Easy to say. Hard to do.
How do you know you are living with unknown sin?
I've decided I don't want unknown sin in my life. I want to be honest with myself as well as others. I don't want to go to my grave with people saying, "Overall, he was a pretty good guy. But there was this one thing..."
I want to share a blueprint for finding and eradicating hidden sin, but first I want to avoid a guilt trip for any of us. In fact, that's Step One: acknowledging that we are sinners and that we are saved from that state not by our ability to be perfect in terms of following the Law, but by grace. By our relationship with Christ, who was perfect in terms of following the law.
Scripture makes it clear that we can't be perfect in terms of following the law. But, we can be positionally perfect by being in relationship with Christ. From there, it is our relationship with Him, enabled by His Spirit within us, that propels us forward in terms of attaining perfection. It is the Spirit that seals us for eternity and that will one day truly perfect us in eternity.
In the meantime, and this is Step Two, it's up to us to cultivate that relationship with Christ through the Spirit. This involves regular time in God's Word; after all, Christ is considered the manifest Word (John 1:1-2). Time in the word is time with the Word. It also involves regular prayer time, a quiet time for two-way communication with the one who obtained perfection for us.
My prayer for you and myself is that the Spirit will use God's word and prayer to build perfection in us. God knows us to the core of our hearts (Prov. 20:27). The Spirit knows what God knows and reveals it to us (John 16:13). Therefore, working on that relationship is the best thing we can do to be more sensitive to the Spirit's leading, and he will lead us to find and eliminate hidden sin.
It's imperative that we get this right! We will struggle till our deaths if we try to make ourselves perfect and will enter the grave with the biggest load of unnecessary guilt on our shoulders. It is the Spirit working in us that will propel us towards the perfection that Christ has already attained for us (Gal. 3: 2,3).
We're like the Karate Kid. We want to learn how to kick and punch. But what we need to learn are the motions ("Wax on, wax off!"). Work on the relationship with Christ, and the power to change will happen supernaturally.
Step Three is to determine that you will listen to instruction (Prov. 19:16). When the Spirit reveals a sin to you, work with the Spirit to remove that sin. Seek forgiveness, ask for help to change, practice what you've learned. What's important is having both a receptive heart and mind (Prov. 23:12).
A facet of Step Three is to be in relationship with other believers who are wrestling with the same struggles. This includes peers who have the same values and goals. It can include a mentor or even someone you are mentoring.
That's a key reason I've chosen to do this blog. By mentoring others, I'm forced to look into my own life and see how I'm doing. (Thanks for being there!)
The three steps I've laid out are not easy. I still struggle with each. The key is to not be too hard on yourself when you fail. Seek to always keep the relationship alive and vital. Listen and learn. Then, as you learn, apply the lessons in your relationships with others. And, before you know it, selective morality is gone.
Take care!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Selective Morality/Go Deep
I've been impacted by a teaching I heard recently,
on sin and its deceptive nature. The sin nature blinds individuals and groups, causing them to sin without even realizing it.
The example used was slavery in the early history of America. Churches all over the country accepted slavery as a normal part of life. As such, they also accepted and propagated an attitude that one race was inferior to another and, therefore, either belonged in slavery or deserved it.
So embedded was this attitude in the lives of many Christians that entire denominations split over this issue in the 1860's even as our country tore itself in two over the same moral outrage.
Looking back on this time in history, we wonder, "How could Christians believe in the Bible and seek to practice the values represented in it, and yet live with such an obvious sin in their lives?"
Sin is deceitful, often masquerading as a virtue. And when sin has been adopted by a culture and is not only practiced, but is promoted and accepted as normal, people grow up assuming that attitude is appropriate, not recognizing its insidious nature.
Because we live with a sin nature, it can happen to us individually. We can be very moral in our choices, successfully living a life that reflects proper biblical values. And yet, there can be a blind spot, obvious to others, but one we're oblivious to.
What took me down this route was a realization about the organization of Proverbs. Solomon and other contributing authors cover every imaginable sin. The frustrating thing when studying the book is that all the vices are mixed together. When studying problems related to the mouth, I would find one verse in this chapter, then two in the next, then none in the next, and so on. In the meantime, I was having to wade through lessons about all the other sins.
Is it possible that Solomon was making a statement about sin simply through the organization of his wise sayings? The emphasis in Proverbs is that wisdom is the most valuable possession a man can seek. It comes specifically from God, who is the originator of wisdom. So a relationship with Him is essential in attaining it. Given that, then Solomon admonishes us to seek and accept instruction.
With that as a backdrop, Solomon begins to pummel his readers with saying after saying, each one tackling another sin issue. Not in any specific order that I can tell. Why?
Because sin is so deceitful, a person can be doing great in some areas, but be failing miserably in others. By exposing his readers to so many different sins, Solomon forces us to measure ourselves against them all. He forces an underlying question--does this sin have a foothold in my life? If it does, accept instruction and deal with it.
Whew! That took a lot of words. I'll wrap up for today and will close in a day or two with recommendations on how we can avoid selective morality--living with unknown sins in our lives.
on sin and its deceptive nature. The sin nature blinds individuals and groups, causing them to sin without even realizing it.
