By Titto Thomas
Sin. What makes sin so dangerous? What makes it so destructive? Why is it lethal? It causes you to run away from God. Not only is sin direct disobedience of the Lord God Almighty, but it gives the after effect of causing you to move away from God, the very (and only) presence that seeks to (and can) help you in the state that you are in.
After you have sinned, there is only one place where you can find help; only one Person who can deal with the mess that you are in – and that Person is GOD. Deception comes up and tells you, “Run away…run away”. And then you reason, ‘I want to go back to God, but let me get myself right before I go’. This very pattern takes place in Genesis after Adam and Eve sinned and continues throughout the entire Bible. The issue here is a self-consciousness that makes you want to get right with God, but without His help.
THE CALL
And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.” (I Samuel 12:20-21)
We see this beckoning of God so clearly here. He is telling the people, “yes you have sinned, but please don’t turn away, come back to me. Turn back to me”. This is the cry of God’s heart. As a young Christian I remember going through sin, feeling condemned, asking forgiveness, feeling condemned, sinning again, and going through the same ritual over and over, pretty religiously! Imagine a small boy in the supermarket, who, while looking over the china section, accidentally knocks over an expensive vase. There is only one way that the kid can go – the safe hands of his father. But somehow something instigates him to run in the opposite direction. Sin works in the same way. There is only one refuge, one umbrella of safety and shelter – and that is in the safety of His hands. And there is a call – A call of love from God that says – “Come back my child, come back to the safety of my arms”. It is here that you will find help from anything that seeks to destroy you.
COMING TO THE LORD
There was a time in your life when you initially came to Him. But the call to God is a constant and progressive one; we are called to run to Him constantly. And just like the initial response, it has two parts to it – repentance and belief. To repent is to turn back – to turn away from your sin. Now it is easy to think that a turning back is all that is needed, but the Bible also calls for you to embrace Him. Not only to turn towards God but to embrace Him - to cleave to Him. Cleave to what He has spoken through scriptures. An embrace with an attitude that says – “Lord, where else can I go?”
A DEEPER SURRENDER
How often do we fool ourselves into thinking that we have repented! We think that repentance is some kind of formula, some methodology that can be learned in 5 minutes. But it does not work that way! The first step in repentance is surrendering. But sometimes our surrender is not deep enough. Sometimes we hold on to things, quite firmly! The question I want to ask you is this – How deep is your surrender? Is it superficial, or is there a prostration before God that translates into a desire to let go of anything, to let go of everything and run back to God? I feel that sometimes we run from God and even in the midst of His beckoning we are not willing to let go of that which binds us. There is no other way but to surrender to Him. And again I ask you – How deep is your surrender? The heart of surrender is bigger than the words of surrender.
GOD AT WORK
There is another portion of scripture in II Samuel where we see God’s heart revealed, which I find very exciting. It declares: “Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him” (II Samuel 14:14)
What a verse! Here is God calling man to come back to Him. This call of God is not just a simple voice, but rather a real work to bring a man back to Himself – even when we must die for the sins we have committed, when we have absolutely no way to come back to God – He is making a way! And the question again is – Will you respond? Will you turn back and believe that God can save you completely, no matter what state you are in?
Have you been trying and trying to walk and been failing miserably? However bad you think you are, or no matter how bad you think you have messed up, and however far away from God you think you have gone, God’s hand is outstretched towards you. You can never be too bad for God, because the sacrifice on the cross was too great…too comprehensive. Jesus paid the price and so now you can come – come confidently into the very presence of God where you can meet with Him and be changed completely. I don’t know what you need today – perhaps a reassuring hug, or a tap of encouragement, or perhaps a smile that says ‘keep going’. No matter what it is, come, and God will always respond to you. Come into His Presence. Hear Him calling “Come back my child!”
Sin. What makes sin so dangerous? What makes it so destructive? Even the world is in it’s present state because of man’s sin. And this is what makes it so lethal – It causes you to run away from God. Not only is it a disobedience to the Lord God almighty, it has the after effect of causing you to move away from God, the very (only) presence that seeks to (can) help you in the state that you are in.
After you have sinned, there is only one place where you can find help, only one person who can deal with the mess that you are in, and that person is GOD. Deception comes up and tells you, Run away…Run away. You reason, ‘I want to go back to God but let me get myself right before I go’. We see this happening in Genesis after Adam and eve sinned and this is the reaction that is given throughout the bible. A self consciousness that makes you want to get right with God, without His help.
