The Mortification of Sin

Sin is powerful. I can't imagine anyone denying this fact. It's a force so strong that it envelopes the entire planet. This world dwells in sin. Its ruler is practically the author of it. It's strategies are very sly. It often begins with the opportunity for greater happiness. Because our hearts are evil to the core, our own self-pleasure and indulgence are enough to gain our approval. I want to be happy but at what cost? My soul? What is a soul, anyways?

*I am truly grateful that my God is a God that does not care about what I think will make me happy. Thank God that He will impose His will on me. I pray the day never comes when He gives me all that I desire that does not focus on His Son and Himself and the Holy Spirit.*

Sin is like a shape shifter. It takes many forms, some implicitly innocent and some explicitly atrocious. It embeds itself into our daily actions so seamlessly that we don't even notice it's there. I pray the day never comes when I become so self-absorbed in my sins that I do not realized I am committing treason and blasphemy against God.

It is not only amorphous as to the shape it comes in but it can mold itself to each of us, individually. It's truly a formidable opponent. When one is a fledgling in the faith, sin works by giving the person nonchalance, the idea that this particular sin isn't that big of a deal. One often believes that God will punish those who are truly sinful, the murderers, adulterers. Yet Jesus says that if you have ever been angered against your brother, you have murdered him in your heart. Yet Jesus says that if you have ever looked on another with sexual desire, you have committed adultery in your heart. The world tells us that these thoughts are normal, that it's only natural to think this way because we're human.

Truly, we are humans worthy of eternal condemnation. This thought may dawn on us many years later when we consider ourselves soldiers for the faith. Yet sin can bring us down with other methods. Instead of under emphasizing itself, it will hyperbolicly over emphasize itself to the point where we are consumed with guilt. Are Savior died for my sins, yet I have crucified Him again and again. How unworthy I am to be chosen among the elect.

I pray that we would not fall into despair and that we would remember that Jesus, the Son of God, did not come into the world for the righteous and faithful, yet came for sinners like ourselves. For the murderers, thieves, adulterers, tax collectors, prostitutes, and every other wayward soul that does not deserve redemption. Yet through the ever enduring love of God, Jesus died on the cross, taking the punishment of our sins onto Himself. And then was resurrected so that all who believe in Him may have salvation and eternal life in the glory of God, the Almighty.