"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel"
(Genesis 3:15).
THEME: SIN
In his early years, Ansel Adams, the famous landscape photographer, studied piano. Once, while playing Chopin for a friend, he could not get his hands coordinated. The next day the friend gave him a backhanded critique by telling him, "You never missed a wrong note."
Although no one knows exactly when or where Adam and Eve sounded the first sour note, people have been playing wrong notes perfectly ever since. The tragic Eden error called sin means missing the mark.
The discord that started in God's garden has been heard throughout history. As the NEW ENGLAND PRIMER put it, "In Adam's sin, we sinned all." As Adam and Eve experienced guilt, loneliness, and estrangement, so have all of their offspring.
Without the Fall, death could never have sung the blues' dark song, and lying, hatred, and pride would not have become the funeral march of the masses.
The mad sounds of sin would still be humanity's only tune had it not been for God's note of grace--He followed Adam and Eve out of the gate.
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JAN 08
PROVERBS 6:12-19
You who love the Lord, hate evil (Psalm 97:10).
God hates sin. In Proverbs 6, the author singled out seven specific transgressions that are an abomination to the Lord. Sin is so horrible that when the Lord Jesus, the perfect Son of God, bore our guilt on the cross, the Father turned His back on His beloved Son. And Christ, in the blackness of that dreadful hour, cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Mt 27:46). If sin is so terrible in the sight of God, then we must fear it, hate it, and avoid it.
Johann Peter Lange, the nineteenth century German theologian and author, told a story about a religious leader who was viciously hated by the emperor of his day. Some of the ruler's advisors said to the monarch, "Burn him, confiscate his property, put him in irons, or have him killed." But others disagreed. They said, "You will not gain anything by all this; for in exile he would find a home with his God; . . . he kisses his chains, death opens heaven to him. There is only one way to render him unhappy; force him to sin. He fears nothing in the world but sin" (F. B. Proctor, TREASURY OF QUOTATIONS).
How many people do we know who fear "nothing in the world but sin"? Unfortunately, we often become so comfortable in sin's presence that we practice it rather than fear it. But remember how God views it. May we therefore, as lovers of Him, be haters of sin.
--R.W.D.
It is not enough for gardeners to love flowers; they must also hate weeds.
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JAN 09
ROMANS 1:18-25
They did not like to retain God in their knowledge (Romans 1:28).
When we go the wrong way spiritually, we do so, in one sense, on purpose. Douglas Corrigan became known as "wrong-way Corrigan" in 1938 when he took off in his plane from Brooklyn, New York, on an announced flight to Long Beach, California. A little over twenty-three hours later, he touched down in Dublin, Ireland, and asked officials, "Is this Los Angeles?" For years people laughed at his "miscalculations," but finally in 1963 he admitted that his trip across the Atlantic had really been planned. Unable to get clearance to cross the ocean, he went ahead and made the flight "by mistake" on purpose.
There's a striking parallel between Corrigan's action and much of our own experience as Christians. Romans 1 declares that fallen human nature is self-willed and resents God. Although it describes the unregenerate man, it helps us understand how the sin principle still operates in the believer's life. Even though we are new creatures in Christ, the strong, willful tendency remains in us. Some people might think that a Christian would not intentionally choose to do wrong. But the Bible clearly indicates that every believer experiences a struggle between the flesh and the indwelling Spirit (Gal. 5:16-17). That's why we must determine to submit to Him, for He gives us a desire to follow righteousness. Such deliberate surrender will keep us from going the wrong way "by accident" on purpose.
--M.R.D.II
Those who are fully surrendered to the Lord will never deliberately surrender to the enemy.
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JAN 10
MATTHEW 18:6-9
"If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you" (Matthew 18:8).
On several occasions when visiting men in jail, I have seen them shake their heads mournfully and say, "I never thought it would come to this." When they began to break minor laws, they fully intended to change their ways before getting into serious trouble. But instead, one thing led to another, and they became more and more involved in a life of crime. Now they languish in jail, facing a long imprisonment.
These men failed to realize that sin always progresses. When we flout God's laws in one facet of life, a kind of mathematical law of addition and multiplication goes into effect. Soon sin affects other areas of our lives. It's foolish to think we can keep just one pet sin. That single sin will grow and spread unless we deal radically with it. That's why Jesus spoke of cutting off the offending hand and plucking out the offending eye (Mt 18:8-9). By using such a strong figure of speech, He was saying, do whatever is necessary to stop.
We cannot afford to toy with sin. Three times in Romans 1, Paul said of unbelievers that "God gave them up" to their evil ways. In other words, He allows wickedness to run its downhill course until judgment falls and there's no escape.
We can avoid the inevitable arithmetic of sin by trusting Jesus as Savior. His power in our lives can overcome any sin.
--H.V.L.
No one becomes wicked all at once.
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JAN 11
EZRA 9:1-10:1
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked (Psalm 32:10).
