 When we Sin 2003 : Week 19 | Printer Friendly Version Our devotion this week is by another friend of Crossroads Ministry, Katie Means. Katie is a junior studying Elementary Education at ISU. She was saved this past year, and it’s been a blessing watching her step out in faith. She enjoys the outdoors and is a very active person. The folks at Crossroads have seen her athletic ability on display snowboarding and on the soccer field; if she gets a chance in soccer, the ball will end up in the net. She does sit still long enough to read and write, and we’re happy the Lord inspired her to write this devotion. She pulls no punches in this piece, and it shows wisdom beyond her years. We know this message will bless you. 1 John 1:5-10 and 3:4-10 as revealed by the Holy Spirit to Katie Means… It's 11:57, on Saturday night. It's pitch black...not a star in the sky, and the moon is covered by dark rain clouds. You have 3 minutes ‘til curfew and you are on a mission to get home. Out of nowhere, a deer comes jetting into the road in front of you. In a panic, you swerve. Your car is out of control. You freeze up and instead of easing the car back onto the road, you overcompensate for the swerve and before you can react, your car goes barreling down into the ditch. You feel an excruciating pain in your left leg. This is the last thing you remember until you wake up in your hospital bed, your closest family and friends all leaning around your bed elated that your conscious, which they have been hoping and praying for unceasingly. However, this joy seems to be overshadowed by a great sadness. They have news to tell you. Your stomach is instantly transformed into giant knots being rung tighter and tighter by the second. You’re told that when your car hit the ditch your gas tank began to leak. A selfless man who just happened to be in the car behind you at the time of the accident ran out of his car to help. Just as he was pulling you out of the car, the gasoline ignited on a single unknown spark and in an instant, it exploded. The man instinctively shielded you with his body and took the blow for you. When EMS arrived on the scene, they found you, hurt, but alive because of this selfless man who gave his own life to save yours, a stranger whom he had never even met! Back to reality... How would you treat this man had he lived? Would you run and embrace him and be ever so grateful that he saved your life, or would you disgrace his name...say that he is no hero…that he did nothing spectacular. Chances are, you’d chose the first. I would bet there would be no words that could properly express your gratitude towards this man. Because of him, you have life! This man, the man who selflessly saved you by giving up his own life in exchange for your own...this man is Jesus. The greatest man who ever walked the Earth, hands down. Everyday, each and every one of us disgraces His name. Through our actions, we say we are not grateful for what He did for us on that cross, no, not at all, not even a little bit; not when you stop to think what a sacrifice He made up there. How is it that it is so easy for us to sin against Jesus Christ, the man who saved our wretched souls? Maybe sin isn't the right word to use for this...I think sometimes the problem is that we, at least I, become used to the word...too indifferent to it, if you will. There are many different words for sin in a thesaurus; let's try a few on for size here:
In James 1:1, James introduces himself as a "servant to God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." He does not say that he is sometimes a servant to God and to the Lord Jesus Christ, but that he is always a servant to God and to the Lord Jesus Christ. I can say that I am sometimes a servant to the Lord, and many times am a servant to myself. Why? It has been said that when we sin against God, we are saying that what Satan is offering us will satisfy us more than God can. We are saying that Jesus' death on the cross was not enough. We are saying that we need more, but do we? God is all knowing... He is all seeing, and He is all doing! He knows all, and He knows what I need and He knows the difference between what I need and what I want. He has a plan for me... a perfect plan. When I sin, I stray away from that perfect plan and start heading back down the quite-frequented road of imperfection. Jesus Christ took the sins and unrighteousness of us all. He literally carries the “weight of the world” on his shoulders. Yet at times, we allow Satan to convince us that it will be easier to sin so that we can go about our business our way, instead of submitting to Jesus and respecting the price that He paid for our lives. We were all at one time or another headed down that dark, narrow road without a star in the sky. We had no hope. Jesus Christ came along, never giving up on us, and whisked us away to safety. As you would a man who saved your life by pulling you out of a wrecked and burning car, we need to respect Him. In Jesus’ case, we also need to submit ourselves to Him, and we need to live each day of our life to glorify Him remembering that He paid the price for our sins with his blood. Look up at Jesus in awe, in wonder, and in adoration because He is our awesome, perfect redeemer who came and lived 33 perfect years on an earth. God knows every hair on our head. He knew the minute we would be born and He knows the second that we will die. He knows every thought, good or bad that goes through our head. Why do we submit to sin the way that we do when we could submit ourselves to perfection? If we are sinning, then we are not trusting that God can satisfy us completely. We trust that our smoke detector will keep us safe in a fire. We trust that our academic advisors will lead us to take the right classes and help us fulfill our requirements needed to graduate. We trust the doctors when the diagnose us. Why then is it so hard for us to submit ourselves to God’s perfect plan? He loves us and knows us like no one else ever could… After all, He sent his only son to die a painful and humiliating death for us. The least that we could do in return is draw nearer to Him everyday in Thanksgiving and live our lives trying to glorify His name as much as we can. It says in Hebrews 12:4, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your own blood.” So, in the words of Emril Lagasse I challenge you and myself; “Let’s kick it up a notch!” I hope that what God has shown me will work in your heart the way it has done mine and let’s all strive to run (or sprint!) towards our Father in heaven each day always keeping our eyes on eternal things and heaven above! Katie Means  Printer Friendly Version Archives | Tell Your Friends | Submit a Devotion |
 1 John 1:5-10 5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. • Read Chapter • Listen to Chapter 1 John 3:4-10 4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. 7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. • Read Chapter • Listen to Chapter |
