Analyzing Pieces of the Puzzle

Romans 7:9-24. I want to further flush out more clearly the various elements presented here and their relationships.

The Law is good.

Nothing good dwells in me.

Therefore the Law must not dwell in me. Why?

Is the Law not written in my heart like God promised?

Or is the Law something that inherently doesn't “dwell” anywhere?

(but maybe is written inside)

Since the Law is simply a description of the Source of life it is not life-giving in itself.

What dwells in me?

Sin dwells in me.

Since nothing good dwells in me and sin dwells in me then there is nothing good in sin.

This dwelling place inside of me must be designed to be the entrance where I get life into myself, my receptacle for receiving life. The Law does not fit into that receptacle and cannot give me life anyway. It has a different role to play and this is not it. Whatever is supposed to fit in this spot is missing and I will feel empty and dissatisfied until it is filled with what it was designed for. I am looking for something that gives life and fits correctly into this dwelling spot within me. What I find is that sin has taken up residence in that dwelling place and purports to be my source of life and satisfaction. The problem is that the results from this arrangement in my life are far less than really satisfying.

Willing is present in me but doing good is not.

Since nothing good is dwelling in me then the willing must not count as good.

There is a “principle” that evil is present in me.

My will agrees with the Law and wants to do good.

Sin is evil and is also present in me and evidently manages the doing part of me.

What part of me is it that joyfully concurs with the Law of God in the inner man?

According to what is already described it must be my will.

Now I run into mention of at least 3 laws, maybe 4.

The Law of God – external and also written in my heart(?)

A different law (the principle of evil from v.21) – waging war against the law of my mind.

The law of my mind.

The law of sin – by which I am held prisoner after being made so by the “different law”.

What is the relationship between all of these elements?

Which ones are different descriptors for the same thing?

What is the mental and emotional condition of the person described in this passage?

The presence of the Law seems to produce in me the very things it prohibits.

When the Law came I died.

Sin deceived me and killed me.

I am enslaved to sin.

My will wants to do good but my doing comes out opposite.

I intellectually believe the Law is good.

My inner man joyfully agrees with the Law that it is good.

I am a prisoner of war.

I feel wretched!

I do not feel free.

I am trapped in/with a body of death.

There is much debate about what stage of growth or conversion this chapter describes. I firmly believe that since Paul is writing to people who are already Christians and a sub-group of that being those who know the Law (probably converted Jews), then by exclusion he is not describing a person who is not yet a Christian. Many have tried to argue strongly that this could not be describing a real Christian or they would not be having all this internal conflict and have sin dwelling in them. But that is based on some strong delusions about realities in the Christian life.

Just because a person has entered into a relationship with God and trusts Jesus as their Lord and Savior does not mean that they are free of the internal struggles that Paul describes in this chapter. In fact, the very reason I believe it is describing a sincere Christian is that the will described here agrees with the Law that it is good and continuously wants to do good. A person who has no use for God would not be struggling with that. Their will would not be wanting to do good or to please God. They would not joyfully concur with the Law of God in the inner man. Instead, this is a clear description of many who have started on the Christian walk with God and become very discouraged and frustrated as this internal conflict between their will and this principle of indwelling sin intensifies.

This is also very good news for people who see sin dwelling in their inner life after they tried to start following Jesus. It is saying that just because we feel this intense internal war going on does not mean that we are not real Christians. It is also a warning to not judge, either others or ourselves, when we see sin dwelling inside. The presence of indwelling sin is not a sign of failure in the Christian life but is an indication that another step needs to be taken that Paul is about to discuss and describe at length. But first he has to make clear our present condition before we are able to understand and relate to our great need to move into the next condition.

(next in series)

Ingredients for Frustration

But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. (Romans 7:16-18)

As I think and pray about these verses and seek to really understand with my heart how they apply to my own life and experience, I see more clearly the elements of conflict that struggle internally for control of my destiny. The part of me that is called the flesh is in the original called the “sarc”. This is a part of human nature that somehow became infected and corrupted when sin entered the human race and has been a source of confusion ever since. It is also the handle or access point through which the fallen supernatural forces of evil have been able to manipulate and deceive every one of us for thousands of years. It purports to work for our good, but when we follow its promptings we discover after it is too late that we have been misled and have become disenfranchised to enjoy the bliss and joys of heaven.

