A Spin on Sin?

Self-esteem seems to be the buzzword in America today. We hear much about God’s love for us and that our big problem is just not feeling good enough about ourselves. But some may wonder why they have this sneaking suspicion that all is not right about their self. Maybe that’s because of the Biblical doctrine of Sin. God, who knows us a good deal better than we know ourselves, doesn’t seem all that impressed with self.  The Bible calls it Sin---a disposition we're born with, at odds with God, under the power of Satan. It causes us to blindly trust in our own righteousness and power, seeking our own way apart from God and others. In our pride we think God must love and accept us for who we are. If that’s so, what do we need Christ for? Where is any need for true humility and repentance from wrong? God declares that, “all have sinned, that there are none righteous, that none seek after Him.”  Satan's lie to Eve in the Garden persists to this day---"For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  Is that not true of us, no matter how much we hate to admit it? It's not to say we don't believe there's a God, but we unwittingly make Him over into OUR image. We make idols of Him in our minds.  Forsaking Him, we end up in trouble, come to know guilt, and---like Adam and Eve---we cover our nakedness before Him with "fig leaves" and hide from Him.

What do you say? Have you really searched after Him? Have you always been honest before Him and faithful toward Him? If not, God can have nothing to do with you apart from His Son who died for you. God is perfectly just; He can't wink at sin nor play favorites. Put yourself in His place. Would you invite a bunch of rebels into your kingdom? No, only those who would show you love and respect, right?

WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US? Well, we couldn't help being born with a sin nature, but that doesn't mean God can't reach our hearts with His Gospel, not unless we willfully reject it. Just as God came seeking Adam and Eve in the Garden, He has ever since sought those who would love and enjoy Him, and He has provided a way by which our rebellion against Him can be overcome.

The plan was in the mind of God from the beginning, even before creation. We need to know that the Bible shows God to be all-powerful and all-knowing. The heavens and earth attest to His power, and in His mind He numbers the hairs of every person who has ever lived. Was God, then, surprised by Adam's fall through the deception of Satan? Hardly. We find He had already purposed how He would overcome Satan and enable us to be restored to an eternal relationship with Him. In doing this He would demonstrate His love, mercy and righteousness in keeping with His perfect justice. On the cross the innocent One died for us,  taking our sins upon himself so that God might justly forgive our sins. In our own legal system, the concept of double jeopardy forbids anyone from being punished for the same crime twice. The trial is over. We are free! What's more, when we ask Christ into our life, we are so identified with Christ that his life becomes ours. If He died for us, then we died in Him. The same Spirit that indwelled him indwells us. We have become a new creation, liberated from trying to be boss to becoming a servant to God and to others, which is what God always intended. Although we have yet to see it, the Bible declares this plan to be an accomplished fact in God's view. Whatever God says is TRUE---whether you believe it or not. Contrary to the Missourian who says "Seein' is believin'", God's order is just the opposite---Believe, then you shall see. Beware, lest as pots we judge the potter.

God is infinitely greater than we can imagine. THE GOSPEL OF JOHN reveals that "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Now a spirit is invisible, unknowable by our natural human senses. However, God has solved the problem by having become visible and able to communicate with mankind. Over the course of history, He has done this in various ways that have progressively revealed who He is. At times He took the form of a fleshly body, such as in His appearance to Abraham prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. As an angel, He wrestled with Jacob. He appeared to Moses from within a burning bush and later in the wilderness as a rock. Does this seem incredible? Surely it does. God is incredible! Of course, ultimately His many prophecies of the Messiah were fulfilled in Christ, the true Lamb of God, who was born --without sin of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. (Think about it. For God to visit this world He had cursed would be on the order of--you or I willingly--becoming a cockroach in a garbage heap.) Talk about love! We see Christ living a sinless life, taking no thought of himself, healing the blind and the sick miraculously. Yet he was accused of having a demon, rejected by the religious authorities, forsaken by His friends, spit on and flogged by his persecutors, laying down His life on a cross to take upon Himself the sins of the world--all this that you and I might be forgiven and be indwelt by His spirit to become joint heirs with Him for all eternity.

The Bible says "There is a way that seems right to man, but the end of it is death.” For most, the way seems to be trying to gain God’s acceptance by good works and sacrifices, be it church going, giving or whatever. As good as these may be in themselves, they are an insult to God when offered as a way to merit His love and acceptance. Happily, there is another way--God's way of righteousness through believing on His Son. Most people seem to miss it. Will you? The alternative is to spend eternity apart from God who made you and died for you. We don't speak much of that, but it must be a hell of an existence! What are you to do? Only receive by faith what Christ accomplished on the Cross. After being separated from his Father when made to be sin for us, his last words were, "It is finished!" Acknowledge your sin before Him, thank Him, and give him permission to change your life as only He can do. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,--not of works, lest anyone should boast." If you approach the Bible in this manner, with faith that God will reward you, His words will be more and more meaningful. You will find they transform the way you think and act. Actually, as we pursue God, we come to know it’s not us but God’s spirit in us at work “Both to will and do His good pleasure.” God leaves nothing to you except to trust and obey Him. Is that too much to ask? Then do it, for He alone can defeat the same enemy that caused humanity’s downfall by suckering Adam and Eve in the garden.

DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT. An account in scripture tells of the apostle Paul preaching to the church of Berea. It states, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Unlike so many whose faith is based on hearsay, the Bereans wouldn’t even accept the great apostle Paul’s preaching without verifying it by scripture. Friend, that attitude is what's needed today. Want to have faith? The Bible says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." What others say can be helpful—or harmful. The way to tell the difference is to know your Bible. Don't settle for anything less than God's word. Study it, claim it, obey it. Prove you are one of God's chosen ones by responding to His invitation to an eternal love affair with Him and His family. It's your move. Right now, in your own way and words, confess your need to God, ask Him to be your Lord and Savior. Then THANK HIM and follow Him daily. He has promised to never leave or forsake those who trust in Him. More than giving you some kind of ticket to heaven one day (great as that is!), he wants you to increasingly enjoy here and now the very life that Christ experienced by God’s Spirit—“love, joy, peace, patience, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness.” God has spoken to us in terms we can understand—by His Son who is not only the image of God but a picture of the person God wants you and I to be. If you haven’t trusted Christ with your life, don’t put it off. Do it NOW, while it’s on your mind, like your life depends upon it. It does! 

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