If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
~1 John 1:9
When we repeat the same sins over and over again, we’re not taking the sin seriously. We’re not dealing with it. We’re treating prayer like the county clerk’s office. We get a ticket for not putting money in the meter. We go pay the fine at the clerk’s office, and the next day we do the same exact thing. There’s people that see sin that same way. They pay the sin fine, and then go out and do the same sin the next day. They’re skipping the repentance part. The part that says what I did was wrong, I’m not going to do that again, and the next day and every day after they put money in the parking meter.
It’s like this. If you don’t do the crime, you don’t pay the fine.
Our society has not made life easier for a Christian. You can’t look at social media more than a few minutes without seeing inappropriate content. There’s hardly a TV show in prime time left that could be called wholesome family entertainment anymore.
Our society continues to blur the lines between right and wrong. It continues to normalize things we clearly understood were wrong not so many years ago. For instance, a society that tells us “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” I got news for you. God sees what happens in Vegas. You don’t get a free pass for what happens in Vegas.
Thankfully it isn’t our society that defines right and wrong. School boards don’t define right and wrong. State legislatures don’t define right and wrong. The House and the Senate do not define what it right and wrong. Nor does the Supreme Court. And our society in it’s arrogance will try and tell you that you can’t define right and wrong in black and white terms.
Oh yes you can. Because man doesn’t define what’s right and wrong. God does. And it just so happens that God’s word is written very clearly in BLACK AND WHITE. Romans Chapter 12 Verse 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
It’s up to us as Christians to know God’s word, to obey God’s word, and to do our best to apply God’s word to our life. Regardless of what our culture is telling us. And to live Christian lives regardless of what our neighbors are doing. As it says in Acts Chapter 5 Verse 29 We must obey God rather than men.
It’s up to us to avoid enticement. To avoid being ensnared. To avoid being entrapped in the things of this world, and focus instead on the things of the Kingdom. And when we inevitably stumble, and we will from time to time, that we recognize it. That we take those lapses in judgement, those sins, to God. That we confess it, and we repent. We make amends. We make changes. We don’t keep repeating the same mistakes.
So if you hear me say again, ask God for forgiveness, you correct me on that. There’s more involved than that. There’s a couple things on our side that we have to do first. Acknowledge. Confess. And repent. And if we do those things, and we do them honestly and make efforts to avoid those sins again, we can rest assured that God will forgive us.
~Todd E. Creason
This is an excerpt from the message delivered on 6/29/2022 at the Wednesday Night ReCharge at Muncie Baptist Church.
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