Brother Michael's Devotional

"There is a sin unto death." I John 5:16

We make much of the grace of God and that is how it should be. But there is a danger in emphasizing the grace of God to the exclusion of the judgment of God. We learn from the Bible in I John 4:8 "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." We also learn from John 3:17 that "...God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." So the Word of God most certainly declares God's love toward humanity and His all sufficient grace.

But not only is God a God of love and mercy, but He is also a God of holiness and justice. There is a danger for a child of God who dwells overly long on the grace of God and yet never contemplates His vast Holiness in thinking of God as some old sentimental man winking at the sins of his children. Friend, God will not tolerate his children living in sin. We have the the nation of Israel as an example in the Old Testament. Time after time they would dabble in sin and time after time God would send his judgement. Now God is no respecter of persons. If He would not condone sin committed by the Old Testament saints He will not let you and I get by with playing with sin.

So you and I must be on guard against the deceitfulness of sin and here in lies the great danger of sin. The more you dabble in sin, the harder it becomes to resist and the easier it becomes to sin again up until the point God must move in judgement against us. It is similar to a cow in a fenced in pasture. Once the cow discovers it can jump the fence, it becomes nearly impossible to keep him in. So the farmer, to prevent the cow from jumping out and destroying his crops, is forced to tie a stick around the cow's neck. Once the cow attempts to jump the fence again, the stick will get caught on the fence and break the cow's neck.

But we do not have to end up like our proverbial cow. If we will judge sin in our own lives God will not have to move in in judgement against us. Let us now seriously deal with sin in our lives and turn toward God the giver of true holiness.

"For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." I Corinthians 11:31-32