Last time we discussed how God took our place on the cross and reconciled our sin debt. He did not cover it up but took it away completely. It was nothing we did. It was all him. If you missed it. You can access it here: Christ Reconciled Our Sin Problem.

Did we gain anything else by this gracious act of our Messiah? Oh yes: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way (Ep 1:18-23, NIV).

Did you catch that? Paul is telling us that we have the same power that raised Christ from the dead within us. What is within us with this power? The Holy Spirit.

Paul goes on to say: But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ep 2:4-10, NIV)).

His Holy Spirit will now be able to do great things through us because of what Christ has done for us on the cross. This is likely why Paul talks to us about the armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6. Let’s examine this armor:

We have the Helmet of Salvation: If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Ro 10:9, NIV). This is by the spoken word and accomplish by Christ.

We have the Breastplate of Righteousness: It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has been for us wisdom from God—that is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption (1Co 1:30, NIV). This is by words of wisdom from Christ.

We have the Belt of Truth: Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me (Jn 14:6, NIV). This comes from Christ who is the Word of God.

We have the Feet of Gospel of Peace: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (Jn 14:27, NIV). The words of Christ give us peace.

We have the Shield of Faith: Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer [author] and perfecter of faith (Hb 12:2a, NIV). Christ and his words give us the faith upon which we believe.

We have the Sword of the Spirit: Take . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ep 6:17, NIV). Paul then tells us to Pray in the Spirit.

This passage in Ephesians 6 is often used to portray the armor as a defense against Satan and his “fiery darts” as Paul stated when he talked about the Shield of Faith. While true, these verses seem to indicate that the main reason for the armor is one for offense more than it is for defense. These are all action verses and show that each piece is a representative of Jesus Christ and of the power of the spoken word.

So, if we are donning the armor, this means we as the warrior are within Christ. And if we were to look at ourselves in a mirror, we would see him and not ourselves because we are in him, and he is in us. This is just as he prayed with his disciples: that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me (Jn 17:21, NIV).

No wonder James said: The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (Ja 5:16b, NIV). The spoken word is very powerful when spoken through inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Proverbs also tells us: The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who live it will eat its fruit (Pr 18:21, NIV). This seems to imply we need to be living within the armor of God for our words to be effective. Paul also tells us: Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold (2Co 3:12, NIV). Speaking through inspiration of the Holy Spirit allows us to speak boldly for the Lord. And, again, in Proverbs we understand the following: The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion (Pr 28:1, NIV). We can be bold as a lion because the Lion of Judah dwells within us. This helps us to see how powerful our words are and that they should be under the control of the Holy Spirit.

We are commissioned as Paul tells us: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power (Ep 6:10, NIV). If we live within Christ by donning his armor, then we can be strong in him and work through his power which he has bestowed to us as Paul tells us: The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds (2Co 10:4, NIV). Our words, if operated under the control of the Holy Spirit, can destroy strongholds. So, our words can be very powerful.

We have the same blessing as Paul gave the church at Rome: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Ro 15:13, NIV). Our hope is a tangible hope because it is secured in the promise of Jesus Christ and in the power given to us by the Holy Spirit. If we pray with the words of Christ (Scripture) and pray as the Holy Spirit urges us to pray, then we will be powerful and we will be effective.

Isn’t God awesome?! He has paved the way for us to have a hopeful, eternal future with him. And, he has given us his Holy Spirit so we can have the same power he utilized which can make us strong and effective, accomplishing great things for him. All we need to do is be yielded to him and his Spirit. Praise God!

Are you ready for your future—both now and in the world to come? You can be. Just reach out to him and he will never fail you.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Last time, we ended by asking if we really understood the sacrifice Christ made for us because of our sin problem. Today, let’s look at this more closely.

The apostle Paul tells us: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2Co 5:21, NIV). What does that really mean? It means our past, present, and future sin was placed on Christ. All sin ever committed by anyone. Now, that’s quite the burden, isn’t it?

This also raises several questions we need to ask ourselves and to address:

•            What happened to that sin which Christ bore for us?

