sin Archives – Sonshine's Journal

August 9, 2024August 9, 2024

The Sin of Envy

Matt 27 I have sinned, so said Judas before the religious counsel. They said in response: what is that to us revealing the hardness of their hearts. When Pilate questioned Jesus he marveled that here stood before him a man who had been threatened, questioned, beaten, and yet stood dignified. Listening the leaders and Jesus, he ascertained that this whole charade was all because of the sin of envy.

What does envy do to us when we let it fester and grow? It brings a harvest of sin and that is where both Judas and the religious leaders stood before the world and God. Luke records that he found no fault in Jesus so why did he allow the crucifixion to take place? There is no other reason than that Jesus was going to fulfill scripture to pay the penalty of our sin and Pilate could not understand that.

Many today find themselves in this same box of envy. One author wrote: “Envy and jealousy are fruits of pride (and false humility) that intimidate you and lead to offenses. It will cause you to mistreat people who could have been a blessing to you. If you don’t take the ax to the root when envy or jealousy reveals themself, it hurts you and others. Envy and jealousy lead to slander and is a relationship and character ruiner.” [https://uncaggedbird.com/envy-jealousy-are-fruits-of-pride-steps-to-evict-the-green-eyed-monster/]

The fruit of envy destroysthat which God had placed before you and the evil one uses that as a temptation. Judas was remorseful but not repentant. The religious leaders were neither. Beware of the sin of The fruit of envy destroy that which God had placed before you and the evil one uses that as a temptation. Judas was remorseful but not repentant. The religious leaders were neither. Beware of the sin of envy which is the big “I” in the word pride. It was the downfall of Judas, the religious leaders and it will be yours.

April 16, 2020

“Saul’s Death”

1Chronicles 10 Was it God’s will for Saul to die is a question that comes to mind as we read this short but vivid chapter. In vs. 14, we learned that “the Lord killed him,” so the answer to that question is yes. God willed that Saul should die because he was unfaithful. He did not obey the Lord’s instructions. He tried to use a witch to determine his safety. These are hard words for us to swallow, and we would like Saul’s end to be like many of our fairy tales; they lived happily ever after. But, Saul chose his path and his destiny just as we do. God’s grace is ever-present because He is longsuffering even to the point of death.

Preparing for our entrance into eternity is as simple that a three old can understand it: Admit you are a sinner in need of redemption; Believe and trust in God. Confess your sin to a loving and holy God who will cleanse you in preparation for his glory. We stand on the threshold of eternity every day. The gospel is God’s power for salvation, and the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith. It is also true that since creation, God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature – have been seen and understood through creation. Therefore men are without excuse for not knowing. Saul knew it, and men today know it.

What do you want on your tombstone? This: “well-done thou good and faithful servant” or this: “he/she was unfaithful.” It really is your choice.

Graphic: https://bible.org/article/gods-plan-salvation

March 1, 2019

What do you think of sin?

Do you casually dismiss what God says about sin? Learn from this sad interlude in the life of Joshua.

Joshua 7 Joshua 7 john-mark-smith-2a Joshua may have been the ‘never.look.back’ man, but even he faced trials and like us, he too sometimes fell flat on his face seeking answers. Take the case of the sin of Achan. The victory at Jericho spurred Israel on and after scouting out the territory of the next city, felt a small force could take it. How wrong they were; 36 men died in that battle and the residents of Ai had a victory party.

Joshua fell on his face before God and his prayer is an echo of what the Israelites had said to Moses over a 40 yr period as they wailed and complained to God. But God was less than happy with his chosen leader and responded “Get up! Why are you lying there face down?” Sometimes God has to do that with us as well. It isn’t God’s fault that we are in this pickle, but our own sin. Unbeknown to Joshua, there was sin in the camp. God challenged Joshua to take steps to eradicate the sin and the sinner and we must do likewise. Even though the Israelites had heard of God’s directive of the ban on all things in Jericho, Achan had casually dismissed it. How like us. We know what God desires but we fail to think ahead to the consequences of disobedience. Do you dismiss sin? Do you think “God will understand.” Unlike us, God does not dismiss sin but demands purity and righteousness. We foolishly think our sin only affects us. Be forewarned; “be sure your sin will find you out.” [Num 32:23]

Learn from this sad interlude. Allow the Holy Spirit to prick your heart of any sin that lurks there so that God can bless us.

