The Devil Made Me Do It!

But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led
astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.   2 Cor. 11: 3

It's who Eve blamed. He is the great deciever, the father of lies, author of all sin, prince of the power of the air; the names go on and on. He is right there to tempt and make sin look
like an option when it simply is never a good one. 

As I mentioned yesterday, he is often thought of in these times as an afterthought, someone
who really isn't a big deal any more. I had a friend tell me that he felt that 'Satan got a bad rap.' People really don't want to acknowledge his power and his relentless efforts to rest
souls from the path of righteousness, even after it is known that he has been defeated by
the glorious Resurrection of Christ Jesus. His time is limited and he knows it. Yet, he seems
determined to go out swinging and he's swinging at each of us with reckless abandon.

I've used the expression in the title before. Usually it feels somehow a relief to 'blame'
a sinful moment on someone else. Surely it wasn't I who made the choice to do evil, I
must have been duped. Well, not so much. God presented us with a dubious gift when He
gave us free will. We are born with a conscience, knowing right from evil, and we are
totally responsible for each decision we make that leads to sinful behavior. We can blame
it away; yet, we really know that we can stop sinning if it is in our hearts to do so. Easy?
No. Will we be unsuccessful? You betcha. So where does that leave us?

It leaves us with the challenge of calling upon all the help we can muster. The Holy
Spirit within us will gladly draw our attention to slip ups. Prayer before making decisions
is a mighty tool. We need the armor of God upon us because in the end, without the
power of Jesus, we will stray; it's in our nature.

So the devil did not make me do it! I made me do it. First I need to admit this and
give up excuses. I need to strive with all my heart to avoid re-crucifying and adding
sins onto the precious back of glorious Jesus. He died for me to remove my sin account; I need to ever show my appreciation by honoring Him with my best!

Praise God!

You can run, but.......

Proverbs 15:3 - The eyes of the LORD [are] in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

I have read that the definition that a sociopath is a person who does not know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. I am not buying that definition! We, all of us, are born in the image of God. This implies the existence of at least a rudimentary conscience that does know the difference, even from childhood, of right and wrong.

So, and I am talking here about myself, too, we can try to sweep our sinful nature under
the rug, we can hide it in the closet, we can camouflage it with good deeds, we can even
try to convince our sinful selves that something isn't a sin....yet, if God counts the hairs
on our heads, knows our every tear, understands what we want and need even before
we seek it...how can we REALLY think that He doesn't see our sin before it rears its
ugly head?

That creates a big dilemma! The fact is that we will continue to sin even after becoming
one who loves Jesus and asks for His grace and salvation. That's a real kick in the pants!
Try as we might, and I believe we honestly do want to please and honor Jesus, sin just
refuses to go away. Blame it on Eve, on the devil, on temptation....it's always a battle to
avoid that fight it.

So what can be done?

Well, the Holy Spirit helps us by convicting us when we sin. You have felt it...it's more than
guilt. You give in and 'wham!' you immediately know that you have lost a battle, disappointed yourself and added another sin to the back of Jesus as He hangs on that
tree. Nasty stuff, that!

We can immediately repent and ask God, who already knows about the sin, to forgive
us as we try to turn away from the sinful act, idea, thought... the list goes on! Giving our
direct plea for forgiveness is what we are told we must do as fist step in sin removal.

Just the knowledge that God has, from before the beginning of time, prepared a
way for us to escape His wrath by substituting Jesus, a perfect lamb, for us through
His sacrifice upon the cross, has to give us confidence that we can strive to be thankful
by challenging our sin as a way of thanking God's grace.

Even the apostle of the gentiles, Paul, admitted that he fought the fight and still came
up short. The key is that he fought, battled and strove to eliminate as much sin as
possible with the help of God.

Praise to God always and forever! May we live each day battling the sin that corrupts
us!