I know Christ bore the sin for us on the cross and paid the consequence of sin, i.e., death. Yet what happened to the sin itself? Is sin tangible that it must be placed somewhere? Did it just dissipate, or did something have to be done with it? I sort of look at this like someone paying an innumerable number of traffic tickets for someone. They are free to now go and drive again, but the tickets still exist, even though paid, right? They must be thrown away, filed, burned, or something to that effect.

•            Where did Christ’s spirit go when his physical body was dead?

We know he did not go to heaven because he later told Mary Magdalene he had not yet ascended to his Father (Jn 20:17). It’s very likely his spirit did not stay in the tomb. That would be akin to soul sleep which the Bible does not seem to support as it alludes to both the righteous (Gn 37:35) as well as the wicked (Ps 9:17) going to Sheol.

•            How did those in Sheol get to Heaven so Paul could say that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord? (2Co 5:8)?

Somehow, the righteous in Sheol had to be removed from there and taken to heaven. The psalmist David seems to state this event would happen (Ps 68:18).

It would seem Jesus went to Sheol on our behalf. He had to pay the price that we were to receive. What was Sheol like?

There are three parts to Sheol:

1.           Tartarus: where angels who birthed the Nephilim were bound (2Pt 2:4)

2.           Unrighteous Sheol: Mankind without faith in coming Messiah (Lk 16:23)

3.         Righteous Sheol: Mankind with faith in coming Messiah (Abraham’s Bosom; Lk 16:22)

The Old Testament doesn’t give a clear distinction of these, but we know Christ told of an unrighteous and righteous side to Sheol (Lk 16:19-31). Since he made Sheol, then it makes sense he would know how it was arranged. Some say this was only a parable. It may have been. But just because the story may have been fictitious, it is likely the details of Sheol (called Hades in the New Testament) would not be fictitious as he knew how Sheol was arranged.

If sin separates us from God, then sin must have been placed in the unrighteous side of Sheol. Peter tells us about Tartarus in 2Pt 2:4, and in 1Pt 3:19-20 seems to indicate that Christ visited there to let them know that their plan to reshape humans into Satan’s image had failed and he has been victorious: Christ made a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built (1Pt 3:19-20, NIV).

Paul seems to imply that Christ also entered the Unrighteous side of Sheol: Christ disarmed the powers and authorities and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross (Cl 2:15, NIV). Christ disarmed (took back) the dominion Satan had stolen from Adam by triumphing over them by his death on the cross and bringing all the sin to where it was to belong.

As stated earlier, the psalmist also implies that Christ visited the Righteous side of Sheol to take from Sheol those who were held captive there: When you ascended on high, you took many captives (Ps 68:18, NIV). Due to Satan’s dominion over them even though they had faith in their Messiah, they were also in Sheol. While a different part of Sheol, the Old Testament still alludes to this place as foreboding. Christ brought them to heaven after his resurrection when he ascended to his Father to enter into the heavenly Holy of Holies.

So, it seems Christ went to Sheol for three days. He proclaimed to those on the unrighteous side why their fate is sealed. He preached to those on the righteous side what he just did for them and gave them the gift of redemption. He then brought the righteous home to the third heaven. Because of the disarming by Christ to Satan and his kingdom, he can now bestow on those in his Church other gifts for building up his Bride and make her strong and effective.

Christ received back from Satan the power he had stollen from Adam. As we just read, Paul tells us this in Colossians chapter 2: When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he had taken it aways, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross (Cl 2:13-15).

Christ was the only one who could have done this because only he had the power to give up his life and the power to raise himself from the dead: The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my live—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father (Jn 10:17, 18, NIV).

And in Revelation we see what was obtained from this disarming: I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades (Rv 1:18, NIV).

Christ told Peter that death would no longer have power over his bride, his Church (Mt 16:18). Death would no longer be a separator between him and those who believe in him. This is the reason the apostle Paul could say with certainty that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord for those who believe in him. Those who do not believe in him still go to Sheol until the second resurrection (Rv 20).

Isn’t it amazing what Christ saved us from having to experience? Our future will be a bright one! If you haven’t taken that step, it’s available. Just take it—talk to him. He’s waiting to hear your voice and develop a relationship with you. You will never be sorry you did.