THE CALL
And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. (I Samuel 12:20-21)
We see this beckoning of God so clearly here. He is telling the people, yes you have sinned, but please don’t turn away, come back to me. Turn back to me. This is the cry of God’s heart. As a young Christian I remember going through the sin, feeling condemned, asking forgiveness, feeling condemned, sinning again and going through the same ritual again, pretty religiously! Imagine a small boy in the supermarket, who, while looking over the china section, accidentally knocks over an expensive vase. There is only one way that the kid can go- the safe hands of his father. But somehow something instigates him to run in the opposite direction. Sin works in the same way. There is only one refuge, one umbrella of safety and shelter and that is in the safety of His hands. And there is a call – A call of love from God that says- Come back my child, come back to the safety of my arms. It is here that you will find help from anything that seeks to destroy you.
COMING TO THE LORD
There was a time in your life when you initially came to Him. But the call to God is a constant one, we are called to run to Him constantly. And just like the initial response, it has two parts to it – Repent and believe. To repent is to turn back , turn back from anything that has captured your attention, turning back from things that you are so engrossed in, turning back from your way of thinking basically. Now it is easy to think that a turning back is all that is needed, but the bible calls for you to embrace him. Not only turn towards God but to embrace Him…cleave to Him. Cleave to what He has spoken through scriptures. An embrace with an attitude that says- Lord, where else can I go?
A DEEPER SURRENDER
How often we often fool ourselves and think that we have repented, we think repentance is some formula, some methodology that can be learnt in 5 minutes. But it does not work that way. The first step to repentance is a surrender and many a time this surrender is not deep enough. We are holding onto things, quite firmly and the question I want to ask you is this- How deep is your surrender? Is it superficial or is there a prostration before God that translates into a desire to let go of anything…everything and to run back to God. I feel we have run away and clung on to poles and even in the midst of his beckoning we are not willing to let go of our poles. My dear, there is no other way but to surrender to Him. And again I ask you – How deep is your surrender? And remember this – The heart of surrender is bigger than the words of surrender.
GOD AT WORK
There is another portion of scripture in II Samuel where we see God’s heart revealed, which has really excited me and it declares “Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him” (II Samuel 14:14)
What a verse! Here is God sitting and plotting how to get a man back to Him. This call of God is not just a simple voice but a real work to bring a man back to Himself – even when we must die for the sins we have committed, when we have absolutely no way to come back to God- He is making a way. And the question again is – Will you respond? Turn back and believe that God can save you completely, no matter what state you are in.
Have you been trying and trying to walk and failing miserably? How ever bad you think you are or no matter how bad you think you have blown it and how ever far away from God you think you have gone, God’s hand is outstretched towards you. You can never be too bad for God, because the sacrifice on the cross was too great…too comprehensive. Jesus paid the price and so now you can come,- come confidently into the very presence of God where you can meet with Him and be changed completely. I don’t know what you need today – perhaps a reassuring hug, or a tap of encouragement or perhaps a smile- that says keep going. No matter what it is, come, and God always responds to you. Come into His Presence. Hear Him calling ‘Come back my child’.
In my bible, on the side of I Samuel 12:21, I have written in RED – REMEMBER WHEN YOU SIN. I remember this verse even when I am down. Every time I feel I am away from God – I remind myself – I need to take a conscious effort to run back to Him. To Him alone.
This message is such a blessing! I have come to a realization from my life experiences that “you cannot work your guilt off”. Only His embrace can wipe off that feeling of guilt. Thank you, Jesus!
I too have sinned, felt condemned, return and on and on. It was then that I discovered to go to the Lord as soon as possible, and as Jolly Ann Says, His embrace wipes off that feeling of guilt!
This post is perfect, just at the right timing. May all those who read this come to Lord, repent of their sin, and begin the new year in Him.
Thank you Titto… beautifully written. Isn’t God absolutely amazing, and so ‘other’ than us. When my sin increases His grace just gets bigger and bigger! And it’s those ‘little’ things from others that reassure, like a hug or a smile that can make all the difference, are so important. Blessings to you
@ Jolly : So true, only God can deal with guilt because He has paid the price for it on the cross.
@ Yvette : Blessed to hear that. Amen- Let us be people who run to Him constantly and are touched in a way that we never stay the same again.
@Mike : Thank you Mike and yes He responds to us always when we draw near because only HE can help us. We think we need to be right before we can go- but we need to go to Him to GET RIGHT!!!