The example used was slavery in the early history of America. Churches all over the country accepted slavery as a normal part of life. As such, they also accepted and propagated an attitude that one race was inferior to another and, therefore, either belonged in slavery or deserved it.
So embedded was this attitude in the lives of many Christians that entire denominations split over this issue in the 1860's even as our country tore itself in two over the same moral outrage.
Looking back on this time in history, we wonder, "How could Christians believe in the Bible and seek to practice the values represented in it, and yet live with such an obvious sin in their lives?"
Sin is deceitful, often masquerading as a virtue. And when sin has been adopted by a culture and is not only practiced, but is promoted and accepted as normal, people grow up assuming that attitude is appropriate, not recognizing its insidious nature.
Because we live with a sin nature, it can happen to us individually. We can be very moral in our choices, successfully living a life that reflects proper biblical values. And yet, there can be a blind spot, obvious to others, but one we're oblivious to.
What took me down this route was a realization about the organization of Proverbs. Solomon and other contributing authors cover every imaginable sin. The frustrating thing when studying the book is that all the vices are mixed together. When studying problems related to the mouth, I would find one verse in this chapter, then two in the next, then none in the next, and so on. In the meantime, I was having to wade through lessons about all the other sins.
Is it possible that Solomon was making a statement about sin simply through the organization of his wise sayings? The emphasis in Proverbs is that wisdom is the most valuable possession a man can seek. It comes specifically from God, who is the originator of wisdom. So a relationship with Him is essential in attaining it. Given that, then Solomon admonishes us to seek and accept instruction.
With that as a backdrop, Solomon begins to pummel his readers with saying after saying, each one tackling another sin issue. Not in any specific order that I can tell. Why?
Because sin is so deceitful, a person can be doing great in some areas, but be failing miserably in others. By exposing his readers to so many different sins, Solomon forces us to measure ourselves against them all. He forces an underlying question--does this sin have a foothold in my life? If it does, accept instruction and deal with it.
Whew! That took a lot of words. I'll wrap up for today and will close in a day or two with recommendations on how we can avoid selective morality--living with unknown sins in our lives.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Selective Morality/Think About It
TV commercials for the city of Las Vegas are a study in selective morality.
Let me explain what I see.
In one television spot, a young man is trying to arrange a wake up call by the front desk of his hotel. But the man is trying to explain that he wants the call to go not to his room, but another that he doesn't know the number of yet. The implication--he doesn't plan on spending the night in his own room.
Wink, wink.
This is one of several commercials the city of Las Vegas is currently airing to build its "Sin City" status. (As an aside, it's likely that a tourism group oversees the production of these spots and the purchase of airtime, probably to some extent with public funds. Your taxes at work.)
Back to Advertising 101. What is the benefit proposition in this spot? It lives in the tagline, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." The promise is that if you will choose Las Vegas for your fun but illicit activity, no one will find out because no one will tell.
A ludicrous promise which a city can in no way guarantee; yet, no doubt there is no shortage of those gullible enough, or craving and desperate enough, to believe it.
But, to the premise of this week's blog. Isn't Las Vegas practicing selective morality? After all, isn't the city encouraging people to come and break as many of the human-to-human relational sins as they can get away with (e.g., adultery, fornication, greed and the like) while at the same time discouraging others?
As as obvious example, people are encouraged to come and gamble their lives away. Yet, the same casinos that benefit from this behavior spend millions on elaborate security systems to keep people from cheating at cards. So, in the state of Nevada, cheating is a weightier offense than, say, losing your life savings, or destroying your marriage, or picking up an STD during a one-night stand, or ...
I'm not making this point for the sake of Las Vegas, though. My desire is to impact those who read this blog.
So, my question for you is, how are you practicing selective morality in your life? Think about it and we'll go deeper mid-week.
Let me explain what I see.
In one television spot, a young man is trying to arrange a wake up call by the front desk of his hotel. But the man is trying to explain that he wants the call to go not to his room, but another that he doesn't know the number of yet. The implication--he doesn't plan on spending the night in his own room.
Wink, wink.
This is one of several commercials the city of Las Vegas is currently airing to build its "Sin City" status. (As an aside, it's likely that a tourism group oversees the production of these spots and the purchase of airtime, probably to some extent with public funds. Your taxes at work.)
Back to Advertising 101. What is the benefit proposition in this spot? It lives in the tagline, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." The promise is that if you will choose Las Vegas for your fun but illicit activity, no one will find out because no one will tell.
A ludicrous promise which a city can in no way guarantee; yet, no doubt there is no shortage of those gullible enough, or craving and desperate enough, to believe it.
But, to the premise of this week's blog. Isn't Las Vegas practicing selective morality? After all, isn't the city encouraging people to come and break as many of the human-to-human relational sins as they can get away with (e.g., adultery, fornication, greed and the like) while at the same time discouraging others?
As as obvious example, people are encouraged to come and gamble their lives away. Yet, the same casinos that benefit from this behavior spend millions on elaborate security systems to keep people from cheating at cards. So, in the state of Nevada, cheating is a weightier offense than, say, losing your life savings, or destroying your marriage, or picking up an STD during a one-night stand, or ...
I'm not making this point for the sake of Las Vegas, though. My desire is to impact those who read this blog.
So, my question for you is, how are you practicing selective morality in your life? Think about it and we'll go deeper mid-week.
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