Little Girl eating the whole cake
We sin. We’re forgiven.
We don’t want to sin. We’re forgiven.
We kinda want to sin. We’re forgiven.
We don’t sin. We’re forgiven. (For even our righteousness is filthy rags.)
Christ and Him crucified; Good enough for me.
I know the part that everyone gets hung up with is “We kinda want to sin.”
Oh, surely, that’s not me!
I know that for the most part of my day, I don’t deny Christ. I am thankful for His gift. I am even brought to tears thinking about His horrible death and glorious Resurrection.
But then, that second piece of cake after I’m already stuffed calls out to me.
Or someone posts a picture of a beefcake and THIS ONE TIME I don’t take ALL my thoughts captive. Or I am discussing the Lord with someone and I pridefully realize that I’ve one-upped them with my skill and knowledge of the Word.
MERCIFUL HEAVENS.
I really enjoyed the gluttony and lust and pride, oh wretched (woman) that I am. “Who will set me free from this body of death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”–Romans 7:24
For after the wallowing and the “evil that is present in me” has had its way, the Love of God and the Death of Christ and the Fruit of the Spirit carry me gently back to being centered on Reality and I cry out for the forgiveness that is more abundant than what my sinful nature craves and is ultimately intensely dissatisfied with.
But what about the time my flesh spent enjoying it?
What about the moments right before I repent and turn away from all that is odious? What about the sin/addiction/ungodliness that besets me for even longer periods of time? What about during all of those moments?
“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”–1 John 2:1,2
The conjunction used here is “AND.” The same “AND” that joins together “a virgin with child” AND “the bringing forth of a son”. The same “AND” that unites “you shall receive power from the Holy Spirit “AND” you shall be my witnesses.” In other words, “so that you may not sin” AND “you are going to sin.”
Thank God for our Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. An Advocate is “one who pleads another’s cause.” More specifically, “of Christ in his exaltation at God’s right hand, PLEADING with the Father for the pardon of our sins.” (from the Blue Letter Bible)
PLEADING. I love “ING.” It means an ongoing action or process. ONGOING. Like every single time I sin. Whether I do it, don’t want to do it, kinda want to do it or don’t do it at all.
All praise and thanksgiving to our appeasing propitiation, JESUS the RIGHTEOUS!!!!
Blessings Without Measure-Betty W McNeely
It is in our nature to like sin. But the wages of sin is death. So, when we are in God’s Word and in prayer, our sin nature will yield. Jesus was flesh, but He never sinned. HE was in constant communication with God through prayer. We need to follow His example.
But your salvation isn’t about how well you follow His example, how could it be? We wouldn’t need Him to die for us if we had been following His example. As it says in 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
But God shows His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us! (Romans 5:6,7,8) This includes, of course the sin we kinda liked, because in the end, all of our sin is sin we kinda liked. That is what she is saying. Consider this teaching of Jesus:
18 “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.
(Matthew 15:18, NASB).
It is the things that come from the heart, from the things we kinda like, that defile the man. Sin is a disease of the heart, a wrong love, and this is the disease Jesus came to forgive and to cleanse and to heal. So the wages of sin is death, and if you are in the kingdom of earning your blessing, the kingdom of law and of sin and consequence, you will die. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ! (Romans 6:23)
Jim,
Two comments…Never thought about even when we are not sinning we are forgiven in the sense you have. Kinda makes me feel terrible…just for a second though. It makes me praise Him for glorious grace.
Might be mincing hairs her but in 1st John, John writes that all sin is lawlessness. 1John 3:4. Meaning: sin at its core is rebellion. Meaning we wanted to sin everytime we did.
Kim…I know you mean well…I wish the principle of evil in my flesh (Rom. 7:21 NASB) would back down when reading the Word…I’ll spare you the details of what has come across my grid when reading the Word as I am yielding myself to the Spirit. Paul understands as a believer struggling with indwelling sin…Our nature is sin(corruption) not that we have a propensity to sin or “boy howdy it’s just my human nature that I want to do this.” Big difference.
The great sorrow is the harmed we have done because of our sinful nature, especially since the beginning of time in matters of worldwide genocides, worldwide mass stavation, worldwide slavery, worldwide child abuse, worldwide pronography, worldwide mass murders and destruction, worldwide exploitation of the innocent and weak people, worldwide adultery and idolatry. worldwide bigotry, while purposely ignoring these problems and just going about our daily lives without a care in the world, etc. Jesus said pick up your cross and follow me for you must hate the world… I wonder what he meant by that!!! Even one little sin can harm the hair of a little child. Woe be he who harms a little child … the world and all her inhabitants, creatures, plant life, etc., are all of God’s little children … got it.. Thanks for Jesus grace in having died for us and acting as a atonement to God for our sins, even for the ones who never really got to know him because they were systematically destroyed and murdered before they even had a chance at being happy just to perserve our way of life. How convenient for you to rely on grace and your fallen nature only, without picking up your cross and kicking some ass on God’s and the nameless victums, inhabitants, and all living creatures behalf. I wonder what God is really going to do on Judgment Day. Read the whole Bible, including Relevation.. Maybe we’re all going to be saved through Jesus Christ and go to Heaven, but you can be certain One Mighterer than God, the Father of all Fathers, whose name is not yet revealed is going to rule the nations with an iron fist for the generations to come.
Amen.
I approve all legitimate non-spam comments that come through, including comments that I strongly disagree with. I am grateful for all comments and all conversation around the issues we raise on this blog. Thanks to EVERYONE who has commented here on my wife Betty’s post, including you Henry.
Betty,
I apologize that I did not recognize that you wrote the post. It is phenom.
K.C.
Thank you so much, K.C.
Sometimes I write with a certain hyperbole or tongue-in-cheedkedness that if you don’t know me personally might come across as too lighthearted. Let me say, the gravity of my sin has had me on my knees “dissolving my couch with tears” like King David opined in Psalm 6:6. I have tasted the fruit of my wandering and it is hideous. So when I say “I kinda sinned and I liked it,” there is no joy in that revelation. In fact, I take great joy in how my flesh is actually starting to take baby steps in NOT wanting to sin because of the kindness of the Lord and His amazing grace!!!! (although, like I tell my Beloveds, I will probably even sin a few moments before I enter glory….Dangit! 🙂 Thanks be to God for His propitious gift of Jesus, our Savior!
Thank you so much, K.C.
On another note, Sometimes I write with a certain hyperbole or tongue-in-cheedkedness that if you don’t know me personally might come across as too lighthearted. Let me say, the gravity of my sin has had me on my knees “dissolving my couch with tears” like King David opined in Psalm 6:6. I have tasted the fruit of my wandering and it is hideous. So when I say “I kinda sinned and I liked it,” there is no joy in that revelation. In fact, I take great joy in how my flesh is actually starting to take baby steps in NOT wanting to sin because of the kindness of the Lord and His amazing grace!!!! (although, like I tell my Beloveds, I will probably even sin a few moments before I enter glory….Dangit! 🙂 Thanks be to God for His propitious gift of Jesus, our Savior!
Betty,
Yes…satire is an effective teacher….Jesus used ! The passage in 1 John I used to support your point which I am in agreement with totally. I have heard it preached that Christians sin differently, but according to John we sin because we want to…it is willful rebellion and yes we liked it! The reason I read your blog is because it keeps me honest about myself and this makes grace that much more amazing to me and sets my affections on God even more.
Tell Jim congrats on the book. It is an interesting read.