The Pleasures of Sin

Good Morning to those that love the Lord and a Super-Doper Good Morning to those that will later on!! There really isn’t but one problem with those that wait. You can never tell when your time will run out. Most of us are folks of intelligence, and we know deep inside, of our hearts, that worshipping God is the real deal. We are being fooled into thinking, that all that stuff that we are doing is more fun.

That is simply Satan pulling the wool over our eyes. You can ask anybody who put off making that decision to serve the Lord one question.    Was it worth it?     Those that will tell you the whole truth, about their experience will say something like this. 

 “I must admit, that I was having a lot of fun at first. However, it really didn’t last that long. Most of my time I spent trying to relive those good times, but I never was able to get them back. Something happened when I came to Christ, which I really can’t understand. Everything changed in the way that I looked, and saw things. The truth is that it has never stopped changing. The only regret that I have in taking so long, to make that decision is the fact, that I never started to live until I did!!”

Did you catch that when I said while ago, “Those that will tell you the whole truth.”  Sometimes I have found that we as Christians, and this include myself at times, feel the need to hold something back. I really don’t think the problem is with saving our own reputation, maybe as much as the reputation of Jesus.  Do you know what I mean?    I could be wrong, in what I just said you know.     OK…You Got Me!!

Jesus didn’t have any reputation that He was worried about keeping, on His first visit. Paul wrote a couple things about these things that I have said so far. The first one was about sin. Hebrews 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Paul really said a mouthful there!! It might do you good, to look up this scripture, and see what he was talking about. However, Paul did admit that sin has a season of pleasure, which accompanies the deed!!

The next thing that I need to give Paul credit for saying was about Jesus. Philippians 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: Folks we need to get real about the way that we see God, and ourselves. If we see ourselves in any other way that what the Bible says about us, then we are thinking way too highly of ourselves!!

I know that nobody wants to think bad about ourselves. We would rather think about how good, that we really are. After all, I was never as bad as the folks that live next-door. There might be a lot of truth to that statement, but our comparison is supposed to be with Jesus!!

Well,…Ugh,…@!*^!@,….That is not fair!!   How can I compare to the only perfect one?     The only people, who have no problem with comparing themselves to Jesus, are those, that don’t know Him. Those of us that compare ourselves to other people in our lives, have an abundance of sin problems. We are judging those, who we think are inferior, to our high standards, and can never each up high enough to lick, the bottoms of our shoes!!

Oh no,….I have never done that!!      What do you think that Jesus would say about taking that stance?   Could it be the same thing that He said to the other Pharisees, that were acting in the same way?  Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 

You can get as mad as you want to at me, but I am feeling the same sting of conviction, as you must be. It hurts when you realize, that you have spent most of your life having the wrong attitude.  Isaiah also nailed us beautifully in the sixty-fourth chapter, of the book that he wrote. Isaiah 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Don’t you know that he felt the sting of conviction, while writing these words?  We must start looking at ourselves the way that Father sees us!!  I am not sure what Jesus was doing in Heaven, before He came to the earth. I can guarantee you, that it was far more enjoyable, than His last days before the cross. Jesus is the star of Heaven!!

Do you realize that all of Heaven, with the exception of Satan, and those angels that he deceived, adore Jesus. They literally worship everything about Him!!  Revelation 4:10-11  The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

I could post verse, after verse describing how we are truly seen. I really don’t want to beat anybody down. We do that for each other enough already. I would like to point out that we were born dead, Spiritually dead that is. There isn’t but one hope of ever coming to life, and that hope is found in Jesus Christ. John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. The truth is that we are lost. Not only are we dead in trespasses and sins. We are dislocated from the source of life, if we have never received Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 

The rest of us are still going through the process, of Sanctification like I am. We know Jesus, and we have been Saved, by His marvelous grace. Our problem is that we are still bumping our heads, on this life’s journey. It is alright though, because nothing surprises Jesus. He knew the trouble that we would be, when He endured the cross.      Ain’t God good? 

          …..Much Love