Welcome to the porch! What a beautiful morning here on the edge of the Great North Woods. As I stepped out on the porch I was greeted with some rather chilly air, 38 degrees according to the thermometer… WOW!
I have discovered that my sons are very quickly becoming coffee bums. This is troubling to me. I have some very nice beans that have come my way via God’s blessings and they (son # 1, 2, & 3) are being wasteful with them. This is an atrocity! You must understand…me and coffee go way back.
I made a whole
pot (12 cups) for them. It was an exotic Arabic bean, Irish Cream mixed with fresh ground, roasted, imported Costa Rica blend. It was nice. I had a cup and left the rest to the 3 amigos.
I went to my office and put on 6 cups of Folgers® lite. Vigorously I worked. When I stopped to get me some brain juice, I discovered that they hadn’t finished what I had made for them and the little locust flew over to my office and consumed all my coffee!
Ain’t nothin’ sacred no more...Coffee Bums!
I realize this is just human nature. I will teach them and they will come to be true coffee aficionados. It’s that human nature that bothers me.
I have stumbled upon another characteristic in human nature that really bothers me. It seems to be prevalent here in my location. So, maybe you don’t see this where you are. It is the personality that seeks the information that they want to hear. This can appear in all kinds personal issues such as marriage, parenting, legal, and financial advice etc.
The one in particular that breaks my heart is “living in sin”.
In my area, (probably not yours) I constantly deal with people who practice sin, live in sin, confess the sin, but won’t remove themselves from the sin. They will tell you that they are believers, followers of Jesus Christ. And since they are believers their salvation is secure. Jesus doesn’t expect us to be perfect and knows that we sin everyday in word thought and deed.
At this point, I could branch off into a doctrinal dissertation in an attempt to disprove such a statement. But I would rather look at the origin from which the thought originates. I don’t think you can deny that it comes from the heart… a heart that is influenced by a human nature…a nature that seeks an easy way and rejects personal responsibility. This kind of nature would rather believe a lie than deal with their personal sin.
So, because of their heart nature, I know people who will jump from church to church until they find a minister or priest that will tell them what they want to hear, a minister or priest that will affirm their belief that they will sin everyday in word thought and deed.
So, I have two questions that I hope to hear some discussion:
I have discovered that my sons are very quickly becoming coffee bums. This is troubling to me. I have some very nice beans that have come my way via God’s blessings and they (son # 1, 2, & 3) are being wasteful with them. This is an atrocity! You must understand…me and coffee go way back.
I made a whole
pot (12 cups) for them. It was an exotic Arabic bean, Irish Cream mixed with fresh ground, roasted, imported Costa Rica blend. It was nice. I had a cup and left the rest to the 3 amigos.I went to my office and put on 6 cups of Folgers® lite. Vigorously I worked. When I stopped to get me some brain juice, I discovered that they hadn’t finished what I had made for them and the little locust flew over to my office and consumed all my coffee!
Ain’t nothin’ sacred no more...Coffee Bums!
I realize this is just human nature. I will teach them and they will come to be true coffee aficionados. It’s that human nature that bothers me.
I have stumbled upon another characteristic in human nature that really bothers me. It seems to be prevalent here in my location. So, maybe you don’t see this where you are. It is the personality that seeks the information that they want to hear. This can appear in all kinds personal issues such as marriage, parenting, legal, and financial advice etc.
The one in particular that breaks my heart is “living in sin”.
In my area, (probably not yours) I constantly deal with people who practice sin, live in sin, confess the sin, but won’t remove themselves from the sin. They will tell you that they are believers, followers of Jesus Christ. And since they are believers their salvation is secure. Jesus doesn’t expect us to be perfect and knows that we sin everyday in word thought and deed.
At this point, I could branch off into a doctrinal dissertation in an attempt to disprove such a statement. But I would rather look at the origin from which the thought originates. I don’t think you can deny that it comes from the heart… a heart that is influenced by a human nature…a nature that seeks an easy way and rejects personal responsibility. This kind of nature would rather believe a lie than deal with their personal sin.
So, because of their heart nature, I know people who will jump from church to church until they find a minister or priest that will tell them what they want to hear, a minister or priest that will affirm their belief that they will sin everyday in word thought and deed.
So, I have two questions that I hope to hear some discussion:
(1) Why does human nature cause people ( I believe the “majority”) to chase after ideologies that keep them in sin instead of truth that will set them free?
(2) Negating false teachers, why would men, who seek the truth, teach such things that keep people in the bondage of sin?
Please take time to respond. I would to hear your thoughts and share your comments.
