Well here I am late again because the subject matter of these Catches is like Nathan pointing his finger at me like he did to David, saying “You’re the one who has sinned.” I started out this Catch with a statement of sin being underrated among Christians. Well I can truly say I am in that group.
By underrated I mean it’s treated way too casually, as if it wasn’t really a problem. Yes, we fall now and then and screw up a little bit here and there, but we’re already forgiven, so no big deal. Sin plays a big role in leading us to Christ, but once we’re saved, it’s hardly worth mentioning. We’re all too busy living the victorious Christian life to notice.
But sin continues to be a huge problem because it is so deeply rooted in us. There are “sins” we commit — acts of selfishness and disobedience to God — but then there is S-I-N that is rooted in our human nature which isn’t going anywhere until we are free of these bodies. This is the sin that colors everything we do.
How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of Dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne on high above the stars of God… But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. Isaiah 14:12, 13- 14
This is the invisible world of the spirit behind the earthly kingdom of Babylon called “the fall of Satan.” Lucifer, the brightest and most beautiful of the angels of God, the nearest to His throne, became so entranced with his own beauty that he rebelled against the government of God and thus became the adversary, Satan.
Here he is seen as brought, at last, to the bottomless pit. We are clearly looking beyond the events of earth to that spiritual world which governs those events.
We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but with wicked spirits in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)
The great king of evil is behind all human wrong. This is why the nations rage, why we cannot achieve peace among men at the level of human counsel. And why we can’t play with fire without getting burned. We must reckon with these supernatural beings who are behind the mistaken deeds of men, yes, even our own. Evil is present in us.
You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes
Indeed you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody – Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan, America’s unclaimed prophet, speaks the truth here when he confirms that it doesn’t matter what your status is here on earth — what you may have accomplished or may not have accomplished, if you a human being, someone else is calling the shots. You might think you’re in charge, but you are not. We are weak at best. When it comes to who’s ultimately in charge, we are servants, choosing whether we want to serve God or the fallen angel.
The origin and the nature of sin is self-occupation.
- Looking out for myself
- My rights, my desires, my plans.
- What’s in it for me?
It is the nature of sin is to play God in your own little world. It does not matter whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, what constitutes sin is to feel you are in control of your own destiny, that you have all it takes to handle life.
“Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. (1 John 3:8, ESV) Playing God is the nature of sin. It gives us a high. We love thinking we are in control.
Pride makes me independent of God. It’s appealing to feel I am the master of my fate. I run my own life, I call my own shots, I go it alone. And if I fail, I can always blame someone else.
“I did it my way.” – Frank Sinatra
But that feeling is my basic dishonesty. I can’t go it alone. I have to get help from somewhere. I can’t ultimately rely on myself. I’m dependent on God for my very next breath. It’s dishonest of me to pretend that I’m anything but a man; small, weak and limited. Living independent of God is self-delusion.
There is no “playing around with sin.” There is only serving the Lord or serving the devil.
It’s not just a matter of pride being an unfortunate little trait and humility being an attractive little virtue. It’s my inner psychological integrity that’s at stake. When I am conceited I’m lying to myself about who I am. I am pretending to be God and not man. My pride is the idolatrous worship of myself; and that is the national religion of hell.
There is much at stake here. We’re not talking about “white lies” and “little sins.” Sin is sin; it is against the law of God and he who sins continually is of the devil.
Why are we choosing to live in darkness or deception when the source and secret of our identity as people who believe in Christ has been given to us in the Spirit?
“I’m not going to leave you orphans; I’m not going to abandon you. I will come to you.” (John 14:18)
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