Sin

Galatians 6:8 …….. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that naturewill reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

I am amazed that there is a generation growing-up who do not know what sin means. Not only do they have no concept of what sin is, they have no idea what the word means. By this understanding, sin must be an ‘old-fashioned’ word from a bygone era with an archaic language. Sin is, therefore, a ‘Christianese’ word with no relevance today.

What then do we do when we want to lead a person in ‘the sinner’s prayer’? We have to back-peddle quite a distance and begin with an explanation of ‘sin’, remembering to keep it simple (but not patronising) and avoid ‘archaic Christianese’ that uses irrelevant words that hold no meaning.

Here goes……. Sin is a wall that we build, it separates us from God. Every time we do, say or think something that is contrary to the nature of God, we put another brick in the wall. Human beings are born with a ‘sin nature’ – we naturally sin.

Sin can be saying things that are not true (the word ‘lies’ is possibly another ‘meaningless’ word), it can be stealing big things or even little things, it can be killing a person. There are many kinds of sins but no matter how big or small, every one of them puts another brick in the wall that separates us from God.

God hates sin because it separates us from Him. He wants that wall to be pulled down and removed. God loves us all and He loves us all the time but we cannot enter into a relationship with God until we really understand our need to be forgiven, by God, for building that wall.

It can be done.

Firstly, we have to hate that wall as much as God does; every stinking, self-centred, self gratifying brick. When we do, we will also want that wall removed. However, no matter how hard we try we cannot remove it……. We no sooner remove a brick or two and a few more appear that we had not even noticed before.

To completely remove this wall we need to change our lifestyle and to do that we need help. God wants to help us. He sent His son Jesus Christ who has made available all that we need to succeed. His blood, poured out for us at His death, can dissolve every brick in the wall of sin if we ask Him. It can be done in an instant.

When the wall is gone we will know the love of God, it will wash over us and we will do all that we can to make sure that nothing will block it from reaching us again.

God can help us to live like a completely different person. He can help us to make good choices instead of bad ones.

Jesus wants to flood our hearts with the love of God. If we look at His life revealed in the bible and live like Him, this love, appreciation and gratitude between us will grow stronger every day. If we ask the Holy Spirit of God to teach us all about Jesus, He will.

This new lifestyle, full of love and freedom, is what God wants for all of us. If you want it, you can have it.

Lord Jesus, please forgive me and take away my sin. Teach me your ways so that I can live like you. Thank you for your amazing love today and for ever. Amen.

YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7uluczlEx8&feature=channel_page