Do not share in other people’s sins and keep yourself pure (1 Tim 5:20)

The Apostle Paul knew there could be no peace, and no healthy church, where sin was allowed to go unchecked.

As we look around us, and even inside our churches, we see sin going unchecked.

Paul had seen this too.
Especially in Rome.

The believers in Rome were surrounded by all sorts of immorality, and it would surely be easy for them to look at themselves relative to their unrighteous, ungodly culture and feel pretty good about their ability to be “pretty good”.

In Romans 1:24-27, Paul describes the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

He unashamedly talks about sin that was rampant in Rome including sexual sin but he doesn’t stop there.

He goes through a long list of sins— “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless”.(Rom 1:29-31).

And if we are honest, we all see ourselves somewhere in this list.

And if we haven’t done any of those things, Paul goes on to say in verse 32, “not only those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

And with that…all of us know, at some point, we have either committed the sin ourselves or sat silently approving others who do.

No?

Have you gossiped? Have you sat and listened to gossip?

Guilty.
I’m guilty.
We are all guilty.

We are all without excuse. We all need a Savior.

And Christian listen, it is so easy to look at our culture and others around us and feel pretty good about our “pretty goodness”.

But blessed are the poor in spirit. (Not the too big for their spiritual britches!)

When Jesus sat down, and preached the Sermon on the Mount, His disciples sat closest to Him.

He begins with the words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (the humble). (Matt 5:3)

I wonder if the Savior paused, His eyes landing on His disciples as He emphasized humility.

Jesus knew those who knew Him well, who had sat so close to Him, would be tempted to be prideful and only see sin in others while ignoring and excusing it in our own lives.

Those of us who have done the Bible studies, who have mentored others, who have led the small groups and are always at church, are not immune from ignoring our own sin!

And when we ignore sin, we threaten our families, our ministries, even our very lives.

I love God and seek to be close to Him, and I don’t ever want to get “too big for my spiritual britches” or think I have things of God so figured out that I run ahead, in my own strength, ripe for attacks by the enemy.

I want to heed His loving caution! I want to diligently keep myself pure (1 Tim 5:20)

I need to daily live by faith in Him (Rom 1:17) not faith in my ability to sin less than someone else.

I don’t know about you, but I need to slow down and acknowledge Him in all my ways (Prov 3:5-6), everyday, and never think I’ve got it all figured out.

I need to daily ask Him to show me sin (Psalm 139:3-4) in my life and flee it; so nothing hinders me from running the race He has set out for me! (Heb 12:1-3)

And maybe, like me, you do too?

For the righteous shall live by faith (Heb 10:38)….no, not faith in ourselves; but faith in the only, merciful, sinless One!

May our eyes remain on our Savior! May He open our eyes to our own sin, strengthen us to turn from it, and equip us to daily follow Him! For His is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever! (Matt 6:13)

I’d highly encourage you to look up the Scriptures referenced above. There is nothing better than reading His words for yourself!

livetheWord

What a Savior!

I’ll be back in Colossians tomorrow. Follow this page or the blog at KimJaggers.com