Jason's Blog

Yesterday during our worship assembly time we were singing great songs about the holiness of God. The throne scenes in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 are pictures of grandeur and purity. Jasper, carnelian, shinning colors, and a brilliant rainbow surround God. And who am I? Who are you? We are not pure; in fact, we are stained – covered with the mark of our sin. But God in his infinite grace can make us clean.

I really like the 3-pronged definition of sin that James McClendon gives in his book Doctrine (Abingdon Press, 1994).

• Sin is Refusal
• Sin is Rupture
• Sin as Reversion

Sin is everything that denies what God would seek to do in the world (refusal). It is what tears people apart when our social life is filled with anxiety, retaliation, fear and brokenness (rupture). Sin is where we seek less than the deep loving relationships that should exist between people. Sin settles for blame, guilt, shame, self-justification, blind ignorance, and cold accusation. Sin is everything that reverses the life giving power of God (reversion). Every practice that is half-hearted that allows death to choke out what is good – this too is sin.

Scripture is relentless in telling us about the nature of sin:

“Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10).
“Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (James 4:17).
“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

Sin is truly all around us and we cannot escape it.

So yesterday as we were singing I couldn’t help but think of the  disaster in the Gulf and the waves of oil that so have marred the environment. This disaster looms large, and every day it brings more calamities, more hardship, and greater loss. This is how sin works in our lives.

And Christ is the only answer for the problem of sin. There is nothing we can do to lift or clean ourselves. Only he can make us whole and that is what He does to those who are His.

Are you His today?

A few weeks ago Zach Carsten’s shared this speech with us.  I do hope that you enjoy taking a closer look at his words:

Download (PDF, 1.01MB)

Yesterday I mentioned the Marshmallow tests done by Walter Mischel in the late 1960’s.  I hope you enjoy this reenactment [or visit YouTube].  It’s pretty funny.  Remember:  self-control is a spiritual gift!

On Sunday, I mentioned 7 ideas from 1 Peter that we can use to pursue spiritual growth (and avoid spiritual decline).  Here’s the list:

1. Prepare your mind (more literally gird up your mind) – 1 Peter 1:13
2. Be self controlled – 1 Peter 1:13
3. Don’t conform to the evil desires – 1 Peter 1:14
4. Be Holy in all you do – 1 Peter 1:15
5. Love others deeply – 1 Peter 1:22
6. Rid yourselves of malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander) – 1 Peter 2:1
7. Crave pure spiritual milk – 1 Peter 2:2

Do you believe that it is natural for Christians to grow and mature?  If so, then you will need to face the inevitable natural forces that are pushing against you.  I believe that the fallen world that we live in is trying at least as hard (if not harder) to dampen your spirit, break your will, and arrest the work of God’s spirit in your life.

You can choose to take steps to grow in grace and salvation, or you can lie dormant for weeks, or seasons, or years.  Christ can be formed in you as you take up life giving practices. The list above is by no means exhaustive.   Be intentional in some way today about growing to be like Christ.