Photo courtesy of: John-Mark Smith/Unsplash + caption

February 14, 2019

Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out!

When you sit back knowing that you are complacent do you ever wonder who pays the price?

numbers 32 question2as

Numbers 32 “Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out”

This verse should be a warning to all of us because hiding, disclaiming and denying sin brings serious consequences either here or in eternity. This warning is one of 3 lessons we can glean from this chapter.

The second lesson is that complacency is contagious. When Moses heard of the request of the Reubenites, the Gadites and then the ½ tribe of Manasseh to live on the eastern side of the Jordan River, he assumed that they were ready to settle down and not enter the Promised Land because it would lead to others following their footsteps. In today’s world that is also true when we are content to sit idly by while others do the work of the church.

Thirdly, we don’t know when these tribes either changed their minds or if they had this as the first order of business but Moses did not see it that way. All appearances are deceiving if we do not share up front our thoughts so we are not misconstrued. They did respond with words of faithfulness to obey Moses to cross over and join the others in conquering the Promised Land but it was a costly choice which lasted at least 7 yrs.

No question; complacency and sin are contagious.

Be steadfast in your walk with God.

June 28, 2016

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

James 4 mirror2 If you are not too old you remember the fairytale story of Snow White depicting good and evil. The evil part is played by, you guessed it, a prominent queen, much like Queen Athaliah of OT fame; obsessed with beauty and power. To be sure she was always the most beautiful she would stand before the magical mirror each day and ask: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” and would hear “Thou, O Queen art the fairest of them all,’—that is—-until the day it responded: “Snow White is the fairest of them all.” Immediately her false façade was shattered and her pride was revealed. The reader sees the real queen, beautiful on the outside but ugly on the inside. Both the fictional queen and the real queen Athaliah were intent upon proving the mirror wrong, Both set out to destroy their rivals.

Sometimes we are like the queen. When God’s mirror, His Word, reveals our true person, we seek to cover our warts, scars. and imperfections because we don’t like what God’s Word reveals. We do not want to admit our imperfections and we seek to cover them through works without faith much like the Laodicean church. But, the fact remains, we still have imperfections, called sin, because God’s mirror does not lie. He still sees us as we truly are.

On the one hand we say, yes I am a believer but we live as if we are not. But if we want the mirror to say we are ‘perfect, wanting nothing,’ then we must submit to God and stop saying we haven’t sinned. To say we have no sin is essentially saying God is a liar for He hath said: “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Could that be a reason God does not answer our prayers? Could it be that our motives and our inner person are like the queen’s? We want to hear we are the fairest of them all but fail to admit our shortcomings and change our ways.

God’s mirror answers who is the fairest of them all. It is the ABC’s: One who admits their sin, believes that God’s plan for sin redemption is through His son and confesses their sin seeking forgiveness and cleansing from God.

The question remains: Are you like the queen or Snow White? What is God’s mirror revealing about you?

May 28, 2016

Psalm 51 “Sin, Forgiveness and Grace”

psalm 51 forgiveness2 Had King David remembered: “sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it” he would not have experienced an adulterous affair with Bathsheba nor committed murder to cover it up. Yet David concealed his sin and why God sent Nathan the prophet to him. As David realized this, a profound thought came to him as he confessed before a Holy God. “Against You, You only, I have sinned.”

No matter who the persons are involved, the sin is in reality against God and Christ who saved us and washed us from our sin. Like David, we think our sin is concealed or it does not impact anyone other than ourselves but this is a lie out of the pit of hell. Galatians reminds us that God will not be mocked and we reap what we sow. God told David, “ Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.[ 2Sa 12:10]

When David repented he heard Nathan the prophet say, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.” Reflecting on this, David entered the house of the Lord and experienced God’s greatest gift and mystery called forgiveness. All we have to do is to ask God to “Wash away my wrongdoing! Cleanse me of my sin!” Open hearts are ready to receive God’s grace and lovingkindness and understand more clearly God’s grace.

How do we know that transaction of forgiveness has taken place? Like David, we will experience peace and joy even as we face the consequences that follow.

August 20, 2015

Dead People Don’t Sin

Jeremiah noted that we have lived so long in our sinful state that we don’t even blush at sin! Yet as he reminded the people they were standing at a crossroads and they should consider their path.[Jer 6] Paul is giving us similar advice by saying that we are not to remain in sin for we are now alive in Christ not because “works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. “ [Titus 3] Sin now has no mastery over us UNLESS we purposefully yield to it. Beloved we are to “not let sin reign…do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness!”