Most people desire to have enjoyment and peace in their life. They long to feel connected emotionally to others and to be loved and cherished. That is what we were created for – to be the objects of affection for the Creator God who is overflowing with love and compassion. We were also designed to imitate Him in passing on the same kind of treatment to others and connecting the circuit of love which makes the whole universe pulse in harmony and life.

The Law is simply a schematic describing the layout of what that circuit looks like and how it functions. The Law is not the circuit itself but simply a very brief description of the circuit. However, sin has inserted many viruses and false ideas into our thinking that distort the truth about life, about how life can be fulfilling and how to stay in harmony with life. Through the access point of our fallen nature, the flesh, sin has taken up residence inside of us and multiplies its diabolical lies and distortions like a virulent virus to contaminate our original design and corrupt all of our “programming”.

Human beings were created to be the dwelling place of God. Repeatedly throughout the Bible and ending in the last chapters of Revelation God talks about dwelling with us and in us. That is the goal of salvation – to restore us to a condition of wholeness, to repair us so that we can be safe “houses” for God to live in, to become sanctuaries for God to dwell in. It is a very fascinating subject and is one of the central themes of the Bible.

But I see here in this text that sin dwells in me. Several times throughout this chapter Paul mentions the fact that he sees sin dwelling inside. That creates a real problem, because when sin and God get too close to each other it always creates fireworks, quite literally. The closer the proximity the greater and more intense the fire and discomfort.

That is precisely why there is so much frustration described in this chapter. Since the Law is a description of God and becoming a Christian means, among other things, acknowledging the authority and validity of the Law of God, we immediately find ourselves in a state of tension between what is still dwelling inside of us (in our flesh) and what has taken up residence in our real heart (the presence of God). Paul is describing the experience of anyone who is passing through this phase of salvation but he only refers to himself so that he does not come across as accusing or condemning of anyone else. He knows that if we are honest that we will be able to identify with what he is describing as he leads us to see how to grow beyond this stage of spiritual maturity.

So to simplify the description of the problem I look carefully at these verses and try to see what is going on inside. There are several key words that I focus on.

The Law –

• it is spiritual and good

• I agree with it

• my will wants to obey it but I find myself not obeying it.

My flesh –

• it is an inescapable part of me

• through it I am in bondage to sin

• sin dwells in me there.

Sin –

• it is a slave-driver that controls me against my will

• it dwells in my flesh

• it is doing things through me that I don't want to do in violation against the Law

• it is manipulative, it is not good.

My will –

• it is present inside of me

• as a Christian my will agrees with the Law

• it believes the Law is good

• it desires to do good in harmony with the Law

• its desires are being overridden by sin that dwells inside of me.

As I think about this mixture I can see a pretty clear recipe for frustration. I believe that this whole chapter, particularly the last half, is an emotional description of what life is like when a person is trying to be a Christian but still finds himself stuck in bondage to sin. I do not mean that as harsh or condemning in the least. I believe that it is a natural stage that very many pass through in their growth journey toward deeper spiritual maturity. Does it have to be that way? I don't have the answer for that and I think only God knows. Either way, it is a reality in millions of hearts and lives and Paul is showing us the way through it to more perfect freedom on the other side. I want to dig out the glowing truths and gems that Paul is presenting in this passage and implement them in my own experience as I study and pray my way through these verses.

I know I have taken a long time dwelling on this chapter, but maybe I am just dense and slow of heart. I have decided to not go any faster in my study than I can feel I am really absorbing. There is so much here that will enrich me if I take the time to listen to what the Spirit has to share with me. I resist the urge to rush on to the exciting things in chapter 8 because I want to be very clear and open about my real condition first.