Next time, let’s look at what else we gained from what Christ did for us on the cross. Hallelujah! His gifts to us are exceedingly great. Until next time. God bless.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

We have looked at several aspects of sin, so now let’s talk about a solution for it. From what we have discovered in the previous posts, what does it all mean for us? Here are a few points to remember:

·       God’s word can be counted on. It is plausible. It is true. It is truth.

·       God is tangible; God is mysterious; God is unique

·       God cannot love you more.

·       God cannot love you less.

·       God is love; God is justice – both in their purest forms

·       We cannot by-pass his justice to receive his love

·       There is a reason he is Trinity – it is necessary for our salvation

God’s love came to us via justice, not to replace it or as a substitute or it: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). Some think this is exclusionary, but in reality, it is all inclusive. Yet, it requires a choice. Just because it is available doesn’t mean it is imputed. It is imputed freely only if you accept it.

In our first post, we talked about the Magic Zone and how it requires us to get out of our own Comfort Zone before we can reach it. Yet, the Magic Zone is available to all. You just have to get a little uncomfortable to achieve it. So, how do we get to the Magic Zone? Think about the following:

·       Our best is less than God’s requirement of perfection

·       Our pride yields Rebellion – we cannot please God and we will not reach out to God on our own

·       The Holy Spirit draws us to God

·       Acceptance leads to security through the Holy Spirit

·       Our imperfection is then clothed with Christ’s perfection

·       Our submission leads to obedience

·       Our obedience leads to transforming our minds in alignment with the mind of Christ

·       Being in sync with Christ takes us to the Magic Zone

We can become Christians without ever reaching this Magic Zone. Yet, we can choose to get there by choosing to develop the mind of Christ and look at sin as he does. This is how we begin to have a compassion for others and can look beyond their acts of sin to see them as an individual of worth. After all, we are all sinners. Yet, we all have worth in his sight. We need to see others as he does, realizing they can do nothing but sin without the Holy Spirit drawing them. We need to pray that we can develop the mind of Christ and pray that the Holy Spirit will work in the lives of those we talk to, so he will draw them unto himself. What about you? Are you in the Magic Zone? Do you want to be in the Magic Zone? You can, you know. A big sacrifice was made to make it easy for you. The hard part is already done. All you must do now is just accept it by faith. What does that mean. Just believe it. Trust in it. Your eternity depends upon it.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Some balk at God being Trinity and say it’s impossible. But stop and think about it. If you can understand God, would he be God?

Yet, he reveals himself in nature and is at the very heart of matter itself. Science is not truth but helps us to point to truth. If what we can understand—or don’t understand—in nature can be believed, then why can’t we believe in God?

Quantum physics is what some call “weird science” because it doesn’t perform as most of the laws of nature perform. Subatomic particles do strange things, yet we still believe in them. I bring this up constantly, because it shows that we can believe God and who he is because the nature of his character is embedded in each atom of the universe.

When I was in school, we were taught that an atom was the basic building block of matter: composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Yet, we now know that even an atom is much more complex. If we could look closer at the atom’s nucleus, we would see that protons and neutrons are composed of smaller particles, called quarks.

A proton is composed of 2-up quarks and 1-down quark. A neutron is composed of 2-down quarks and 1-up quark. The issue with protons, as you may remember, is that they are positively charged. What happens when you put two positive sides of a magnet together? They repel each other. Well, that is exactly what these protons do, but they don’t fly apart. Why? There are gluons which bind the quarks together inside both protons and neutrons and even between protons and neutrons. This makes the nucleus a very stable environment. The force of attraction by the gluons overcome the repulsion force of the protons against each other. This is known as the “strong force.”

OK, you may be thinking, but where does God come into the picture? Well, science has discovered that while there are three quarks in a proton and neutron, they cannot be viewed independently. While they are independent particles, they cannot be separated. This is where the “weird science” comes into play. Normally, when two objects get farther and farther away, there is less attraction between them. Not so here. If you try to pull two quarks apart, the binding force increases the farther apart they get.

We had mentioned in a previous post that God is both pure love and pure justice. These could not exist together in one being without compromise. Yet, because God is Trinity, they can exist together. Sort of like the quarks in protons or neutrons. God’s love and God’s justice are held together by the Holy Spirit, like the properties of the gluon. The Holy Spirit allows them to exist in their pure form, but never apart.

