Thursday, January 23,
2020
But each person is
tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth
to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. James 1:14-15
The Progression and Devastation of Sin in our Lives
The affect that sin has over our
lives is tragic when it goes on for a long time. Just like an addiction, sin can
completely take over and devastate our life. The definition of an addict is
anyone who allows drugs or alcohol to interfere with their normal way of life. Sin interferes with our normal (Christian)
way of life too.
Sin is progressive. Once you go down that road, the desire and
the temptation will only be greater. As
time goes on it will take more and more to satisfy the desires. We can tell ourselves, just one more, or I just
want to do it this one time and then never again, but Satan loves to hear that because
he knows something that you don’t realize – you will be hooked and dependent.
Sin kills. Sin eats away at our body and soul like poison,
taking us further and further away. It
is always Satan’s goal to steal, kill, and destroy.
When we have a specific weakness
for a specific sin, Satan knows. He
takes every opportunity he can get to build on that weakness in our life and
make it easy for us to fall, time after time.
In our own power, we will never defeat our sin. Satan will continue to try to trip us so we
must stay vigilant in our walk with the Lord.
We must avoid the things – people – websites – whatever it is that may
cause us to stumble. Sin is a cycle, and
unless we completely turn away from misplaced desires it will continue to
destroy our lives. In our own strength
we will always fail, but in His strength, we can conquer temptation.
We are powerless over our sin, but
Jesus Christ is all the power we need. In
our weakness, His strength is perfect. He
unleashed the power over sin and death when He died on the cross for you and me,
and that same power is ours as His children. Although the consequences of sin remain, God is
faithful in His promises to us and gives us hope.
James 1: 16
continues, Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. That’s the method of Satan. He is the great deceiver and works his will
on us by causing us to believe things like, “I can stop any time I want to”, “Just
one more…” and “I’m not hurting anyone else.”
All of these are the lies we tell ourselves when we are deceived.
Sin is a mocker. When we are confronted with what we have been
doing -or thinking, shame comes and mocks us.
Addiction is known by the fact that WE can’t stop; not that we don’t
want to stop. It takes a power greater
than our human power to overcome sin and that is Jesus in us.
The scripture to claim for today
comes from James as well. This verse should
be the promise of every believer for power each day.
Scripture to Claim:
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:5
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:5