This particular chapter itself has been a source of frustration and confusion for me most of my life and I am determined to not rush past it until I have a much better sense that I am appreciating and understanding it not only with my intellect but with my heart even more importantly. I believe that since this is a very good description of how I have felt for most of my life that God has also put the solution in these passages as well. If I am willing to take to time to immerse myself in His word, marinate in the juices and absorb the flavors into my very being, then they will stay with me much better and these truths will become a permanent part of me instead of just a theological exercise or a set of proof texts.

(next in series)

Fearful Wives or Terrified Slaves

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. (Romans 7:14)

As I look over the context of this chapter and then the larger context back into the last chapter I see a circle being closed in this verse. Paul is addressing those who have been brought up to trust in religion and rule-keeping and external performance for salvation just like he had been, These kind of people would be very easy to shut down mentally if one tries to tell them they are slaves – that would be so offensive to them they would immediately dismiss it as ludicrous. Instead, Paul uses the marriage analogy which is much more interesting to them, particularly since they have spent years arguing about the technicalities of valid reasons for divorce.

After carefully drawing in their attention and making some very unexpected declarations in that context, he goes on to relate his own experience and feelings as one who has a very similar experience to theirs. He knows what it feels like to grow up legalist and he also knows the emotions and frustrations of trying to make the transition to being a real Christian from that beginning. The assumptions and beliefs deeply embedded in the mind and heart of one who has been brought up in a strict, conservative religion have a strong influence over one's thinking even after they accept becoming a new Christian and are converted, at least as much as they can be externally, to following the teachings of Jesus.

That is just where much of the problem lies, however. Many people, even today, have become converted to “believing” and following the teachings of Jesus but they have little heart connection with Him. This is not to accuse or condemn them (I am one of them myself) but is simply to point out their condition and where they are in their journey. For a person to switch from one set of beliefs to another really involves very little heart work, though there may be initially an awakening that prompts them to make the switch at first. This is why so many people describe their Christian experience by retelling the story of their conversion over and over again but do not have a great deal to say about anything new and fresh flowing out of their heart. It is because their heart has again gone into hiding and the head, or left brain, has again taken the control (which is what they have always been taught to do); there is little to no growth in emotional maturity and intimate bonding to Jesus at the personal level.

Throughout the rest of this chapter Paul describes the affects this kind of living has on the religious experience. In one word it could be described as extremely frustrating. And it is perfectly normal to be frustrated, for the left brain was never designed to perform the functions that the right brain (the heart) was created to do. Anytime something or someone is expected to perform in a way they were not designed for there will always be the potential for a lot of frustration. Paul experienced this frustration to the point of crying out in total desperation by the end of the chapter for someone to deliver him or he will die. If we want to get un-stuck in our own experience we too will need to come to the point of frustration that is great enough to cause us to cry out in helplessness and desperation for supernatural intervention. We have to come to the point of realization that our methods, beliefs and attempts to be righteous, impress or influence God, or whatever other angle we are trying to leverage with Him are completely ineffective at doing anything for our long-term salvation. Our only hope is to completely give up on our form of religion and throw ourselves totally on the mercy of God to save us.

In this chapter I also see Paul doing something very interesting and important in the area of how our brain functions. While the left brain learns by words, reading, intellectual processing etc., the control center of our brain – the right side – cannot learn by those means. The right brain assimilates and learns how to act and respond to situations primarily by imitation, stories and pictures that evoke emotion, and also music. As I look at this chapter it suddenly occurs to me that Paul is taking these left brain-dominant people on a track they are not used to following by relating his own story. He is sharing his emotions (right brain) of what it feels like to be a frustrated Christian just like they are, and then in the story he relates to the intensity of their own emotional frustration that they have likely been suppressing for most of their life in their attempts to live out a left brain dominant religious experience. Joining them in their own emotions, Paul is drawing them out as he identifies with their feelings. This is the most effective way to help someone find a resolution to an emotional sand-trap. They need someone to join them in their predicament and then show them how to return to peace and joy since they have never “learned” with their right brain how to get out of that problem. Paul is joining them in their despair, expressing it more eloquently than they themselves have ever done, and then going on in chapter 8 to “show” them how to return to joy in the Holy Spirit.

