Oh brother…
Miss New Jersey: “They were meant to be private.”
Because if I was female, and I had pictures of my boyfriend biting me in places that shouldn’t be mentioned, I’d TOTALLY think the internet was the best place to keep something private…
Miss New Jersey: “They were meant to be private.”
Because if I was female, and I had pictures of my boyfriend biting me in places that shouldn’t be mentioned, I’d TOTALLY think the internet was the best place to keep something private…
John 5:1-14
I have recently been going through and reading the book of John, and this passage of scripture stuck out at me. In it, we see Jesus make the lame man walk. What struck me here is what Jesus says to the man later, in verse 14, where Jesus said “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.”
What stood out about this was the fact that Jesus discussed sin. One thing I don’t think we hear a lot about in the modern church is sin. Some televangelists don’t even preach about it anymore, and when you really think about it, it’s sad. Without sin, salvation loses its meaning, and Christ’s sacrafice wouldn’t make sense to us as Christians.
Christ didn’t avoid the topic of sin; In fact, in the New Testament, Christ makes reference to sin 11 times, 10 of them in the book of John. In John 8:11, he tells the woman caught in adultery, “Go, and sin no more.” in John 8:34, he says “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.”
It wasn’t just Christ’s refernce to sin that caught my eye, however, for after he told the man to sin no more, there were seven words following: “Lest a worse thing come unto thee.”
We’re left to ponder what that man’s sin might have been, unlike the woman caught in adultery, there’s really nothing to give us insight on what sin he might have comitted. Maybe it was more a warning, to guard his heart from sins future. The Bible doesn’t make it clear. What it does make clear is Christ’s admonishment to sin no more.
The doctrine of grace has been over the years debated by many, more qualified individuals than myself, but there’s something to be learned here. A lot of people have warped grace, using it as carte blanche to do what they want, and expecting no repercussions. But given Jesus’ warning at the end of verse 14, it hardly seems so. Paul wrote in Romans 6:1-2, ”What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”
Additionally in Romans 1:18, Paul writes “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”, which seems to tie directly in to Christ’s warning to the lame man. Ultimately, Paul is saying, if you think you’re going to sin and get away with it, you’re only fooling yourself.
This is not to say that sinning will cost one their salvation; that much is assured. But being saved from an eternity in hell doesn’t mean you’re also saved from what trials may come from the actions you take that are contrary to God. Generally, when a trial comes up in my life, my first thought tends to be, “What am I doing wrong?” And you know what? More often than not, I can think back to that one thing that I probably shouldn’t have done but stubbornly decided to do anyway. And then I’m reminded of Hebrews 12:6: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”
Christ died for our sins, sins that, at the time, we hadn’t even committed yet. And he already knows which ones we will and won’t commit. None of us is perfect, we all have sinned and fall short the glory of God. Simply because we fall short, though, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for God’s best in our life anyway.
…but on my first round of testing at my PST 101 class, I DID shoot a near-perfect 59 out of 60 my first try!
Of course, I then shot in the following three rounds a 58, 57, and 56. So much for the elusive 60…