Today’s Reading: Judges 4; Judges 5; Psalm 39; Psalm 41; 1 Corinthians 13
Scripture: Judges 4:1 After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD.
Observation: This first verse in chapter 4 gives us the sad recurring story of the book of Judges. After the death of the Judge, Ehud, "the Israelites once again did evil..." It is an unfortunate pattern, to be sadly repeated over and over again. The Israelites have the sin habit. That is, they have the natural inclination to stray from the narrow road of God's design for them.
Application: Now this is something that everyone has, to one degree or another. But not everyone responds to it in the same way. Some just let themselves be jerked around by this sin habit. It is like a leash that pulls them toward sin and they dutifully go there. Others resist this pull -- they rebel against the sin habit instead of rebelling against the Lord. Of course, to resist the sin habit, one first needs to be aware of it. To be sure, a lack of this awareness dooms a person to the control of the sin habit. And awareness in an of itself is not guarantee of victory over it. But with awareness, coupled with a consistent program of strengthening of the inner spiritual being with God's help and the support of others, the effects of the sin habit can be minimized and its pull becomes less and less over time.
Bottom line: Acknowledge your own sin habit. Invest yourself in a program of regular spiritual disciplines designed to strengthen your inner spiritual being with God's help and seek others with similar values to support you and hold you accountable to the standards that God holds.
Prayer: Lord, I am so thankful that You have provided a remedy for the sin habit. It is so great to have a way to get out from under its cruel bondage. The liberty that You provide through the power of Your Spirit and the life of the Son is wonderful. Assist me to keep growing in my inner man that I may walk in consistent victory and lead others in it as well.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
1 comment:
Good post. It's so important for us to understand that God has given us a way to have victory over sin; it's his desire that we do so. Many people just excuse it and succumb to it without so much as a battle. Freedom is gained by eternal vigilance and the the joy of freedom from sin is worth the effort!
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