Another thing I would like to notice in the text from the beginning of this post is the idea implied in the word “bondage”. The base of that word is “bond”, which alerts me to the two kinds of bonds that all of us experience and which binds us to each other and to God. There are two basic categories of bonds – fear bonds and love bonds. Much of which is passed off as love bonds are only fear bonds in disguise parading as love. These bonds are linked to the deepest levels of our brains and influence nearly everything we do, think, feel and become. I have come to realize some time ago that fear has been substituted for love in most religion and has come to be accepted as the correct motivation for linking us to God. That is one of the worst lies of the enemy which keeps us deceived and trapped in the very frustrations that Paul is describing in this chapter. God is not interested in service from fear, force or intimidation; there is no love or pleasure in that kind of bonding. We cannot “please” God (bring pleasure to His heart, a spontaneous smile to His face) by fear-motivated performance of duty or any other kind of fear-based activity or beliefs. This is a very useful filter that I have used many times to expose problems in otherwise very correct-sounding presentations of “truth”. When I begin to detect elements of fear-motivation as a means of manipulation by the presenter I immediately feel red flags going up and become quite skeptical of the validity of the message, no matter how perfectly substantiated it may be with proof-texts and sound, logical arguments.

Recently I wrote about the Law being an external description of the internal essence of God. Being in the external realm the Law is used as a communication tool to tell us the truth about who God is. But because it is in the external realm it also lacks the power and influence to draw us into a saving relationship with God. In fact, as Paul points out in this chapter, it appears to have almost the opposite effect when it comes in proximity to sin. Sin uses the presence of the Law to trigger hidden explosives in our flesh that cause us to react in sinful ways even when our mind knows better. This seems to be the main source feeding the frustration described in this chapter.

But I look at this verse and question why Paul says that the Law is spiritual. I think that maybe it would be helpful to say that the Law is describing something/Someone that is spiritual – maybe that is what the meaning is here. I'm sure there are a lot of other things to draw from this, but that seems to make sense to me right now.

The circle that I see Paul bringing back to close in this verse is the idea of slavery and being sold into bondage. In the previous chapter he spent a great deal of time addressing the other group from chapter 1 while the chapter 2 group may have felt a bit of disdain and distance from their predicament. The Jews particularly were very sensitive and strongly reactive about any notion of them being in slavery. When Jesus implied that the Jews needed freedom from slavery they reacted very violently, protesting that they needed no such deliverance. They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?" (John 8:33)

But I see in this verse in Romans Paul again putting his finger on the real underlying problem that every human being cannot escape. These people who find themselves married to the wrong “husband” and living in a stern, straining religious life are in fact at the roots no different that the other group of open sinners who more easily recognize their condition of enslavement. Paul personalizes it by sharing his own experience of transition through this same phase of growth and explains that as long as we are living in the flesh, whether we are open sinners or very good-looking religionists, we are in the same quandary of being in slavery, sold into bondage to sin. The key ingredient that is common in this bondage is the fear-bonds that hold both groups tightly in the flesh. Though the external symptoms may look radically different, the internal problem is the same. As long as our hearts look at God through the filters of fear we will remain stuck in the flesh, sold into bondage to sin.

That is the problem with our relationship to the Law. The reason that the Law seemingly activates the worst in us instead of causing us to love God and come to Him is because we see it (and Him) through the eyes of fear to some degree or another. This is involved in creating the two main groups that Paul is addressing in this book. The first group reacts in fear by openly rebelling against their skewed picture of God and plunging into all sorts of sin and self-indulgence to try to find satisfaction for their emptiness. The religious “right” take a different tack, but because they are still viewing God through eyes of fear they plunge into a life of attempted obedience, appeasement, manipulation or even Spirit worship in their attempt to get themselves saved. But because their hearts and minds are still viewing God through distortions and lies of the Accuser they have the underlying motive of fear which always brings torment to their hearts in one way or another.

There is only one way to enter into salvation and it does not use fear to bond us to God and to each other. God is love, and His Son Jesus is a perfect reflection and demonstration of that love. That is why the only way to heaven and to God is through Jesus. We must be swallowed up in that love and flushed clean of all the fear and its associated torment. Ultimately the great divide will not be drawn between those who performed well and those who didn't, but between those who have allowed love to suck them up into its vortex of passion leaving everything else behind, and those who cling to their fears and reject the notion of love being enough.

