Confronting Community Sin
Confronting the sin of a brother or sister in Christ is not judging them or a statement of condemnation; instead, it is a show of concern for their spiritual welfare.
Completely Destroy Sin
You have to destroy the world around you (metaphorically) to keep it from infecting you with sin until you glow brightly enough with the power of God to walk through the darkness without stumbling.
Harshness of Sins
But truly, when it comes right down to the question of how we should treat sin, there is only one answer: Love your neighbor as yourself. Don’t deny someone the chance to seek Jesus because of their transgressions and your hatred. Until someone dies, they always have a chance to be redeemed, for all sins can be forgiven but one. If God loves them enough to give them a chance by continuing to breathe the breath of life into them, you have no right to take away that chance.
God of Metaphors
I challenge you to look around the next time you find yourself struggling to understand God or why He would do something one way or the other. You may find that the answer is in something as small as the flower by your front porch or as convenient as your best friend.
God is Goodness
The only one who knows what is good and who knows what happens after we die is the one who created us. We can deliberate about it all we want, but unless we’re getting our information from God, we’ll never know anything good.
Resisting the Devil
Ephesians 4:26-27 provides a framework for resisting any temptation that comes—don’t give it time to cause you to sin. When Satan comes to tempt you, don’t give him time to chip away slowly at your defenses. Get rid of him quickly so he can do no damage to your walk with Christ.
The Appropriate Time
Ecclesiastes chapter three expands upon the latter statements in chapter two, wherein Solomon indicates that it is a gift of God to enjoy the things of this Earth. But, chapter three also provides some context in an important caveat to remind us that, even though many things are appropriate for enjoyment, they are only appropriate in the right time.
Healing is Uncomfortable
It will be uncomfortable for awhile. Healing usually is: as cuts heal and scar, they itch; as your body fights off disease, you get a fever; and as your heart and mind change, you deal with discomfort as well. But once it’s all said and done, you’ll find you’re much better off having gone through the healing than you were living in the sickness.
Get up Again
God doesn’t want you living in shame. He’s forgiven you of your sin. It’s time that you forgive yourself and let your heart move on to serving God fully. Trust me. Living in your own shame will only hold you back from doing what God asks you to do. You don’t want that, and God doesn’t want that.
Log vs. Speck
Now Matthew 7:3 talks about our enormous spiritual blind spot: our own sins. Our perspective of ourselves prevents us from easily seeing the things we do wrong. Our behavior is so close to us that we find it difficult to point out those things we do that are unbiblical behavior.
Good is Intentional
You can’t make things good by accident. It’s not possible. No good thing that occurs happened by mere association with goodness. Goodness is not contagious. It is a choice, and it is a process. On the flip-side of that coin, bad is contagious. It occurs by accident. It occurs when one is not careful. It is the natural order of this fallen world. Bad things can and do occur from mere association with badness.
Stay on Guard
So when you reach that mountaintop, don’t lose your mental alertness. Don’t take off the armor of God. As 1 Corinthians 16:13 says, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith, be courageous; be strong.” Don’t ever give up. When you’ve reached the top of the mountain you’re climbing right now, get right up and head up the next one. Until the day you go home to be with the Lord, keep fighting the good fight.