Falling Out Of Love With Sin

"How far will we go till we cross the line?
We don't call it sin, we're just close to it,
Only playing with fire,
To try to please both God and ourselves,
To believe the lie it'll all balance out..."

These lyrics from a song I wrote earlier in the week express my thoughts about the Believer's ongoing affair with sin - sometimes an on-again, off-again relationship that we can't seem to shake.
There is nothing more destructive, nothing more damaging to relationships, and nothing that will pull you away from the Lord more than sin.

"The difference between the godly and the ungodly in manifest by the different light in which they regard their sin." ~Annon

To have an accurate, biblical view of sin is to see it as something God hates, and absolutely detests.

"We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin." ~Romans 6:6-7

We must live in FREEDOM from the bondage of sin because it is REALITY! We are free, so we do we crawl back into bondage again and again?

Since we are now not bound to sin, let us ask and allow the Lord to remove our love of being in bondage to it.

"...Hate what is evil, cling to what is good." ~Romans 12:9b

God HATES sin, so we must take on the same detest for it, recognizing that it is so easy for us to get caught in its snares, but God has called us to something better.

"Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come."
~2nd Corinthians 5:17

As believers in Jesus, we have repented and God has not only wiped our slate clean, but He has made us a NEW CREATION~ a new self that has an intimate, personal relationship with God.
Let us fall out of love, so to speak, with the things of this world, and go on to pursue Christ and walk in His ways.

My Sufficiency

Where do we find our sufficiency? Isn't this a great question to ask ourselves, especially in the days where we are feeling drained and overwhelmed? Maybe your alarm didn't go off this morning and you were late for school (or work), or you have a heavy work load and are trying hard to stay on top of things, or you are struggling in a relationship, or whatever the case may be...where can you go to be filled? 

"Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be minsters of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."
~2nd Corinthians 3:4-6 

Here's a shocker for ya: We cannot find sufficiency in ourselves! 

God made us to be in relationship with Him, completely reliant on Christ, who is our intercessor. There are so many times I deceive myself in thinking I can get by on my own, and that is when I find myself the most worn out, the most thirsty for something outside of myself. In the Word of God it even says that we are NOT sufficient! 

We are made competent to be ministers of a new covenant, which if you remember by taking communion, we see that it is Jesus' work on the cross, His body the bread, and His blood the wine...a new promise that we are covered in grace. We are recipients of God's grace and of His promise of salvation. 

"...not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

The word "letter" here in the Greek is "Gramma", meaning "a note of hand, bill, bond, written acknowledgement of debt," and also, "the sacred writings of the Old Testament." Paul is talking about the letter of the Mosaic Law, and what does it say the law does?

 The law is a bill, a letter producing bondage, and we acknowledge, just like Paul does, that we have a debt that just cannot be paid on our own because we are so insufficient and so inadequate to fulfill the requirements it calls for. It is through the law that we see our great need for a Savior. We should be looking to Christ for fulfillment of that need!

 "...For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

What does the Spirit do? 
It gives LIFE!
Here is the Greek word for "gives life": zōopoieō  
I so wish that the phrase in English could be able to convey just how much this means! The Greek word means, "to produce alive, begat; to arouse and invigorate, to restore to life, growing."

God gives, invigorates, restores, grows us up...and WE are the RECIPIENT of all He is, and all He has done for us and is doing in us. Nothing will ever be enough for us compared to God and the riches of His grace, for He is sufficient for every need we have.

So WHO do we find our sufficiency in? 

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 
~2nd Corinthians 12:9

So lay down your burdens at the foot of the cross, and find your rest, your LIFE, in Jesus. He is sufficient when we feel the most insufficient and weak, and His blood is enough for us. He is our sufficiency.