Father, this is too big for me to wrap my mind around. Please capture my heart, my affections and suck me up into the passion that You have for me. Make me an instrument of influence, and example of Your transforming grace and the power of Your love today. Live in my heart and make these words a reality in my life.

(next in series)

Exposing Sin - part 2

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24 NRSV)

“Why do people say that babies are sinners? They have not done anything wrong so why would God punish them for being sinners when they are so innocent?”

The root of the word sin means “to miss the mark”. In the style of writing used by many of the Bible writers they would many times say the same thing twice in a row but slightly differently. This can be seen in the above text where sin (missing the mark) and falling short of the glory of God are presented as basically the same thing, just said a little differently. If we put ourselves mentally into the context of the Roman culture of Paul's day it would become obvious that one of the scenes a person might be very familiar with in that day would be people target practicing with bows and arrows or with spears. A great deal of target practice had to take place before a person was ready to serve in the armed forces just as it is still true today. A person's ability to hit a target accurately and solidly determined to a great extent the value they had to the armed forces as well as for many other applications.

Most of the world for many centuries lived in this kind of context. Think how different the story of David and Goliath would have been if David had not spent a great deal of time practicing marksmanship with his sling and stones. The scene would have had quite a different storyline if David's stone had fallen short of reaching the giant.

Since sin simply means missing the mark, what is the mark that is being missed by sinners? Well, according to this text it is the glory of God. Glory is another of those very confusing and sometimes nebulous words that means very different things to different people, some of which are very far from its main meaning. Often the first thing that comes to our mind about this word is a bright, glowing light around a person or object. This is due to our external orientation about what we think is important, one of the key hallmarks of sin. I think this has been a major distraction from understanding the real implications of this term. Without launching into a study of this word too far, I will simply say that as I have come to understand it so far, the glory of God is primarily the essence of who He is, His personality, characteristics and relational attributes. Of course these are the very things most understood by us because of the flood of lies that has filled our minds and hearts about what God is like received from the father of lies. Being immersed in so many of these false ideas, both inherited and learned, is precisely the description of what being a sinner means.

But then one would logically ask, “How does that apply to babies and young children? They haven't even had a chance to learn any lies.”

While it is true that babies don't have any learned and accepted lies about God consciously, particularly in the intellectual arena, they have depraved natures that are filled to some degree or another with natural selfishness just because they are born to sinful human parents. Given over to growing up with these natural tendencies and propensities to selfishness and all sorts of other less than God-like attributes, they will grow up to reflect more of the spirit of Satan than the Spirit of God. In short, they simply do not have within them the wherewithal to live and think and grow naturally into a perfect reflection of God. In very many ways it has to be admitted that it is really true - “all fall short of the glory of God”.

However, this is where the pain and distortions of our already present lies about God and sin cause many of us to react with revulsion and anger, protesting that it is not fair that God should punish babies and little children for being sinners when they are far too young to be held accountable for their condition. That is absolutely true! However I would like to point out that there are a great deal of false assumptions behind that statement that have to be addressed before we can see the real truths about God masked by our many distortions. This is very similar to the problem imposed when an innocent man is asked how long it has been since he quite beating his wife. The problem is not with the man but with the assumptions embedded within the question.

Let me simply expose a few of the assumptions that can be found within this kind of question. There is a flash of anger and an unspoken accusation that God is not fair and cannot be trusted to always be fair. Then there is an assumption that God arbitrarily punishes (inflicts pain and suffering) anyone and everyone found to have sin in them. Behind that assumption there are potentially hundreds of other more serious problems and distortions depending on what you believe about the “punishment of the wicked”. That is such a deep reservoir of lies about God that it would take books to unpack them all. But all of those ideas are potentially behind the anguished emotions evoked by this simple question.