Just as quarks cannot exist separately, neither can God the Father and God the Son. Christ stated that if you have seen me, you have seen the Father (Jn 14:9), and I and the Father are one (Jn 10:30). He wasn’t bragging. He was stating a fact and we can now observe such in the very heart of matter itself.

Also, the Holy Spirit, the gluon, binds us to God and we can never be separated from Him once he draws us to himself. We are bound with the strong force of the cosmic gluon, the Holy Spirit—we cannot be pulled apart from him. Therefore, the Holy Spirit (the third part of the Trinity) binds God the Father (first part of the Trinity) to God the Son (the second part of the Trinity) and never allows them to be experienced separately. He also binds us to God and never lets us go as well. Therefore, we have the fingerprint of God within the very heart of matter itself.

The Bible does tell us that, one day, God’s justice will reign. Colossians states that Christ holds all things together (Cl 1:16-17). Yet what he has created will one day be destroyed and recreated. Peter tells us that the earth will be destroyed with fervent heat (2Pt 3:7).

I think these two are related back to the gluons we just talked about. It is the gluons which hold all matter together. If God was to have the gluons fail, what would happen? What I didn’t mention was that inside the protons and neutrons is like a firestorm. It is not placid and quiet. There is massive energy that is being contained. Once the containment, the gluon, is removed, all matter would be destroyed in a brilliant fireball explosion.

God stated he will then create anew. He will reinstate the gluons and all matter will be stable again. To me, science and Scripture, do go hand in hand.

Our sin problem could only be taken care of by someone like our God who is uniquely qualified to take care of it for us since we cannot do it on our own. See, that is a God of love. Justice? Yes, he is that as well, but he if first and foremost a God of love. Experiencing justice is our choice. God cannot deny who he is, but he can, and has, made a way of escape. Now, it is up to us. Are you ready to take that step of faith? I truly hope you are.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

So far, we have seen the seriousness of sin and how all sin has a commonality. Yet, that leaves us feeling rather hopeless. So, where is the hope through all of this? Let’s see what Scripture tells us.

God told Israel the following: “Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins” (Ps 130:7-8). He also stated, “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed” (Ml 3:6). God made many promises to Israel. Malachi states that God is not taking revenge because God keeps his promises. God is faithful-even if we are not.

This theme continues into the New Testament: “And he [Christ] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2Co 5:15). Our allegiance is only in one of two places. While we may still struggle after becoming a Christian, our allegiance must change to be toward Christ and to please him.

Is this starting to sound very complicated? Coming to God should be easy. We make it complicated. Because of our way of looking at sin, we feel we need to “do better” before we come to God, someone who is perfect. Yet, God says, “No.” We come as we are. We believe we are a sinner. We believe Christ came into this world and paid the penalty for all sin—our sin. We trust in Him for our eternal future and no longer in ourselves—our “goodness”, or what we can do. Because we can never achieve perfection—His requirement—we can only depend upon Him and not ourselves.

Yet, becoming a Christian does not change the struggle within us. It does give us the ability and the courage to win against that struggle, along with a guarantee of a blessed future. The difficulty comes from our unwillingness to let go, our unwillingness to really see sin for what sin truly is, our unwillingness to accept and see sin as God has defined it. It goes back to what we stated before. Our “sin” is not as bad as someone else’s. We see their sin as worse because we don’t have an issue with it. If we have an issue, then it can’t be that bad or else we wouldn’t have a problem with it.

Our reasoning becomes flawed. For example, if we are living with someone, but someone else commits adultery, we think their sin is worse. After all, they had already made a commitment with something and broke that trust. I’m just “trying it out” to see if I want to make a commitment. Therefore, if I bail, it’s not so bad. After all, I never married so I don’t have to feel guilty about not making that commitment. Yet, from God’s perspective, one sin is just as black as another. It all starts from the heart willing to be disobedient. The heart comes first and the deed second.

