faithful as we hold one another accountable out of love. And let’s be in the restoration business for Jesus’ sake.

Exodus 8 – Bad To The Bone

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I’ve heard it said that humans are born good, that our true nature is good because we are created in God’s image. Bad parenting or some other outside influence results in people turning bad. So when I read in Exodus this morning that God said the inclination of our hearts is evil from childhood, I started digging.

If people are naturally good but are influenced by their environments, why did Adam and Eve sin in the Garden where the environment was perfect and they walked with God? They had every opportunity to remain sinless. If indeed their natural instincts were good, we’d probably all still be living in Eden.

The Bible tells us we are created in the image of God, who is good. Does that mean we are created good? Or does the image of God indicate we were created with the ability to think and reason, with souls that will live eternally? Keep digging.

The psalmist, in 51:5 says he was “sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” That doesn’t sound like he was born naturally good. Psalm 58:3 speaks of wickedness from birth, waywardness from the womb. Paul says in Ephesians says all of us… were by nature objects of wrath.

Let’s think what life would really be like if we weren’t born with a sin nature. Can you picture it? Would it look like 2017? It seems to me if people were born good, the odds would have it that at least a few people would actually grow up sinless. Yet the Bible tells us all have sinned.

If you’ve ever been around infants, I doubt you’ve ever met one who isn’t totally selfish. Their only concerned is about their comfort, their wants. I doubt you can name one child who learned the meaning of the word “No” the first time it was taught them.

There are people and false religions that tell us we are gods, or equal to god, or are good in and of ourselves, that we can tap into that goodness and rise above the evil in the world by our own positivity. And that, my friend, is a belief that will lead you straight to hell. That’s a belief that Satan would love you to adopt for yourself.

Now my thinking may be faulty. But Scripture is not. And viewing humanity from Scripture’s point of view is eternally important.

Scripture tells us all have sinned. (Romans 3:23) There is no one righteous… not even one.  (Romans 3:10) I’ve only scratched the surface of the verses that talk about our natural bent toward sin. We are sinners by nature. Our hearts are wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), our natural man doesn’t accept the things of God (I Corinthians 2:14).

So, my friend. You cannot be good enough to be holy. And holiness is what God demands of us. (Leviticus 20:26; I Peter 1:16) Nothing in you can equal God, or meet His standards. That sin nature in you prevents it. (Romans 7:18)

Enter Jesus. Even before Adam and Eve sinned, then bore children with a sinful nature, God had a plan. He wasn’t about to leave His creation to die without Him. So He voluntarily took on our sin nature, our individual sins, and paid the price Himself so we wouldn’t have to. (Romans 4:25)

It’s eternally important for you to recognize your position before a holy God. You might be a great friend, an honest person, a nice guy. But you still need to humble yourself and accept what Jesus did for you on the cross. Let His holiness be accredited to your account.

Don’t get caught up with trying to convince yourself you are good enough. You just aren’t. And you haven’t been from day one. You need Jesus. I need Him. And we need to let Him deal with our sin nature through His own precious blood.

 

 

Genesis 4 – The Mark Of Cain

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You probably already know Cain killed his brother Able out of jealousy. You might know God gave Cain a personal invitation to repent. Cain didn’t repent.

God cursed Cain and told him he was going to have a difficult life ahead of him. Cain’s response?

“Ok. I get it. I’m being driven out from Your Presence, God. I’ll be a restless wanderer for the rest of my life. But, God, people are going to be mean to me. That’s just not fair.” (Not an exact quote 😉 )

Oh, Cain. Couldn’t you find it in your heart to admit you sinned, and ask God to forgive you? You’re so worried about what other people think about you, or how they will treat you. What about what God thinks?

So God put a mark on Cain, identifying him as the killer of Able. But that mark wasn’t a bullseye. In fact, it was the opposite. It was a mark that said, “Leave him alone.” No one would avenge Able’s death by killing Cain with that mark staring them in the face.

Even then Cain didn’t humble himself before God. He went on his merry way, started a family, and built a city.

Now THAT’S not fair, you might think.

I believe the lesson here is: that’s none of your business. How God deals with others is not up to you. Wanting revenge, wishing a building would fall on a person, is a sin that will drive you out of God’s Presence, too.

If you are harboring ill-feelings toward someone who has done you wrong, picture the mark of Cain on their forehead. Leave them alone. Let God handle things the way He sees best. It might not happen the way you think it should. What goes around doesn’t always come around in God’s kingdom. (Thankfully) But God knows what He’s doing.

Cain had ample opportunity to repent, to confess his sin and ask God to forgive him. He never did as far as we know. He may have spent the rest of his life restless and guilt ridden, depressed or angry. And if he never repented, his eternity is much worse.

Don’t make the same mistake. The Bible tells us to pray for those who misuse us, to love our enemies. Let God be God. You take care of that plank in your own eye. And trust God to do all things well.

Genesis 3 – And We All Fall Down

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First let me say that I believe Adam and Eve were real people, created not born. I believe they walked with God in a beautiful garden, loved and were loved. I believe a snake spoke to Eve, and I believe Adam and Eve chose sin.

Sin didn’t just happen to them. God wanted them to trust Him, to believe Him. But they willingly disobeyed. Rather than believe God, they believed Satan’s lie that they could be like God.

The couple knew they had changed the moment that fruit hit their stomachs. God knew they had changed, too (No, it wasn’t a surprise). And He immediately set His plan of redemption in motion. There are so many beautiful aspects to God’s response to Adam and Eve after they sinned.

But I love – LOVE – the fact that God went looking for them. Not because He didn’t know where they were. But because they didn’t know where He was! God didn’t wait for them to come to Him. He sought them out!

