Tag: sin

Ananias and Sapphira

Reflections based on Acts 5:1-11.

While this is a very different passage, I feel this follows on well from last week’s look at corporate holiness (1 Peter 2:4-10). In Acts 4 it says that the believers shared their possessions and made sure no one was in need. This is a fantastic picture of unity. And yet, even amongst the infant Church, there was a couple who chose to hold back and lie. Their story seems reminiscent of what happened to Aaron’s sons and I think it challenges us not to think of God’s holiness too lightly now we are post-Old Testament sacrifices.

In his book on holiness, John White raises the whole issue of God still being dangerous post-the cross: ‘It is quite true that God’s love is the most self-giving love. It has redeemed us and has already imparted to us a sanctification and a righteousness that could never be won by law. But we cannot take it for granted. Our souls may be saved, but our physical lives can be endangered if we grow careless about the holiness of divine things.’

I think that is what was happening here. Ananias and Sapphira were punished not because they chose to hold back some money for themselves – their land and their offering were their own to decide what to do with – but due to the lying and taking for granted that it wouldn’t matter. They revealed hearts that had a real lack of respect for the truth and being honest with God and His people. Note how the rest of the church responded: ‘Great fear seized the whole church’ (v11). They had a sudden reminder that God is holy and does not treat sin lightly. I wonder whether today’s church could do with a similar reminder …

Prayer: Lord, so often we treat Your holiness too lightly. You cannot entertain sin; help us individually and corporately to remember that. Amen.

Living the life already won

Reflections based on Romans 6:1–23.

Having taken a break over the Easter school holiday, it seems quite fitting that our first weekly devotional since celebrating Jesus’ victory over sin and death on Easter Sunday is all about us stepping into the life He won for us…

Paul starts our passage with a rhetorical question (‘Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?’) – but answers it quickly with a resounding ‘no’! If we continue to sin once we accept the gospel we are belittling both the seriousness of sin and the way that God dealt with it. The language used talks of us once being slaves to sin, but now slaves to God. We can find this language difficult but Paul is using the term ‘slave’ to underline the fact that we’ve been bought at a price (see v19 for his explanation). The paradox is that becoming slaves to God is the only way to true freedom.

The problem is, we all continue to sin – why? Often we struggle with sin because we don’t fully understand what Jesus did for us. He took us from one kingdom and made us alive in His. We don’t have to be enslaved to our old sinful nature. The battle can often be in our thinking. Jesus has already killed sin, but we are told in verse 11 to ‘count yourselves dead to sin’. We need to take hold of this. Sometimes that means practically taking hold of the thoughts in our heads (see Romans 12:2) that lead to sin and replacing them with biblical truth. 

Jerry Bridges, in his book The Pursuit of Holiness, explains: ‘It is our habit to live for ourselves and not for God. When we become Christians, we do not drop all this overnight. In fact, we will spend the rest of our lives putting off these habits and putting on habits of holiness’ (NavPress Publishing Group, 2003). It takes time and effort to change habits – but the key is in understanding that we are now in Christ. As Kevin de Young says, ‘The pursuit of holiness is…the fight to live out the life that has already been made alive in Christ’ (The Hole in our Holiness, Crossway, 2007).

Prayer: Lord, I can see that there is no need for me to give in to sin any longer, but that I need to cultivate habits in order to make right choices. Help me to start that today. Amen.


Five reasons why we need to repent more

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The words ‘sin’ and ‘repentance’ seem somewhat old-fashioned don’t they? I’m often told to change them when I’m editing Bible study notes, as people don’t relate to such terminology these days.

It is true that sin and repentance are concepts that seem to go against the grain. Our individualistic society feeds off the thought that ‘I’ should focus on myself – and that ‘truth’ is simply what I believe and how dare anyone challenge that. But that smacks of a hardness of heart – whereas we are called to be softened and malleable in God’s hands.

God has been talking to me a lot recently about how vital our need to say sorry is. I’ve come to realise that repentance actually holds the key to unlocking so much freedom within us as Christians.

We need to say sorry both to God and to others. We need to have the grace to allow others to say sorry to us and forgive when necessary.

It is true that, as Elton John says, ‘sorry seems to be the hardest word’. However, here are five compelling reasons to put in the effort.

1. It reveals a humble, honest heart.

God wants us to be humble enough to acknowledge when we are in the wrong, rather than trying to cover it up. When we come to Him with honesty it shows integrity; we aren’t trying to pretend we are better than we are. Saying sorry and asking for forgiveness demonstrates our continued need of a Saviour. We can’t do everything in our own strength – repenting when we trip up shows that we recognise this and are leaning on God.

I love spending time in the psalms – David is one of my biblical heroes. So much strength, wisdom, depth of feeling and a worshipful heart, and yet he wasn’t perfect. He stooped to an all-time low in his episode of covering up his sin with Bathsheba, but, when the prophet Nathan confronted David his immediate response was ‘I have sinned against God’, and he wrote Psalm 51 to God soon after. Here’s a snippet:

Have mercy on me, O God,

 according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

 blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity

 and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,

 and my sin is always before me…

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

 wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

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