God abhors sin. This daily devotional reviews what sin means and what that means for us.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Going through the nuggets from the newsletters, I had a lot left over after I sorted out the ones from the three prongs of godliness. These seemed like they were on miscellaneous topics.
I didn’t want to miss these, so we are going to be looking at them for the next couple of devotions. I went through and sorted them by topic. I’ll just have to see how they shake out.
Sin
- Doing something right is never going to lead to a sin. Right doesn’t mean what the world thinks right means. Right means righteous. Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws. If the worldview people try to tell us that we have to tolerate sin in order to love them, that is not right (Transformed to being Servants of God; Transformed to Humility through Grace).
- God calls us to be different from worldview people (Transformed to Unconformity).
- Even if we were able to do all of the do’s and not do any of the don’ts, we would still be sinful because we are separated from God (What Was John the Baptist’s Message?).
- When we are unbelievers, we can get so caught up with the expectation that we will have to give up everything we like. That isn’t true. It also doesn’t take into account what we will gain (How Do We Go from Milk Baby to Steak Adult?)
- We commit sin when we don’t put Christ before other things (Prioritizing Things Above).
- God doesn’t want us to half-heartedly follow Him. He doesn’t want us to justify sin. Our goal should be to completely erase them from our lives (Prioritizing Things Above).
- Worldliness is the opposite of what God wants for us. You see, worldliness isn’t about just living in this world. It is desiring the things of this world. He basically described it in three words: external, temporary, and delusional (Prioritizing Things Above).
- When a thought flies into our minds that we know is evil, we have not sinned just by having the thought pop in. It is more likely than not Satan tempting us to sin. It is what we do with that thought that counts (What Does “in the Days of Noah” Mean?).
- It is our human nature to want to take the “badness” out of sin. We want to, instead, see what sins we can get away with. We want to see how close we can get without sinning. Doesn’t. Work. That. Way (Transformed to Love).
- If we abhor evil, we are disgusted with it. We not only feel a distaste toward the evil, but we are also revolted by it (Transformed to Love).
- God has conquered sin and is teaching how to do the same (Transformed to Love).
- The burden is so great that we cry out in pain because we were disobedient to God. That is, to me, what abhorring evil means (Transformed to Love).
- Something in Adam and Eve’s free will had to dispose them to consider what Satan was telling them. I guess we could make the argument that, if Adam and Eve had perfect understanding, they wouldn’t have sinned (What Are the Causes and Effects of Evil? (Part 3)).
- It was their hearts, thoughts, and imaginations that were evil. It was the whole package (What Does “in the Days of Noah” Mean?).
- The sin that Ananias with Sapphira committed was being cloaked in the appearance of service to God. Instead of the godliness they were portraying, they were engaged in sin. It was their conscious decision to lie about their contribution (Why Lying Is a Moralities Issue for Disciples of Christ).
- God does not want us to condone sin. We are to reprove, rather than approve, sin (The Morality of Peace).
- We do things in secret because we have a conscience and see the shame in our actions because we do know good from evil (The Morality of Peace).
- We have to realize that nothing is secret from God. He is all-seeing and all-knowing. We see the sin exposed (The Morality of Peace).
- We are to abstain from sin and not support those who continue to commit sins. We are not to change a sin into an acceptable action. We have to remember that God hates every sin (The Morality of Peace).
- God knows we are not going to remove sin from this world. Only He can do that. That will only happen on judgment day (Keeping Our Actions and Morals Consistent).
- The root of sickness is sin, and God will reward us by comforting us (Why Lying Is a Moralities Issue for Disciples of Christ).
- If we do sin — which we will — Jesus is interceding on our behalf. He is standing up for us. Advocates generally aren’t looking to make sure punishment is meted out. They are standing up for someone else’s rights. They are trying to right wrongs (Why Lying Is a Moralities Issue for Disciples of Christ).
- We expect God to only give us the good things. We don’t want to be punished when we disobey Him (What Are Acts of Mercy?).
- The day of the Lord is when Christ’s reign will have been completed. It is a direct result of man’s sins. Man will be restored to the relationship God intended when the day of the Lord occurs. We know the end is coming. We just don’t know when (Why and How Are We to Live Godly Lives?).
- Though we are made in God’s image, we have too much of Adam’s image in us. The root is sin that manifests itself in many different ways — pride and prejudice being just two. So, the understanding isn’t there (When the Unexpected Happens).
- Instead of being ashamed of His wounds, Jesus considered them as ornaments or jewels. They were proof that His blood was shed to pay the price for our sins (When the Unexpected Happens).
- God may not have put it in my plan to do some thing, so my not doing it is not a sin. It will always be a sin if I am not growing and changing my character to be like his (Practicing Love).
- Isn’t the original sin about Adam and Eve wanting the knowledge that God had? That was Satan’s argument with Eve — you eat this fruit, and you will know as much as God. Well, Satan was right that mankind then knew what good and evil were. Satan was wrong. We had already been like God. (No, we hadn’t been gods. We were His character then.) (Attributes of God: Omniscient and All-Knowing).
- God always knew that mankind was going to disobey Him and let sin into the world. With sin, death, crucifixion, and resurrection all in place, He created us anyway (The Expected Message).
- Satan convinced Eve to not believe and to disobey what God said. Satan said bite; Eve bit; and Adam bit, committing the original sin (The Expected Message).
- All sin, regardless of what we considered its severity, is a rejection of God. Even though the outcome — rejection of God — is the same, the nature of the person committing the sin is different. Sinners will be judged and condemned to an eternity in hell if they do not ABCD (Joining the Living).
- Compromising God’s goodness would mean compromising God’s holiness, purity, and righteousness — meaning we would have the stain of sin because we would not be following God’s moral laws. Can’t do that (Glorifying God through Patience, Endurance, and Unity).
- Paul said the patience came from knowledge. We jump to us knowing more about God. We gloss over the fact that God knows every one of our sins. Because of Jesus and the fact that we have accepted Him as our Savior and Redeemer, He forgives us of those sins (Glorifying God through Patience, Endurance, and Unity).
- This life is secondary. God and our spiritual condition and life are primarily. So, when we say we are to pleasing our neighbor, that doesn’t mean we are letting them remain in sin. We are teaching them to live for God (Who Do We Please?).
- Did you ever really think about why Adam and Eve hid after they sinned? They knew God was going to come looking for them to judge them. Not to have their evening chat. Not to share an evening meal. To judge them — they expected to be called on the carpet (The Law of the Future).
- After we’ve asked God to forgive us of our sins, we can’t hang on to them. We have to forgive ourselves (The Law of Belonging).
Making the Connections
God knew that we were going to sin before He created the universe. He designed the Plan of Salvation then – before we sinned – so that we could be restored to Him.
Sending His Son to die so Jesus’ blood could be used as payment for the penalty of our sins was God’s way of addressing sin. He hates sin that much.
How Do We Apply This?
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Father God. We sin just as Adam and Eve did. Forgive us. Help us to turn from our sinful ways and gain Your character. Amen.
What do you think?
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