If we do the words of John should echo in our ears: “The one who says “I have come to know God” and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person.” So the test is really this: if we are living, moving, and enjoying sin we might want to check our status and see if we are living a life that is merely a charade because he who is alive in Christ “is a new creation; what is old has passed away –“ [2Co 5] and dead people do not sin.

May 7, 2015

For What Are You Thirsting?

We are not asking about a casual thirst but a deep desperate thirst for which one must have it or will physically die. But there is another kind of thirst and that one is spiritual. It is a deep longing that only God can fill.

In John 4 we meet a woman who came every day with her waterpot to the well in Samaria. She was physical thirsty but Jesus looked beneath and saw within her a deep spiritual thirst. So when Jesus offered water that that he could give by which she would never thirst again she asked: “”Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” But the water he would offer would be living water which would quench not her physical thirst but her spiritual thirst for it will come from the living God, the Living Water.

The psalmist thirsted for God, for the living God. His too was a deep desperate thirst which only God could supply. Drinking from God’s well is the fountain of life and only from it is the soul satisfied. Those who seek the living water will be blessed for they hunger and thirst not for water but for righteousness. [Mt 5]The true Living Water that satisfies the deep heart longing became sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus’ promise is that he “will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.” Have you come to drink from the fountain of the Living Water today?

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March 31, 2015

The Compassion of Christ

As we are walking through Passion Week and soon will celebrate Resurrection Sunday it is important for us to step back and look at the life of Christ and the writer Mark will be our guide. As we begin we see that Mark reveals the urgency of Christ’s message to a world wallowing in sin. He shows us His authority over the physical elements of sin. He shows us His compassion over us who are held in the grip of sin.

It is this last element that grips our hearts this week as we see our blessed Savior hung on a cruel cross because men were blind by choice to who Jesus truly was. He was a man yet he was God in his humanness. He was as the demoniac said “the Holy One of God” to show us His goodness and His love for mankind. He was a man who walked, talked and saw the effects of sin yet with a heart of compassion. It was this character quality we see as he silenced the demons, with gentleness lifted an ailing woman from her sick bed, reached out to a leper to heal him not just because he was able but because he was willing. This is the gospel or good news we are to proclaim this week for we have the message, we have been touched and healed.

Beloved there are people all around us who are wallowing in sin and Christ is the authority who can heal them because He is the Compassionate Christ. May we take time this week to show and reveal compassion to another.

March 26, 2015

Deny Self, Live Righteously, Look for The Return of Jesus

When having conversations regarding a person’s lifestyle I have encountered one of these responses which leads me to wonder— has this person really accepted the Word of God as His final and absolute standard? Here is what I have heard both recently and in the past when I asked why a person chooses to do thus and so: (a) I do not care, (b) I like what I am doing, or (c) God will understand. How do you continue to dialog with someone who has one or all three of these components in their understanding?

Paul left Titus on Crete to deal with new believers and to teach them how to live amongst the Cretans who by their own words are “liars, evil and lazy.” Our world today reflects much the same in attitude and behavior. But, as believers are we not called to live and behave differently? I think the answer is yes. When we fail to live differently we fail to realize the price of the precious “grace of God which has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.” This precious grace instructs us in three areas:

First we are to deny ungodliness…that is to deny that which is anathema to God’s view and standards. When we deny the absolute standard are we also in denial about how God views our lifestyle?

Secondly we are to live righteously and godly…that is to live and model the righteous life through the power of the Holy Spirit, which must be an ever present attitude and behavior. Does my life model Christ’s?

Thirdly we are to be looking for the return of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus at any moment in time.

When we fail in any or all of these three things Paul emphasized we also fail to realize the depth of this verse: Heb 10:31 “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Our life and our words reveal our true understanding and love for the sacrificial grace of God that has been bestowed upon our lives. We therefore must be deny self, live righteously, look for the return of our Messiah.

So here are some questions to consider: How am I doing and how are you doing? Are we really ready to meet the Lord in the air and to stand before Him? When He asks why we responded in one of those three ways (that is I didn’t care what your Word said, I liked what I was doing and was not willing to change, or surely you understood, right God?) what will our response be? Are we, am I living differently?