When Ezra learned that many of the Israelites had married heathen women (a practice strictly forbidden by God), he tore his garments, pulled hair from his head and beard, and sat down appalled. Then he fell to his knees and wept as he prayed. Many people were so moved by this that they wept with him. And well they should. Sin is a terrible thing. It offends the Lord. It grieves spiritually sensitive people. And it brings untold misery to the transgressor. In this instance, the men of Israel had to send their foreign wives and their children back to their homeland, which must have caused great pain. But this drastic step was necessary to keep the nation from spiritual disaster.
One day I responded to eighteen letters written by husbands, wives, parents, and grandparents who were deeply hurt because someone close to them had fallen into a sin that was breaking up a family circle. Answering these people reminded me how much pain disobedience causes, and it impressed on me that sin is the ultimate cause of all the anguish and sorrow in our world. Although suffering is unavoidable because of sin's effect on the human family, many people intensify their miseries by recklessly plunging into immorality.
We need a deeper sense of grief over sin and a greater burden for people caught in its snares. The heartbreak of sin is too devastating to underestimate.
--H.V.L.
One of the greatest of all evils is indifference toward all evil.
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JAN 12
GALATIANS 6:1-9
For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us (Isaiah 59:12).
A group of young people from Renaissance High School in Detroit cut classes to attend a rock concert in Hart Plaza. They probably thought they had gotten away with their truancy, but the next day, when the DETROIT NEWS appeared on the newsstand, it carried a color photo of the concert on the front page. And who was in that picture? That's right--the delinquent students of Renaissance High, easily recognizable to anyone. According to the paper, "Eagle-eyed assistant principal Dr. Elijah Porter spotted the students and had a conversation with them." As for the kids, it went on, "There was nothing they could say."
The Bible teaches that we cannot hide our iniquities. We may be able to cover them up for a while and even get away with them for an extended period of time. But the time will inevitably come when we must face up to them, either in this world or in the next. Paul told the Galatians, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Gal 6:7).
Whenever we have a sin we are hiding, we must confess and forsake it. Or, when we are tempted to pursue something we know is wrong, thinking we won't get caught, we must determine to go no further. Our picture may not appear on the front page, but the Bible says we won't get away with it.
--D.C.E.
The seed of wrongdoing may be sown in secret, but the harvest cannot be concealed.
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JAN 13
GALATIANS 5:16-26
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells (Romans 7:18).
Several years ago we had a pet raccoon we called Jason. For hours he would entertain us by wrestling with our dog, MacTavish, a kind and gentle Scottish terrier. Jason, on the other hand, was a kind of schizoid terror. One minute he would snuggle up on your lap like a perfect angel and the next he'd be engaged in the most fiendish antics. If unrestrained, he would breakfast on dove eggs, raid the garbage can, or tear up the flowerbed. Although he was a delightful pet, we became increasingly aware that his destructive actions were governed by his wild instincts. Jason would always have the nature of a raccoon, and we had to watch him closely no matter how tame he seemed to be.
Often when I observed Jason's behavior, I thought of the fallen, sinful nature that we as Christians retain even though we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Paul referred to this as the "flesh" in which "nothing good dwells" (Ro 7:18). It may be repressed and restrained, but it is always there. Unless we are daily controlled by the Lord, our old "self" will demonstrate its destructive, pleasure-seeking capacity in some way or another.
Although we are new creatures in Christ, we still possess a tendency to sin. But we need not be governed by it, for we are united to Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. By obeying God's Word and yielding to the Spirit, we can be victorious over the flesh--the "nature of the beast" within.
--M.R.D.II
The secret of self-control is to give control of ourselves to God.
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JAN 14
PROVERBS 12:17-22
A lying tongue is but for a moment (Proverbs 12:19).
A college student in Texas became a local hero when word got around that he had rescued a woman from three attackers. But he gained national attention when it became known that his story was untrue. According to UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL, the embarrassed fellow admitted that he did not (as he had originally claimed) use martial arts skills to defend a woman in distress. He confessed that he had picked up his cuts and bruises while meddling in a private argument.
His short-lived glory illustrates what Solomon said about the life expectancy of a lying tongue. According to his inspired words, lying to avoid embarrassment will eventually result in even greater embarrassment. Lying to escape a painful admission of the truth merely delays the consequences of that lie and hopelessly entangles the liar in a web of deceit. But in time the truth comes out. The reasons for this can be found in Proverbs 12. The most important fact is that God hates lies (v. 22), and He views them as unjust weapons of violence (v. 18). As a result, lies do not hold up very long (v. 19). They are the tools of the trade of those who depend on a temporary cover of darkness (v. 20). They should have no place in the life of someone who is committed to doing what is right.
We can learn from the Word of God and from the experience of the embarrassed student. A lie may seem like the easy way out, but it will prove to be like an exit sign placed over a closet door. It leads nowhere.
--M.R.D.II
A lie is a coward's way of getting out of trouble.
