“The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,
and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.”
– Proverbs 5:22

We often like to go through life trying to operate a sin management program. We convince ourselves that our favorite sin isn’t that bad and that we can manage and control it. We do our best to minimize it, so that it’s a fairly small part of our lives, but we nonetheless like to keep it hanging around in the margins of our lives, because some part of us likes it. We get that it’s bad, but we don’t think it’s really THAT bad.

That’s all a bunch of lies we tell ourselves. We can’t manage sin. If we leave it hanging around it eventually manages us. We might think we have our problem with (fill in the blank: lust, addiction, anger, greed, gossip, etc…) under control, but we don’t. It ensnares us in a web of lies and excuses. It grabs at our ankles as we try to walk away and gnaws at our minds at unexpected hours. When we think we most have our favorite sin under control, it stages a sneak attack to prove it’s still in control.

Friends, we aren’t commanded to manage our sin, because we can’t. We’re called to kill our sin, to crucify it. We’re able to do this because when Christ gave Himself up to be crucified, He broke the power of sin over the lives of His followers. If you’ve accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you have the power to kill the sin that lurks within.

It will not be easy. You won’t be able to do it in your own strength. Your sin will fight back! But if you commit yourself to crucify your sin every day, every time, then as you grow in your relationship with God through prayer, study, worship, and meditation, you will be able to put that sin to death.

Don’t play around with sin, because it isn’t playing around with you. Kill it. Fight it with all the power of God’s Holy Spirit within you. Fight it and be free!

“Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.”
– Psalm 24:3-4

This is what it takes to enter the presence of God: clean hands (your actions are perfectly without sin), a pure heart (your thoughts are perfectly without sin), a soul that only delights in truth and worships the one true God, and a tongue that never, ever shades the truth. Does that describe you??? If you say yes, you’re lying to yourself (1 John 1:8)!

So what are we to do? God made us to be in relationship with Him. We long to be in relationship with Him. But He is pure, holy, righteous, good, and just. He can permit no unrighteousness to come before Him. How do we escape this conundrum? There’s only one way!

God made the way through His eternal Son Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only one who had truly clean hands, a pure heart, a soul fully committed to God, and a perfectly honest tongue. He lived the life we can’t, then He sacrificed that life on a cross, paying for our sins with His innocent, fully divine and fully human blood. His sacrifice canceled the debt of all who believe in Him and commit their life to following Him.

As a follower of Jesus, God credits the righteousness of Jesus to us because Christ lives within us. When we believe in Him, we are united with Him, and we are made righteous, standing before God as new creations in Christ, no matter what lies in our past.

Now for the most important question in your life… Does that describe you??? If you say no, what’s holding you back from following Christ in faith? We would love to talk about that with you.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” – Psalm 23:1

Is the Lord your shepherd??? This famous verse is a wonderful comfort, but it’s only true if you’ve committed to being His sheep!

His sheep hear His voice, come, follow, and obey. His sheep are content to stay with the flock rather than doing their own thing at their own pace. His sheep understand and accept that if they foolishly wander away He will use that rod and staff to pull them back or gently smack them back into the flock.

His sheep are content to let Him be in control. His sheep are not constantly and willfully trying to make themselves the shepherd. His sheep aren’t trying to get away with stuff when they think the shepherd isn’t looking. His sheep aren’t trying to start a new flock more to their liking. His sheep aren’t busy celebrating their own autonomy. His sheep depend on Him for all things: nourishment, protection, comfort, safety, care, and healing.

The Lord will indeed provide all things if you’re His sheep. Are you?

“Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.’” – Exodus 24:3

We never lack good intentions! We mean well, we really do. Like the Israelites, we commit and re-commit ourselves to being good people and following all the rules. Yet despite our personal determination and commitment to self-discipline, we fail, just like they did. Soon the Israelites would forget everything they just said, heard, and saw with their own eyes, choosing to worship a statue they made themselves as God. We aren’t different.

We make our promises to God, but when we labor in our own strength and energy, we ultimately fail, exhausting and discouraging ourselves in the process. God is perfect. He is perfectly holy, righteous, and good. We simply cannot match up to His standard of perfection – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

What we must learn, and re-learn often, is that we cannot achieve perfection on our own. Only God is perfect, so it required the sacrifice of the perfect God-man, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sins, so that all who believe in Him can be forgiven and receive the Spirit of God. It is then that God both sees us as perfect (Christ in us) and empowers us to become increasingly like Christ ourselves.

As we learn to live with and by the Spirit within us, we open ourselves for genuine and lasting heart transformation by the power of the Spirit. What is impossible for us is possible for God. By the transforming power of the Spirit, we grow in our holiness and our following of Jesus. By God’s power, and His alone, we increasingly can do what God commands us to do. We will never be perfect this side of the heaven, but God’s grace transforms us when we stop trying to change by our strength and instead deepen our relationship with Him, unleashing His power to change our sinful hearts.

“Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind.’” – Mark 3:20-21

It’s safe to say that Jesus’ family didn’t understand Him! Prior to His resurrection they were skeptical, going so far as to believe He was crazy and try to stage an intervention! If that happened to Jesus, then we can naturally expect some tension with our own family when we are serious about following Jesus.

Even when your whole family is Christian, there can be tension when you deepen your commitment to truly follow Him rather than merely claiming His name. There can be tension about how you spend your time, your energy, your passion, or your money. There can be tension around career changes, lifestyle changes, and character changes. It’s OK. Jesus makes clear that we must choose Him before any other relationship.

This is a hard message to hear and live! We’re to love, care for, and provide for our families. But these needs aren’t meant to be “balanced” with following Jesus. Following Jesus must be first and foremost. Our care for our families must flow out of our obedience to Jesus. Our culture doesn’t like to hear this truth – we don’t want to admit or explore the tension between family and Christ, but Jesus taught clearly on this subject in the midst of a culture that took family far more seriously than we do today.

In your obedience to Christ, is there at least someone in your family who thinks you’re crazy and taking your Christianity too seriously? If so, you’re in good company. If not, you might need to consider whether you’re following Jesus closely enough!