Another problem is that we haven’t really stopped to understand God and his character. We say God is holy, but there are two aspects to being holy. One is what we traditionally think of as being pure and righteous. However, the other part is that He is set apart, He is unique, one of a kind. He is Three-in-One. Why is He like this? Well, for one, it makes Him the perfect relationship builder. The parts that we have come to know as God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are part of God the Father as a whole. The Gospel of John states in John 1 that “the Word became flesh.” In other words, the part of God who communicates to man became man. This is the part of the Trinity which has always communicated God’s will to mankind. In the Old Testament, we call this the pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, the Messiah, the One who was to come. Therefore, this pre-incarnate form of God is most likely the one who walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden.

Just as Christ communicated physically with mankind, the Holy Spirit communicates spiritually with mankind. In the Old Testament, this was on an as-needed basis. However, today, God has promised that all who accept Him are indwelled with the Holy Spirit so we can have that communication always. Therefore, the Trinity is the most efficient relationship builder ever. No wonder God designed mankind to be relational beings; God Himself is a relational being.

But more than that, it allows him to be pure love and pure justice and still reside in one being. Our salvation is dependent upon God being Trinity. It could not have happened any other way. God had to remain 100% God while becoming 100% human. God being Trinity allowed that.

I know the concept of Trinity is a hard concept but hold that thought and we’ll explore it further next time. Not only is it the source of our hope, but the concept is also so important God put the concept in the very heart of nature itself. I hope you join us next time to further explore. What an awesome God we serve!

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

There are a whole host of sins we could enumerate and list, but let’s talk about the commonality of all sins. To do that, let’s just take one as an example—perhaps one not too controversial. Let’s look at disobedience.

Disobedience: can that really be so egregious? Everyone does it, so can it really be that bad? Don’t worry. I’m not trying to take you down a guilt trip, but to make a point that I think is really important.

So, let’s go all the way back to the first disobedience: And the LORD God commanded the man [Adam], saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gn 2:16-17).

First, let’s not try and make their disobedience worse than our disobedience. There is no grading system for disobedience. One disobedience is not worse than another. The Bible states, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Ro 5:12). Was there something special about this particular fruit which God told Adam and Eve not to eat? The Bible doesn’t say, but probably not. This was a test of obedience, not about protecting a special type of fruit endued with special powers. Yet, this one act became so much more. Why? This was the first sin to be committed, and one was all it took.

What was at the root of disobedience? Pride. This is the opposite of humility. Humility leads to obedience. Pride leads to disobedience: “In his pride, the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts, there is no room for God” (Ps 10:4). In addition, disobedience equates to rebellion. That sounds rather drastic, I know. Could it be true? Well, what was God’s picture of Adam’s disobedience?

God offered Adam a theocratic rule. Adam rejected it. He put himself before God and lost his kingdom. How do we know this? “Again, the devil took him [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’” (Mt 4:7-8). Jesus didn’t say Satan was wrong to offer such to him. He just stated one should worship God only. Thereby, God equated Adam’s disobedience to an act of rebellion against Him. So, you see, it was certainly egregious in God’s eyes.

What is rebellion? It is an act of putting into practice what is already in one’s heart. Rebellion comes from disobedience which comes from pride.

Adam’s sin was a heart problem. And, really, all sin is a heart problem. The Bible is pretty clear on this fact:

·       Impure sacrifices equated to disobedience/rebellion – (Am 5:21)

·       Murder equated to anger in one’s heart (Mt 5:21-22)

·       Adultery equated to lust in one’s heart (Mt 5:28).

If you make a list of any number of sins, I think you would have to agree that what is common to all, and what is at the root of each, is pride.

Pride is a heart condition. The Bible is clear on this as well. It states, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end, it leads to death” (Pr 14:12). Without the Holy Spirit leading us, we cannot judge our actions properly: “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God” (Ro 8:7-8).

We cannot come to God on our own. Pleasing him or trying to change on our own is impossible. True, long-lasting change can only occur after we come to Him: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hb 11:6). We can’t put the cart before the horse. We can’t change or please God before we accept what He has done for us: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jr 17:9); “Jesus answered, ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day’” (Jn 6:44); “When he [Holy Spirit] comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment” (Jn 16:9).

Our hope of change is impossible unless we yield to the pull and encouragement of the Holy Spirit who leads us to Christ and accept, through faith, that his death and resurrection is the hope for our future – we rely upon what He did for us and not on our own merit: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2Co 5:17). Being different is a result from, and expectation of, the Holy Spirit guiding us: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin” (Ro 6:1, 6-7).

