pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: sin


by Leave a comment

The Joy of the Lord

Reading: Psalm 32

God desires to bring us joy unspeakable.  His desire is to fill us with joy as we walk daily in a loving and meaningful personal relationship with Him.  Each and every day God seeks to be the sunshine that can carry us  through any storm.  His mercies are new every morning because His love never fails.  Even though we will fail at times, God never gives up on us.

The psalmist admits to God and reveals to us a time of struggle in their life.  When he or she was silent and did not confess their sins to God, they experiences a time without joy.  Physical ailment came due to a separation from God.  We too can easily experience this.  When we are emotionally and spiritually stuck in our sin, the feeling and affects of being separated from God are real and tangible.

As  the psalmist admits their sins to God, the joy of the Lord returns.  It is as if sunshine has broken through the clouds and the lights fills their heart.  The sudden flooding in of God’s joy and love leads to proclaiming to others the amazing impact God’s love can have on our lives.  The psalmist bears witness to the joy that has been restored now that they walk in a right relationship with God again.  The joy is unspeakable.  He or she feels they must teach, instruct, guide, and lead others to experience this joy themselves.

The joy of  the Lord is the Son shine that we can have in our lives every day as well.  If we humble ourselves daily and confess our sins to the Lord, we too will experience the joy of living in a right personal relationship with God.  This joy that we are filled  with becomes a light within us that we too must share with all we meet.  May the joy of the Lord fill us and flow out of us into the lives of all we meet through our words, actions, and deeds, bringing glory and honor to His name.


by Leave a comment

Whenever Necessary

Reading: Psalm 32

Like the psalmist, sometimes we hold onto our sin.  We make a conscious choice not to come before God.  Sometimes this is because even though we know our sin, we hold onto it because we are not ready to repent or because we know that the temptation or the sin is still greater than our will or faith.  Sometimes we do not recognize our sin.  As our faith matures, the concept of what we see as sin also develops.  We come to realize more and more how far short we fall as we come to know and understand God more and more.

When we hold onto our sin, there are ramifications.  Not confessing our sin can weigh upon us emotionally and spiritually and can run us down physically.  Unconfessed sin is a barrier between God and us and inhibits a true relationship with God.  Our heart must be right with God before we can come to Him in prayer and worship.  If we try to do so with sin upon us, it is false prayer or worship.  Just as God could not look upon Jesus on the cross as He bore our sins, God cannot be in our presence if we are not righteous.  To be righteous we must be made clean.

The reality is that God already knows our sins.  The Lord of heaven is also the Lord of the earth.  There is nothing that escapes Him.  We may try to convince ourselves that God doe snot know our sins, but we are only fooling ourselves.  When we humble ourselves, come before God, and pour out our sins, we are blessed by His grace, mercy, and love.  Not only that.  God also removes the guilt and shame of our sins.

When we are in a right relationship with God, He blesses and instructs and loves us.  When we are in a right relationship with God, we wonder why we would ever lived any other way.  When sin is upon us, may we go to God often – whenever necessary – so that we may live all of our days in His presence and in the light of His love.


by Leave a comment

He Is Faithful

Reading: 1 Corinthians 10: 1-13

Paul opens chapter ten reviewing the sins of the Israelites out in the desert.  It was a time of God’s constant presence in the cloud and pillar of fire, yet the people must have gotten used to having Him around.  They stumbled in a number of ways, sometimes repeatedly – idolatry, overindulgence in food and drink, sexual immorality, testing or doubting God.  Paul uses this review lesson as a way to mirror the sins of the church in Corinth.  As we read these sins, we realize they are still common to man in 2016 and perhaps some are even common to us.

Even though God physically was present to the Israelites, they wandered.  As we fast forward to today, we now have the living presence of God present to us in the Holy Spirit.  At times we too can pretend to not hear that little voice in our head or we can shrug off that little nudge that we felt.  Paul issues a warning that applies to us as well: if we feel we are standing firm, be careful that we do not fall.

In this season of Lent, a time of introspection and repentance, let us look hard at our lives.  We may not make golden calves to worship, but are we freely generous with our resources and time?  We may stay away from overindulgence, but do we treat our bodies as temples?  We may not engage in affairs, but does our eye occasionally wander?  And then there is gossip, envy, judging, laziness, …

All is not lost or hopeless.  Paul also reminds us that God is faithful.  God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear.  He will provide a way out.  As we consider the state of our soul this day, may we be willing to use the strength God offers and may we follow the way He provides, lest we too fall.


by Leave a comment

Seek the Lord

The psalmist speaks of times when our enemies rise up against us and when we feel besieged on every side.  In this life, there are certainly times when these things are true.  But our greater truth is God’s constant presence amidst all of life.  It is in His presence that we find love, peace, comfort, and mercy.

Sometimes we feel besieged by things from the outside.  It may be a situation at work that is not going so well.  It may be a conflict with a spouse or a child or a friend that is bringing discomfort in your life.  It may be a health or financial stress that has suddenly risen up.  As this “thing” consumes more and more of our time, we can seem to drift away from God.  But what we really need most is to spend more time in His presence.

At other times our struggle comes from within.  A temptation or sin can get ahold of us and that is all we can seem to see.  It could be pride or being judgemental.  It could be greed or jealousy.  It could be lust or coveting.  It could be any number of sins.  But one of these can become our focus so easily and we find ourselves far from God.  Sometimes this is because we are struggling to break free and other times it is because we have broken free but feel to guilty or dirty to come into His presence.  In these cases too, in that loving, caring, merciful, forgiving presence is precisely where we need to be.

When we are in one of these trials of life – whether from the outside or inside – we must seek God.  For some, maybe that is to physically go into the sanctuary or chapel to be in His presence.  For some it is to go to their prayer space at home.  For some it is driving in the car or walking along a path in the woods. God is everywhere do we can find Him anywhere.  He simply waits for us to reach out, to seek Him, to reconnect to Him.  In our trials, may we eagerly run into His presence and receive respite and relief.  In His presence we begin to live into His love, peace, comfort, and mercy.

Scripture reference: Psalm 27: 5-14


by Leave a comment

Looking Within

The first part of Psalm 51 is a confession of our sinful state.  By our nature we are prone to sin.  By our nature, we are weak and struggle to stay out of sin.  By His nature, God loves us unconditionally.  By His nature, God seeks to always bring us back to wholeness and to a right relationship with God.  Our sins stand between us and God alone.  In His great compassion God will blot out our sins, our transgressions, our iniquities.  For our part, we come to Him and repent.

In the middle part of the psalm comes our plea: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and restore a steadfast spirit within me”.  These words will be spoken over and over and over tomorrow.  They are familiar words on Ash Wednesday.  And just as the Lord’s Prayer is not just for Sundays, these words are not just for Ash Wednesday.  These familiar words should be our plea to God every day.  They admit our dependence on God.  We cannot win this battle on our own.  We need God to create a pure heart within us and to help us be steadfast to His ways.

The psalmist follows this plea up with a request to not be cast from God’s presence or for God to not take the Holy Spirit from us.  The psalm continues with these words: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me”.  God is the one in action, the one who can do these things.  In our acts of repentance we need both God’s presence and the Holy Spirit’s guidance.  After we repent of our sins, then God alone can restore us.  God alone can grant us a willing spirit, one seeking to follow His ways.

At Lent begins tomorrow, today I must look within and seek to identify my ungodly choices, my poor habits of faith, my sins.  May God grant me the will and the strength to come before Him in repentance, seeking His mercy.  Lord, melt my stubborn and prideful heart.  Mold me into who You desire me to be.  O God, fill me with Your presence and with the Holy Spirit.  And then use me, use me to love You and to love those You love.  Use me as You will, O God.

Scripture reference: Psalm 51: 1-17


by Leave a comment

Obedience on the Journey

The obedience that Jesus the man demonstrated is amazing.  Jesus made the choice to obey God over and over and over.  The major example we think of is the cross – the place where Jesus paid for all of our sins with His life.  At the end of a life and ministry build upon loving people, Jesus demonstrated the depth of His love by obeying God’s will on the cross.

Sometimes I find it easier to be faithful on the big things.  For example, cheating on my taxes or stealing from the store bear big consequences that I am not willing to risk, so I do what is right instead.  But the little things can catch me so easily.  The unkind thought crosses my mind or the hurtful words slip out so effortlessly.  Often they are followed quickly by remorse or an aplogy, but sometimes there is a delay.  It is a struggle to always be obedient.

Jesus lived a life without sin until that momet when He took our sin upon Himself on the cross. A life without sin.  Just think for a moment about being that obedient to following God’s will.  For Jesus, obedience extended beyond simply not sinning.  It also meant being obedient to going where God called Him to go and to doing what God led Him to do.  What a depth of love for the Father that Jesus had!

The reality for us is that Jesus is our example to follow.  I am far from being without sin and have a long way to go to be fully obedient.  But God does not expect perfection or for me to ever reach perfection.  He only expects my love and my continuing on the journey to grow to be more and more and more like Christ.  Lord God, bless this journey.

Scripture reference: Hebrews 10: 5-10


by Leave a comment

Prepare the Way!

Zechariah’s prophecy about his son John continues today.  Often as a parent we can embellish stories about our children a bit.  But in this case it is not really Zechariah speaking.  He is filled by the Holy Spirit and it is really God speaking through him.  The words come from above.

John will be a messanger.  As with all messangers, he is sent before to prepare for another’s arrival.  He does not come to announce himself or to promote his own agenda, but to prepare the way for Jesus’ arrival and ministry.  John’s role is complimentary.

