06/23/2024 – “Acquainted With Grief” / “… Sin will kill the life of God in us…”
“We are not ‘acquainted with grief’ in the same way our Lord is acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin — and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue — if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine — that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.”
Soli Deo Gloria!
Insert comment: Christians have an indwelling Holy Spirit, therefore we cannot be possessed by demons. But, I believe the Holy Spirit will go silent on us if our sin reaches a certain point. Studying His Word and Prayer minimizes sin. Will power alone as we know and as Paul wrote, just doesn’t cut it.
Thoughts?