4 comments:
1. Recognizing his inability to be perfect as God counts perfect, fallen man measures himself by the standards of society. He justifies his lifestyle by comparing himself with those who are living even less of a perfect life than he is. Sadly, fallen man even compares himself with the state of the "church" to justify his actions.
Until fallen man recognizes the disatisfaction that "living in sin" brings him, he will not seek the satisfaction of forgiveness and repentance. I think that the "church" fails to provide a model of the contented life that comes from following God's plan.
2. "Men who seek the Truth" likely fall into the category of men pleasers rather than God pleasers. Most of the time, ministry is measured by numbers. Rather than lose a prospect, ministers coddle seekers. They get them involved in the life of the church and often the seeker becomes of member before he has become a believer with a life change. Once the seeker becomes accepted by the church body, he assumes his lifestyle is acceptable too. His conscience is appeased for a while. The minister has added to his number. The "church" is "growing," or maybe it is really dying and doesn't even recognize it because of the "growth." So, the lifestyle continues and the influence of the church through the generations becomes measured by what has become accepted in the church rather than measured by God's standards.
The church has lost its influence and I think even ministers are unsure where to draw the line.
I believe in being seeker sensitive. Jesus lived it. However, the church must not neglect to lead the seeker to Christ and not merely to a form of Godliness that denies the power of God to change a life.
Blessings on your ministry!
ali
A doctrine of sin that explains why one continues to fall short can help to alleviate one's sense of guilt. If my doctrine teaches me that "I can't help myself" then I can somehow find comfort in the idea that part of it's "not my fault." Secondly, those who teach such doctrines may do so because it seems to provide the most satisfactory explanation for the state of their own hearts and of those to whom they minister.
If one cannot claim the experience of entire sanctification, then the Reformed idea that we sin daily in thought, word, and deed can be an attractive docrine. The Wesleyan-Arminian doctrine of entire sanctification, despite the fact that it finds its power only in God's grace, can sometimes feel like an unattainable standard. For many people, instead of feeling like a message of life-transforming grace ("By God's grace, I don't have to sin if I don't want to"), it can feel like a message of constant condemnation ("I'm striving for true holiness but always falling short.")
make yourself another pot of coffee and have a great day!
Mike Knox
Are you saying that you do not sin? If you are then you are perfect and do not need a savior? Or are you saying that since God died for your sins and you have accepted that, now you can live in this world and not sin? We are called to be holy, that means set apart, in order to testify to the truth of the gospel. And even Paul said he was the number one sinner and struggled with sin. He even states in one of his letters that the things I should do I don't and the things I don't want to do I do. This earthly body is corrupt and sinful but is that an excuse to give up and give into sin? No! God says that we are not to conform to this world anymore but be transformed by the renewing of our minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. God died for all sin past present and future. I hope I misunderstood what you were trying to say.
Hi Peter, thanks for stopping by "The Front Porch".
Let me first start by saying that my skills as a writer are deficient at best. If I have caused confusion I apologize. To answer your question, "Are you saying that you do not sin?" let me start by identifying "sin". I am talking about actions I do. The Bible refers to these kinds of sins as trangressions. By the Bibles standards there are 3 types of sins; Iniquities, Transgressions and Tresspasses. Iniquities are the sins of the heart. These are secret. They are between you and God. Another cannot see your iniquities, only God can because He looks on the heart. Iniquities deals with emotions, desires, passions and motives. I already mentioned transgressions.
Tresspasses refer to our relationships with others. It is our ability to offend.
You see not all "sin" originates from the heart. I can without malicious intent offend and not even know it. And very much like the law of tresspassing, I could go hunting and without even realizing it "tresspass" on to some elses property. I am wrong, I am guilty, but it wasn't my intent.
Iniquities and transgressions are directly linked together. Transgressions are a crime against God's law. People transgress for 2 reasons. They are either ignorant of the law's of God or else they don't care about the law's of God. In either case they are following their heart's desires. This is where iniquities come in. Our transgressions flow from our heart and is acted out through our actions.
When Jesus forgave the woman who was caught in the very act of adultery, He told her to "...go and sin no more." This would be literally interpreted "stop being an adultress." We can clean up our actions and stop "sinning" but continue to harbour sin in our hearts.
When I wrote the article, I was talking about those who claim to be forgiven of their sin but continue to act out sin in their lives.
By what you wrote, I believe that we are on the same page. I will tresspass. God is constantly showing me the iniquities of my heart that must be cleansed and can only be cleansed by faith in Him!
Thanks for the dialogue. Lets stay in touch
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