The very fact that we are upset and asking these kinds of questions betrays the presence of the true image of God still resident in our hearts even with all our misunderstandings about Him. Our hearts demand fairness and we get upset when innocent people are threatened or punished unfairly. We sense that arbitrary determinations without consideration of circumstances and unbiased evaluation is somehow wrong. If we are completely honest with our souls we also have to admit that the typical beliefs about the punishment of lost sinners is dramatically out of proportion to anything we feel they should deserve and leaves a deep but suppressed feeling of resentment hiding in our minds and emotions. Then to add insult to injury, we are often saddled with a fear of even expressing those feelings in case we too will increase our own punishment for challenging the sovereign determinations of the Almighty who many believe must never be questioned.

All of these ideas add quite a bit more complexity to the simple answering of the question about babies and sin. They are very serious issues and must be faced squarely and resolved or the simple answers to the question are cast into doubt because of all the other assumptions not yet resolved. But since I don't have the time or space to address all of those things right here I will take the risky choice to venture a simpler answer and trust God to bring more light where it is needed.

I find it very helpful to remember what the original definition of sin is – falling short of the glory of God – missing the mark. Without insinuating all sorts of other definitions and ideas into it right away, it is much easier to admit that not only babies but any human being is not just like God, especially when the real truth about Him begins to dawn on our hearts. None of us are naturally 100% unselfish, kind, compassionate, full of faith and joy and love every minute of every day. But when the truth is uncovered we will find that God is all of those things and much more. We all fall short of the glory of God when looked at from that perspective.

But then we start feeling defensive and insist, “But its not my fault that I found myself with this brain and set of emotions. My parents..., my friends and teachers and abusers..., Adam and Eve got us into this mess.”

Every bit of that is true. And its also true that its not fair that we have been imposed with all these problems. But it is also still true that we are what we are right now. But is this state of unfairness because God is not fair or is there much more that we are not looking at when we accuse God of not considering all the facts and circumstances? Is it really God that is not fair or are we the ones that ultimately are found to not be fair in our evaluation of God? Are we willing to consider a lot more truth about God before launching our tirades against Him? Are we willing to honestly challenge our own beliefs about Him and expose our lies with His own testimony about Himself in place of Satan's?

Here is the bottom line issue inherent in the question of how God relates to “sinner-babies” – “How does God treat sinners of any kind?” That is the question behind the question that we must really face and not accept our assumptions as unquestionable facts. We get angry when other people judge us harshly without trying to find out our real motives and try to understand who we are and what we are really like. But yet we are doing that to God all the time. We judge God severely and accuse Him in our hearts of atrocities that we will not tolerate in those around us, much less would be willing to do ourselves – at least we hope not. We must face squarely the things we think and say and feel about God in the light of fairness and allow the truth about Him to emerge while we suspend our judging assumptions against Him. The real issue in the Great War is the accusations against God and every one of us participate in these accusations whether we are conscious of it or not.

So what is the truth about how God treats and relates to sinners? Here is what Paul says right after he declares that everyone is a sinner. “They are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” That includes babies, unborn children, teen-agers, tottering, senile old folks and everyone in between. Even more shocking, it includes good, kind, generous, lovable people and revolting despots like Stalin and Hitler – and the people who have abused you and me the most severely. That becomes much more difficult for many to accept, but God is not limited in His grace. He sent Jesus to Redeem absolutely every human being who ever has or will exist on this planet – no restrictions. Jesus took upon Himself the results of every sin that every human being ever commits and justifies every sinner who ever exists so that there is nothing that can “separate us from the love God, which is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:39)

So where does that leave the baby who is born a sinner with a selfish disposition – or even a sweet disposition? It puts them exactly where every other human is found – under the justifying atonement of Jesus Christ who has redeemed every sinner on earth. Does that mean that every sinner will end up in heaven? That is a very interesting question and the answer will likely surprise many. But that is another topic that would get me going far too long as well. If you would like to think more about that you can spend some time on another blog site linked on the sidebar called surprise ending. There are also some other sites that I ran across very recently that have a lot of wonderful material about these things that I want to spend more time perusing myself. I have added links to them on this site as well for those who wish to explore deeper like I want to.

