What Are You Trying to Get Away With?

Romans 6:18-21 (KJV)

19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

What Are You Trying to Get Away With?

Many Christians try to use the grace and forgiveness of God as an excuse to go on living in sin. The wrongness of this assumption may seem obvious, but there are numerous believers who read the Bible and go to church regularly, who repeatedly indulge in sinful behaviors. They fully intend to “fess up” to their wrong doing, and bank on the grace of  God for forgiveness and restoration. They say “Lord, You know I’m weak” or “I’m a work in progress” or “He Ain’t Finished With Me Yet.” But do such believers rightly assume that the state they are in is OK? The answer to this question is a resounding “No!”

Believers who verbally admit to living wrongly, but secretly have already made plans to continue in their wrong doing are guilty of duplicity and guile. Verbal admissions only are not repentance. Right now, you might be asking yourself How can that be, when I admitted I was wrong? To answer this question we have to look at what repentance is.

Repentance Has Two Steps

The two steps of repentance are:

1. Admission of wrong doing.
2. Determination to stop doing wrong.

Without determination to “cease and desist” there is no true repentance. A heart determined to stop is what makes repentance a reality. When you are determined to change, the ears and the arms of Heaven are open and forgiveness rains down.

Why Some Christians Continue to Do Wrong

The reasons why Christians deceive themselves into thinking that speaking of weaknesses and wrongs without having a true change of heart are numerous, but they are all rooted in selfishness and self-worship. Some Christians continue in wrong doing because:

1. It (drugs, sex, relationships, money, whatever..) feels good.
2. It (whatever that is not of the Lord) can help you to succeed.
3. It (fill in the blank) makes you look good.
4. You want it (whatever?) now!

All of the above excuses have a root cause: Idolatry. “Hold on” you say, “that’s serious.” Serious like the Earth’s gonna open up and swallow folk like in the Old Testament. Well, yeah. Mentioning the wrath of God “like in the Old Testament” makes folk scared. Countless Christians hide behind grace, hoping “gentle Jesus meek and mild” won’t get angry. The fact remains, God does not change! The wrath of God was hot, is HOT, AND WILL ALWAYS BE HOT!! Yes, and the sky does rain obliterating floods, brimstone, fire and sulfurous clouds like that which fell on Sodom and Gomorrah. The love of our righteous and loving God demands that He correct us when we are wrong.

Get Right With God

“Acts of God” are big, scary, uncontrollable events that cause people to examine their lives. Rare is the person who doesn’t call on God when they see a twister coming. Natural disasters are obvious and visible destructions, but the character erosion and debris of destroyed relationships caused by not being serious about your Christian walk are concrete evidence of ruin as well.

Living your life looking both ways to see if God is coming to get you is not the right way to live. The Christian life can and should be a source of great joy, and examples of integrity. Nobody’s perfect, but that’s not an excuse to continue living in duplicity. Got something dogging your heels right now? ‘Fess up. Give it up! The Bible tells us:

1 John 1:9 (NIV)

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