The Apostle Paul had discovered that he had no strength of his own to carry out the good that he wanted or willed to do in his life. He said, “…how to perform that which is good, I find not…” (Romans 7:18). After wrestling with this knowledge of an internal spiritual struggle for a while,…
Tag: sin
Living Water Deters a Stagnant Heart
Have you ever seen a stagnant body of water? It looks rather unpleasant, in fact, the longer it remains that way the more disgusting and repulsive it becomes. There are all kinds of collected water, from ditches to large lakes that can become stagnant. Some are loaded with oil and other chemicals, while others are…
Sin and Yeast—a Corrupt Correlation
I recently found myself thinking about the yeast used in bread and ultimately its parallel with sin in our lives. It is a key ingredient in many popular types of bread because it is essential to make them rise. Without yeast in bread of this kind, you would have a thick and rather tough lump…
Hidden Under the Wrong Shadow?
A shadow can mean different things to different people. They are beneficial to some, and ominous and oppressive to others. For example: A shadow of sickness moved across a country. A child lives under the shadow of his or her siblings, never able to achieve his own position of authority. A renowned scholar has become…
A Dark Manger in a World of Darkness
I walked down a street one evening recently where many homes were decorated for Christmas. Some had elaborate displays with a lot of lights; others displayed a simple arrangement and very few lights, or anything else that would really grab your attention. What caught my eye among all of these displays was a simple little…
Unlock the Key to Understand God at His Level
Understanding God can be challenging, but it’s important to go beyond simple ideas about Him. Many people today want to make complicated things easy to understand, even when it comes to God. Instead of trying to learn more about God, they try to bring God down to their level. This is like wanting to stay…
With Sin and God There’s No Gray World
An answer to a question on a forum post I read recently stated that there is black, and there is white, with 256 shades of gray in between. The thought of gray areas between black and white led me consider how we often think of God, the Devil and sin. In our sphere of understanding,…
If Sin & Surrender Are a Game — We Fail
Many people throughout the world have a game-playing mentality that they apply into real life, long after childhood ends. To them, Heaven becomes just a goal they are trying to win, and Jesus Christ becomes merely the means of obtaining their goal. Sin and surrender become forbidden terms. They feel that when they “get saved,”…
Too Dirty to be Right Enough to God
Did you know that dirty rags are mentioned in the Bible? Look in chapter 64 in the book of Isaiah, verse 6, and you’ll see the following: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like…
God’s Grace isn’t a Laundry for Sins
When we accept Jesus into our hearts and He cleanses us of our sins through His blood shed on the Cross, we are not given a blank check to start a life of wrongdoing all over again. God’s grace doesn’t make His Son into the operator of a laundromat where we drop off our sin…
Little Sins Are Like Cracks in Glass
You may think by reading this article that I couldn’t think of anything but windows and glass to write about! Actually, the following broken window examples point out that little sins in our lives are like a cracked or broken window or mirror. Whether small or large, the glass is still broken. Comparatively, little sins…