I want to make one more distinction about the definition of sin that has been very problematic and troubling for many people including myself for many years. I was raised, as most people are, to believe that sin was primarily something people do – you know, wrong actions, bad things that hurt others or ourselves or “offend” God. What I have been learning more and more clearly from the Bible and other good sources is that external acts that we generally label as sin are really symptoms of the presence of sin, not the real essence of sin. By the time we commit open acts of “sin” we are way past the point of initiating the choices that put us into a state of sin. Most people misunderstand the true nature of temptation and where temptation actually occurs. What most people label as temptation is simply an opportunity to indulge in outward activities that express the sinful desires produced by the state we have already fallen into inside our hearts some time before. By that time we are already victims of succumbing to temptation and are entrapped by sin in our heart before we express it outwardly.

Sin is really the state of being out of synchronization with God's perfect ways of living and the natural laws He designed for us to operate within that cause us to thrive and grow. Sin is being disconnected in some way from the only Source of life in the whole universe. Sin deceives us into believing that we can extract life from any other sources than from God and can live life successfully without Him. The natural consequences of living disconnected from power is an eventual loss of power and finally death – the absence of all life.

Jesus came to instate an arrangement whereby those who were disconnected from life could continue to have life even while they were rebelling against the very Source of life. He arranged a period of probation – grace – during which we could accept the truth about God and discard our lies and animosity toward the One who loves us passionately and wants us to live joyfully in His presence forever. This arrangement is called the Atonement and Redemption. Every person has the option to participate in this free gift and be transformed by it if they choose to accept it. If they do they can be permanently and inextricably absorbed into a unified body which will literally ultimately become part of God's own being. This arrangement is so stunning and seemingly bizarre that even the angel's of God cannot hardly believe it. But it is true, and you and I have the option to accept this arrangement based on God's faith in us. He supplies all the power, the love, and even the faith. What we bring is our choice to accept and be transformed by allowing our minds and hearts to be filled and captured by His loveliness.

God, I have to worship You because of these things You are showing me. Thank-you for salvation and Redemption that You give me as a free gift. Make me Your experiment of grace and transformation. Live in my heart today and make me Your dwelling place here on earth. Pour Your blessings through me to others today and fill me with Your Spirit of grace and love. Attract others to Yourself by the work You accomplish in me, in spite of me even. Glorify Your name in my life today and help me to bring honor to Your reputation.

(next in series)

Exposing Sin - part 1

Therefore did that which is good (the Law) become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. (Romans 7:13 NAS95)

Did that (the Law) which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. (Romans 7:13 NIV)

A few days back there was discussion, both in person and in the comments on this blog, about the issue and identity of sin and how it affects our perceptions about how God relates to and thinks about us. I promised to explore this issue in a post which I have been thinking about ever since then but, as yet, was still waiting for the ideas to come clearer in my mind and heart. I am very reluctant to rush into expounding ideas when I sense that my heart has not yet had enough time to coalesce the thoughts that my left brain is all too eager to rush into. That is a recipe for trouble and I spend too much time back-tracking and repairing damage caused by such forays as it is.

At the same time I feel that I should honor my commitment to at least take a look at this issue since I promised that I would without letting too much more time pass. I have been praying for more wisdom and certainly do not feel that I have a comprehensive understanding of this problem. That would be the height of hypocrisy. But I believe that some of the answer can be found in a Spirit-guided exploration of the Word, and as I look at the passage where I am right now in Romans 7 I realize that the subject is front and center so it must be time to face it.

One of the questions put forward was, “Why do people say that babies are sinners? They have not done anything wrong so why would God punish them for being sinners when they are so innocent?”

This is a very relevant question and comes from deep within the hearts of many, many people whether they openly think about it or not. In my own experience I can remember having heated discussions with my own Dad about this topic that did not particularly change our minds but did cause me to think more carefully about it and look for answers better than what he proposed. In his case the issue was not so much about human babies as it was trying to shore up a deeply entrenched, hotly debated belief about the nature of Christ that was so tenuous that it needed constant rationalizing and evasive reasoning to keep it propped up.