Our lasting change can only come about after the Holy Spirit indwells us. He begins to change our desire. Internal changes manifest themselves in outward changes: “So, then I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin” (Ro 7:25b).

Even after becoming a Christian, there is a struggle to keep God’s standard.: “The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ” (1Co 2:15-16).

So, all this talk makes our situation seem almost hopeless, doesn’t it? Well, it is if we try to solve it on our own. Next time, we’ll look at hope and how important that is for us. Can hope be tangible? Stay tuned, and we’ll find out together.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Sin is a topic that makes many people uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable. But it is necessary.

We all have a comfort zone. It’s where we feel at home – safe. Yet, more times than not, that is not where we need to be. We crave for our lives to be magical; yet, the “magic” is rarely in our comfort zone. So, we must deal with the “Un-comfort zone.” We must pass through this to get to the “magic zone.” Both Christians and non-Christians can be in the comfort zone. They can both even be in the Un-comfort zone. But they both must deal with an issue in this “Un-comfort zone.” And that issue is sin.

But before we can deal with the issue of sin and our sin problem, we must deal with our definition of sin. Often, our definition of sin prevents us from dealing with our sin problem. It can also prevent us from understanding the concept of sin itself. Not only that, it prevents us from entering the “magic zone.”

What is sin? One definition states: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.

At first glance, it looks to be a decent definition. Right? Yet, there are two issues with this definition. One is the world ‘considered.’ This implies someone is regarding an act to be against divine law. What if someone else deems it not to be? Second, is the word ‘immoral.’ Who is determining a certain act is immoral? On what grounds? This definition gets us into conflict with each other. I deem something is immoral and regard it an act against divine law. You deem the same act not immoral and, therefore, not against divine law. Does that sound familiar to us today?

Here is another definition. This is the Bible’s definition: Anything God states is against his nature.

Now, who is making the judgment call? God. This is not talking about an ‘act,’ but about the essence of God. Therefore, it is a more abstract concept than just an act. As humans, we have a tough time with that definition. We turn things into an act – it’s easier to quantitate in our minds. Yet, it then makes us become judgmental.

I’m not going to make a list as I don’t want us to get off topic. Yet, there are a number recorded in the Bible. It’s not so much about what the act is, but the way we see sin. If I were to rattle off a list to you, some would likely stand out to you to be more serious to you than others. We tend to cling to the first definition of sin I mentioned. Some acts of sin we see as more “sinful” that others. Why is that?

Well, the sin you personally don’t have an issue with, you will likely consider more “sinful.” That’s because that sin is not an issue in your life. Therefore, consciously, or unconsciously, you think, how could anyone yield to such a sin?

We need to realize that everyone is working on something. None of us is perfect, and we each have different weaknesses that Satan constantly uses to try and bring us down. His tactics use ignorance, guilt, consequences, or even a combination of these. So, how do we overcome this tendency to quantitate sin and rank different acts on a scale of “not so bad,” to “heinous?”

Again, either consciously or unconsciously, we compare ourselves to each other. If you appear blacker than I do, then I can feel better about myself. Maybe, you even convince yourself that the issue you are struggling with isn’t even a sin at all. If accepted by society, then why worry about it? But, if we compare ourselves to the true standard, then the differences between the two go away. We realize that one of us is just as far from the mark as the other. If the standard is pure white, why argue whether onyx or obsidian is darker?

God has a pretty black and white view of sin. Why? When perfection is the standard, anything less is just not good enough. It’s a pass-fail scenario. In that case, if the standard is 100, it doesn’t matter if you made 99 or 50, you still fall short. Until we view sin as God sees sin, then we will never fully understand from what we have been saved.

Is it better to be saved from drug addiction or be saved when very young and never have to go through such hard times? Of course, you would say not having to go through such rough times is better. Yet, who becomes more appreciative? Only when you see sin from God’s perspective can you see that your “not so bad” sin is just as black as one’s “heinous” sin. Only then can you really appreciate what God has saved you from.

All sin has something in common. That’s what we’ll talk about next time. Until then, think about how you can see the world from God’s perspective. It may just change your life. Think about it. What did you discover?

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens