The other night at Live @ Webster Hall we talked about the terms sin and Satan. Most all of us have a weird feeling when we hear the word "sin". We don't really understand that term and have put a judgmental feeling with it instead of what it really is. Sin is that thing that has been let loose on this earth who is constantly trying to come in and destroy us. Satan was even attacked by sin and succumbed to its pressure and fell. Sin is the seed that was planted within all of our hearts, the pull to go against God and what He desires for us. It is sin that is trying to destroy us. I have always seen sin as a verb. You know, that thing that you "do" which is wrong. With the help of a new book I got for Christmas, "The Dragon Slayer" by Jim McGuiggan, I am now starting to open up and see sin as a noun also. Let me try my best to explain: We have all kinds of things that are rightly defined as sin; anger, pride, gluttony, adultery, the list can go on and on. These things that we do or that we can see others doing, those things are sin, but what if we change the action verb "sin" into a proper noun "Sin". That thing that we have always called sin now has an actual name, Sin, and it hates us. Sin is stalking us. He has come to destroy our life.
I am constantly being pursued by Sin. He is trying to trap me in any possible way. He is constantly trying to destroy my relationships and trying to get between me and God. We are all in a constant battle and this battle is for love: love of God, love of others and love for our self. If he can come in and make us fight with one another, he has won. Sin loves to make us victims. If he cannot get to us through us, he will send someone else to come in and try to destroy us by using them. He will help us hate ourselves for whatever wrong we have ever done. He knows that we who are protected under Christ, who have repented and who will never travel down that same road again, he knows that if he can at least make us live in constant self condemnation then he is able to steal our joy. Our enemy has a name and that name is Sin. He is constantly trying to drive a wedge in all of our relationships.
"Sin troubles God because it not only dishonors him, it makes victims of His beloved human family."
We are the children of God. When Sin comes into our lives, our God is very concerned. He is our Father and He desires to protect us. He knows that Sin is here to destroy us in any way that he can. God does not just look at Sin as an action that we have done. He sees it for what it really is. Sin hates us and is constantly trying to trick us into loving Sin instead of our Father. If we are constantly turning against God and turning to Sin to love us what we are really doing is loving like the love of "Stockholm syndrome". We fall in love with our abuser and run into his arms. We defend him and tell others who are trying to help us get away from him that they just don't understand. This is one of the reasons why God hates Sin so much.
"In lucid moments we saw ourselves for what we had become and weary and heartsick we wished for deliverance even while we loved our chains."
Then in steps Christ. He is our Savior. He is our Redeemer. But what we do not see is that while we innocently suffer from the attack of Sin, Christ also chose to innocently suffer from Sin. He came and was born not to the rich and comfortable, but to the poor. He came and was ruthlessly attacked. Sin abused Him. He came and said, "I am your Creator. I want you to know that I understand what hurt you're hurting from and I know who abuses you. But I want you to know something else, I am the Creator of life and there is still so much more that you cannot understand yet. Hang in there my child, for while Sin does hurt, I have conquered Sin and he no longer has any real power. Don't turn to him for love. I am the author of true love. I am the One that can truly love you through all of your hurt, through all of your doubts, Sin cannot stop Me. Please stop loving your abuser, for when you love him, you not only hurt yourself, but you hurt my other children as well. Learn to love Me and learn to live FREE. I am the Dragon Slayer!"
1 comment:
Just this one little topic in no way covers what the book is about, but this is one part (probably one page) that hit me hard. Looking at sin not only as an action that we do, but as something, someone who is constantly trying to harm us was important to me. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is trying to understand the love of Christ on a deeper level. I must stress, deeper level!
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