Thoughts for another day

February 27, 2009.

Today's verse: Jer. 6:20b. your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

While I was considering this verse for publication, I checked with the Lord whether it’s appropriate, as I know that most of us won’t be comfortable with it. Yet, the Lord allowed me to retain it. So I must talk about it and I must say that stinging though it be, it still tells us about the way God is sick of our sins. And in this context, I must talk about myself saying I probably am the worst kind of sinner there is, because on the one hand I talk about God and on the other, indulge in the most stupid sins that humans commit. My excuse before God is, I don’t possess the will to go against sin and I regularly, pray for Grace to overcome my desire to sin.

The question is why do I sin? I know I sin because the desire to do a certain act which leads to sin is strong in me. I have come to realise that the devil is very clever in using the route of gentle persuasion and in that, attacking us in our areas of indulgence; for example, if I like the color pink, then he provides me so much of the stuff that I’ll over indulge in it. As an example, let’s say I like a pink shirt but don’t have the money to buy it. So the devil will tell me to borrow and I’ll do it knowing well that I may not be able to repay. Then the devil will say, repay slowly. That’s the point I’ll grab and then fail to repay…of course he’ll give me many reasons why I shouldn’t repay. So you see, our own internal sinful nature acts as a stimulus to sin.

God understands our human nature, but He wants that we stand up and stand against sin. Merely talking about it or writing it isn’t sufficient. What will please Him is our taking concrete steps to actually face sin in the face and reject it. In this season of lent, let us learn to do that so that God will not tell us that our actions are not acceptable to Him. Rather, someday, He’ll testify on our behalf and say, ‘look at this child, who is after My own heart!’