“Don’t let me do wrong on
purpose, Lord, or let sin have control over my life. Then I will be innocent,
and not guilty of some terrible fault.” Psalm 19:13
We should know just as
David did that any man can sin both consciously and unconsciously. You can sin unconsciously due to simple
ignorance of what God requires of you.
The great preacher Charles H. Spurgeon was quoted as saying that “Every sin has in it the very venom of
rebellion, and is full of the essential marrow of traitorous rejection of God.”1 Some say there are big and little sins. Scripture gives no indication that this is
true. Simply put, disobedience to God’s
teaching is a sin. If redeemed, we stand
blameless by God’s grace. Having said
that we must understand that unless our old man is dead and buried, we will
always have a tendency to sin and killing the old man is difficult. He keeps coming back to life at the least
opportune moments.
To
knowingly do that which we know is wrong is not only brazen, but also
disrespectful to God. God forgives, but
there is coming a day when man’s cockiness towards obedience to God will do him
a grave disservice. There shall come a day
when time will be no more and the chances we had been given to shed our sinful
ways and live a righteous life will be over.
David was aware of the constant threat of sin in his life. This is why
He asked the Lord not to allow sin to take control of his life. We need to pray the same thing. God will
honor such a prayer and keep you safe from your own sinful tendencies.
We
must work at living a sin free life. Although we will never be completely free
of sin that is no reason not to strive for it. When the Spirit convicts us of
ungodly things in our life, we are not to brush it aside by saying “It’s just
the way I am.” That is a false
statement. That is the way you were.
You are a new creation since you became born again. You will
sin, make no mistake about it; however, John tells us in 1 John 2:1–2 that if
we sin we have an advocate in Jesus Christ.
Seek to be more like Christ each day, but if you sin, seek forgiveness
from the Lord, dust yourself off, and move on determining not to do that thing
again. By the power of the Holy Spirit
we can be victorious! Until Christ
returns, walk with the King and be a blessing!
Resources: The American Heritage Dictionary of the
English Language; The Reformation Study Bible.
1 The Treasury of David by Charles H. Spurgeon.