Luke 19:10 says Jesus came to “seek and to save that which was lost.” What was true in the garden is true yet today. God goes after the lost lamb, turns the house inside out looking for that lost penny, goes into Zacchaeus’ house, and eats at the table with publicans and sinners.

God, who is not willing that anyone die without Him, stops at nothing to win a soul for eternity while that soul is still inhabiting a body in this lifetime. He’s not up there somewhere sitting in a recliner with remote in hand, checking this person, then switching to someone else. He is actively seeking every person. He’s actively seeking you and me.

We all sin. We’ve all taken the same fall Adam and Eve took so long ago. And the same God who came looking for them, is doing the same for us. When I read this chapter in Genesis I don’t just see God’s condemnation for sin, or His curse on creation.

I see God’s love, the provision of forgiveness through the blood of His Son. I see grace and mercy. I see Someone who WANTS me with Him, who is right here right now trying to get my attention.  I see God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And I love Him.

December 21 – He Had To

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Hebrews 1-6

I read another Christmas passage, and never realized it was a Christmas passage before. The author of Hebrews in chapters 1-3, tells us why we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

I’m sure we’ve all heard the argument, “If God were a loving God He wouldn’t send anyone to hell.” And that is a true statement. The reality is, God doesn’t “send” anyone to hell. In fact, there is no reason for anyone to go to hell.

First of all, we have to understand God is holy. He cannot NOT be holy. So when He created us with the ability to choose Him, He knew there was another side to that coin. We could also choose to reject Him. So before He created anything, He came up with a plan to save us. He created us to fellowship with Him. So He had to provide a way for us to fellowship with Him after we sin, because holiness and sin cannot exist together.

Therefore, He (Jesus) had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people ( Heb 2:17)

We are human. Humans sin. So a human had to pay the penalty for sin. (You don’t send a dog to jail to pay for a crime a person commits.)

Every transgression and disobedience receives a just penalty (the wages of sin is death) How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? (The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus) See Hebrews 2:2&3 and Romans 6:23.

We celebrate the birth of Jesus because there was no other way for God to fellowship with us sinners. Jesus HAD to be born so that He could die and be that substitute for each of us.

I pray none of us will neglect so great a salvation!

Happy Birthday, Jesus. I’m glad you were born.

 

December 19 – Enemies

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Titus

One thing that I’ve come to realize during this year in God’s Word is that non-believers are enemies of God. That is a hard pill to swallow because I have loved ones who fit that description. I know some really nice, good people who fit that description as well, for the fact that they refuse to accept God’s grace. I don’t want anyone I love to be considered His enemy when God looks at them.

But here’s how God treats His enemies while they still draw a breath: He died for them. He holds their forgiveness in His hands. He woos them, or strikes them, or blesses them, all the while giving them every opportunity to accept Him. It isn’t until they leave this life that He gives up on them.

Here’s what spoke to me today: Sometimes I think we Christians are too hard on God’s enemies. Some Christians feel pious hatred toward homosexuals, or child molesters, atheists, women who’ve had abortions, Muslims. We have a measure of godly indignation and condemn them to hell because that’s what they deserve.

But Paul tells Timothy to “malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.” (3:2) But surely he didn’t mean those awful sinners, did he?

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  (3:3-7)

Have you ever heard, “There but for the grace of God go I”? That’s what Paul wants us to adopt as our attitude toward those who don’t know God. It’s only God’s grace that renders you forgiven, clean, a friend of God. And it’s only God’s grace that will do the same for the vilest offend who truly believes, or for that nice little old lady down the street who has not yet surrendered her life to the Lord.

Christian, let’s determine to reveal God’s love to His enemies. But let’s not forget that their sin is making them an enemy of God.He is not willing that any should die without Him. We shouldn’t be, either.

 

December 8 – Let’s Be Honest

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Romans 4-7

Paul is talking about sin in these chapters and, somehow, the more he talks the more questions I had. On one hand, he teaches that we who are united with Christ are no longer slaves to sin, we are freed from sin, and sin cannot master us. Instead we become slaves to righteousness.

On the other hand, he confesses that he is “not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” (7:15) He tells us sin actually dwells in him “for the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” (7:19)

Then he goes so far as to say this war within him between good and evil is making him a “prisoner of the law of sin.” So which is it, Paul? A slave to sin or a slave to righteousness?

Yes.

Thank you for making that clear, Paul. I mean that sincerely.

Sometimes we Christians believe that as those redeemed by the blood, we cannot sin. Then we do. So we beat ourselves up, or give up.

Sometimes we Christians find it hard to share our struggles and failures, our sins, with others because somehow we think other Christians are doing it right. I certainly don’t want them to think I’m the only one who isn’t.

I’m so glad Paul was honest. God’s gift of grace does not come with a bubble we live in where Satan’s arrows can’t penetrate. We are at war. And Satan is a powerful enemy. He knows exactly which temptations to throw my way, when to throw them, and how often. He’s never one and done.

And sometimes I am as weak as Paul was. I end up doing the thing I hate. And, if left unconfessed, I can become a slave to that sin.

But I can also have victory! God promises that. And I’ve experienced it over and over. There is forgiveness when we ask. There is strength when we walk close to our Lord. There is power over sin through the precious blood of Jesus.

Let’s be honest. Christians sin. The difference between us and the unredeemed is what we do with that sin. My prayer is that we all, including me, will be quick to confess, repent, and flee from the temptation. We don’t have to let that sin continue to the point where it controls us.

And may I suggest that we learn to be as honest as Paul was concerning his struggles. Someone might identify with your testimony, and be encouraged to claim their own victory over a sin in their life. May we be sensitive to God’s prompting to share with just the right people at just the right time.

I’m thinking if we are honest, we can help each other. I know Paul helped me today with his honesty.