In Jesus and His life, God is about to offer up the saving act of salvation.  Through Jesus Christ, God is providing the means to reconcile us to God and to free us from captivity to and fear of sin and death.  John came to prepare the people for this mighty act of God.  In order to prepare the people, John preached in the desert about sin and offered a baptism of repentance.  He prepared the way for the coming Savior by making people aware of their sin and the need to repent of their sins.

As we walk through Advent, we too are called to prepare ourselves for the the coming of the King.  John’s message about seeing our sin and repenting is as applicable today as it was when he first preached it.  If we are to be ready to receive our Savior on Christmas Eve, we must look within and wrestle with our sins and temptations and work make ourselves ready.  May we see our sins, repent, and prepare for the coming of our Lord and Savior!

Scripture reference: Luke 1: 76-79


by Leave a comment

Offering the Gift

After His resurrection, Jesus entered heaven.  As the unblemished One, He sits at God’s side.  In that role He “appears for us in God’s presence”.  The crucified Son offers His self-giving love on our behalf to bring us forgiveness of our sins.  His death on the cross was a ‘once-for-all’ sacrifice.

God is holy, pure, truth.  Sin is far from God.  God could not even look upon His own Son on the cross as Jesus bore the sins of the world.  And God is love.  Out of His love for Jesus and for us, the crucified Christ was made the risen Christ.  He passed through death and into eternal life, providing a means for us to do the same.  Through this ultimate act of self-giving, sacrificial love, Jesus opened the gates of heaven wide.

In doing this, however, Jesus did not remove sin from this world.  Sin is a part of our human condition.  It must remain so if we are to be able to choose Jesus.  And choose we must.  Believing cannot be forced.  Faith is an act of our free will.  In order to walk the path that Jesus set as our example, we must have the ability to exercise our will and to daily choose this path.  This is necessary to offer ourselves in sacrificial, other-centered service to others.  If it were forced it would not be sacrificial or self-giving.  Just as with Jesus Christ, there is a cost.  We give of ourselves to serve another.

The gift Jesus gave on the cross and as He entered heaven is a great gift.  This day, may I offer what I can of this gift to all I meet, as Christ lives and shines in me.

Scripture reference: Hebrews 9: 24-28


by Leave a comment

To the Throne

Sometimes in life we make poor choices and we sin.  Sometimes there are consequences we must face and deal with and live with here in this life.  When we sin there are always consequences to our relationship with God.  But we do not have to live with these.  Some do choose to but none of us have to.

Just prior in Hebrews we are reminded that we will have to give account of ourselves to God.  While this is true, in today’s reading we find our true hope.  We are encouraged to hold fast to our faith in times of suffering and pain because we have access to the great high priest, Jesus Christ.  We are invited to approach His throne boldly and without fear.

Do not think that what you have done is too much for Him to bear.  Do not think it is too depraved to reveal before Christ.  His love is greater than any sin we can commit.  In Hebrews we are reminded that Jesus, our great high priest, was tempted in every way.  He has been right up to that line where we cross into sin.  He has felt every temptation we feel.  Even though Jesus was without sin, He can relate to us in our sin and temptation.

We can boldly approach the throne with confidence because the one who sits on the throne walked where we walk and faced what we face.  At that throne we can lay our burdens down and confess our sins and sufferings and find nothing but mercy and receive nothing but grace.  At His throne we are washed clean and made new.  Go often and always for His love never ends and His mercies are made new every morning.

Scripture reference: Hebrews 4: 14-16


by Leave a comment

Jesus Our Hope

In a physical sense we are much like all other living creatures.  We share much of the same DNA.  In addition, some animals have a language, some use tools, and some even have social orders and live in families.  All of the living creatures on earth experience illness and death.  The feelings of loss and pain associated with death are exhibited by many others species as well.

Two of the things though that separates humanity from other creatures is our superior intellect and our reasoning ability.  As time has evolved we have come to understand the intricacies of the human body and have sought means to extend life.  To be alive is awesome and amazing so we fight to preserve life.  Over time in our society the act of death has developed a fear and has become something to be avoided at almost all cost.  For many there is a meaninglessness and an unknown to dying.  For those without faith, there is a finality that has no hope and peace in death.

Jesus became incarnate so that ultimately He could experience suffering and death.  This sounds so countercultural because it is.  Yes, Jesus also come to put a human face and example on God’s great love for us.  But in the end Jesus came to suffer and die in sacrificial love for us.  He willingly bore the cross and the weight of our sins.  Through His blood He paid the cost for us to have eternal life.

In Hebrews we are reminded that all of creation is subject to Jesus.  Yet out of love for us He allowed Himself to the subject to death.  For all who call on Jesus as Lord and Savior, we find grace and forgiveness.  In Jesus we know that death does not have the final word.  In Him rests our eternal hope and a peace that passes understanding in the midst of death.  Jesus is our hope.  Thank you Jesus.

Scripture reference: Hebrews 2: 5-12