The more serious problem implied in this question is the deep, underlying assumptions implicit behind the question. False assumptions in our minds (but assumed to be true from earlier training) are based on the false picture of God formed by lies that we find ourselves immersed in and forced on us by confused teachers, leaders, parents and life experiences. The question simply cannot be answered directly at first until the volatile baggage behind the assumptions are disarmed and dealt with effectively.

I have spent much of my life trying to uncover the real meaning of many religious words and concepts. Sin is one of the most difficult to unpack. I suppose that should not be surprising given the text above quoted from Romans 7. Sin by its very nature is deceptive and therefore is constantly trying to hide its true identity and intent and appear to be something different and more benign than it really is. Sin is sometimes like cancer cells that are very difficult to detect until they have grown out of control to such an extent that they have become obviously life-threatening. That does not mean that cancer cells are not life-threatening from the very beginning. Cancer has no proper place in the human body, but cancerous cells can likely be found in very many people who are not yet considered to be threatened by it yet. The weakness for getting cancer can even be transmitted from generation to generation, yet we do not usually say that the baby is a cancer patient just because they have a predisposition toward cancer passed on from their parents.

Sin is such a diabolical type of thing that it is difficult to clearly define, yet we must have a much clearer awareness of what it really is as well as what it is not. Because of its extremely deceptive nature sin presents itself as all sorts of things that appeal to our natural desires and needs. It promises to satisfy our heart and bring more life into our existence. It does everything to avoid detection or appear repulsive but at the same time it employs any amount of devious reasoning to fool us into believing that God is our problem and that our solution and satisfaction for life has to come from somewhere other than our Creator. When it is really exposed it will be seen that sin (and Satan who initiated it to begin with) is doing everything possible to paint God in our minds and hearts as being the one who has all the characteristics that really are the identifying elements of sin and Satan. It is no wonder we often find God so reprehensible – we are not reacting to the real God at all but are reacting to the false presentation of God by sin itself which is really the identity of the character of sin. We are continually being lied to about God and what He is like in a way that is so convincing that we sometimes see God as more reprehensible and more debased than even we ourselves are willing to be.

I could say a lot more about this part of the subject, and much more needs to be said about it to unmask the terrible lies and slander that is constantly being spread about God. But at this point I want to explore the real truth about sin. In the process along the way I will need to disarm some of the worst lies embedded in our beliefs about God that really belong to the identity of sin and its originator. I seriously doubt I will have time or space to address very much of it in this one post but I invite dialog, comments and interactive questions as I explore this.

A phrase in today's verse exposes something important about the deceptive nature of sin. “So that... sin would become utterly sinful.” The implication here is that we do not naturally believe that sin is really that bad. We are starting from a position of already being deceived by sin to some extent or another as we try to move toward seeing what it really is. In fact, many people do not believe there is any such thing as sin to start with. That too is a deception promoted by sin and its author identified in the first part of this verse, “...it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin...” The very presence of any idea that sin either does not exist or is not something totally reprehensible and destructive to us is evidence that we are already under the spell of its magical delusive powers to some extent.

The Bible with the Holy Spirit is the only completely reliable resource that is fully intent on exposing the real truth about sin as well as how we can be rescued from its vice-grip. It is God's communication to the world of not only the truth about sin but the real truth about God. However, sin has managed to distort God's words and twist them through various means to continue its all-out assault on the reputation of God. That is the core issue of the whole Great Controversy going on in the universe that we find ourselves embroiled in from the day we are conceived. Since our situation in this mess is unavoidable, all we can do is respond to the work for our Redemption accomplished by God for us and cooperate with His Spirit in transforming our minds back to a condition of reflecting our beautiful, loving Creator that we are designed for.

I will take more time to explore this question, but for now I need to fix some ruptured plumbing in the house that allows all the bath water to dump on top of the electric panel for the house. That is a kind of sin that can produce some very undesirable results if allowed to continue. Until then...

God, reveal Yourself to us today and show us more of the truth about You as well as the truth about sin. Thank-you for Your grace and Your amazing, loving plan of Redemption that You have already put into place for every one of us. Impress us with how much You value us and cherish us. Make us each an experiment of restoration that will return us to glorious reflections of Your perfect symmetry and beauty and loveliness – all for Your reputation's sake.

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