“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.” (Romans 6:12)
It all started out with a little thought of frustration at a friend, alongside a little bash at my pride in another situation, multiplying till my thoughts were filled with anger. Arriving home this anger was vented upon the poor hubby and baby, for no good reason except for the fact they made the volcano errupt…ever been there?
The sermon at our church this last week spoke right to my heart. Every little sin will grow naturally and organically on its own with no help from us, and therefore, we must cut them down at the first sign of an evil thought before it grows into a greater sin. It all starts with those little thoughts! Thoughts of frustration, disappointment, comparison, anxiety…noted for their commonality among wives and mothers. Create in me a clean heart of God, is my cry! (Listen to the sermon here.)
Holiness: A Heart God Purifies by Nancy Leigh DeMoss is an excellent book I have been reading through for the second time in one month! It’s that good! There is so much meat in this book to meditate upon. I have been going back and studying all the Scripture passages she references, and it has been so fruitful.
Nancy says: “Are you content to maintain a ‘certain level of sin’ in your life, as long as you can tame and manage it? Mark it down: There is no such thing as a small sin. Every unconfessed sin is a seed that will produce a multiplied harvest.” Do I take my sin too lightly?
As Charles Spurgeon warned, ‘Those who tolerate sin in what they think to be little things, will soon indulge it in greater matters.”
“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Romans 13:14).
How easy it is for us to accept sin because it is becoming more and more freely displayed around us…whether on television, movies, posters, etc. Rather than filling our minds with the truth, we have become more complacent. The Word of God commands again and again, “Make every effort…to be holy” (Heb 12:14), “For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14).
Do I desire holiness? This should naturally flow from a heart that has been called out of darkness and into the light of the knowledge of Jesus. If I am a new creature in Christ, having died to my sinful nature, and trusted in Christ for salvation, I must be actively, by God grace, putting off the old man and his desires and put on the new man who imitates Christ Jesus. Why? Jesus calls us to be holy as He is holy!
Are you willing to join with me in making it our “constant, conscious ambition and aim to be holy”? We must work at it, concentrate on it, trusting in the all-sufficiency of Christ’s mercy and redeeming love that guarantees it! He purchased our salvation to make us “holy and blameless before Him” (Eph. 1:4). It is only possible by His grace!
“The serene beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence in the world next to the power of God.” - Blaise Pascal
“Holiness means something more than the sweeping away of the old leaves of sin; it means the life of Jesus developed in us.” – Lilias Trotter
“How easy it is for us to accept sin because it is becoming more and more freely displayed around us…whether on television, movies, posters, etc.”
Have you seen the movie “Time Changer”? It addresses your above statement very well.
Wow- that is so convicting. I am constantly ignoring my sin.
Thank you for these thoughts, Lindsay. And I agree, that book is very powerful.
Excellent post—I have been there–oh yes! I listen to Charles Stanely on my Serius in the car-I always feel so much better after listening to him.
Julieann