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Agreeing with God -- sin is wrong
Message #2 (of 20) from the PrayerPower radio series "Confession"
Confession is more than naming our sins before God. It’s agreeing with God that sin is wrong, and we were wrong to have allowed it in our lives. Because God is holy, He cannot tolerate any sin in us. James tells us, "the person who keeps every law of God, but makes one little slip, is just as guilty as the person who has broken every law there is." [James 2:10, TLB] That’s a difficult truth for us to accept. After all, we’re not so bad. We haven’t committed murder or done something really terrible. But what did Jesus teach us in the Sermon on the Mount? "You have heard... ‘do not murder....’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment." [Matt 5:21-22] Anger is the root sin of murder, and if we dig deeper, we recognize that pride is the root cause of anger, and most every other sin. Pride is putting self first. Self is the enemy. After all, Satan has been defeated. He can torment us. He can tempt us, but He was defeated at the cross. Self is at the center of most of our sins -- self-centeredness, self-confidence, self-reliance, self-righteousness, selfishness. And if Satan is the master deceiver, self is certainly the master of rationalization. We compare ourselves to each other, rather than to our holy God. We look at the world, rather than at Jesus, as our standard. There is no other standard for our lives. So when we go into our prayer closet, as we look for sin, we hold up our lives to His. And in confession, we agree with God when we’re wrong.
Pray with me now -- Lord, help us get beyond rationalization when we examine our hearts, to see sin for what it is--an affront to You that keeps us from You. Amen.
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