God's word in today's world

The wages of sin …


We got to know Paul as someone who didn’t mince his words. Again and again in his letters he said it straight-out: Change or burn. You come up against these words again and again.

Here at the end of the second letter to the Corinthians Paul still didn’t mince his words: 3Now, preparing for the third, I’m saying it again from a distance. If you haven’t changed your ways by the time I get there, look out.

Take that! Change or burn.

I tell myself Paul is not talking to me. I know I have a place in heaven. Why should I be wondering about burning? I have changed.

But we shouldn’t allow that thought to put us at ease. Without us realising it, and very easily, wrong things enter our lives and make themselves at home. Christians mostly do not choose consciously to do wrong. But without realising it, we start doing things in the grey areas of life and sin quietly creeps in.

Immediately I hear people respond by saying that Jesus had died on the cross for our sin and that we no longer have to accept punishment for sin. Yes, that’s true. But Jesus’ death on the cross does not give us permission to do what we want to. On the contrary! If we really understand what Jesus had done for us on the cross, we cannot do anything but those things that are according to God’s will.

We must ensure that sin is not hiding somewhere in our lives. We must ask the Holy Spirit of God to help us to sniff it out and to help us not fall into the same trap again.

But more than that – we should also help others and talk to them if we see that they are not living within the will of God. Like Paul, we should not be afraid to show others that they are doing wrong. Be sensitive to the Spirit so that the Spirit can show you where you should intervene in someone’s life. In the lives of our children, the lives of our spouse, and maybe the rest of the family as well. Maybe also in the lives of our friends and colleagues. Maybe God wants to use you to help them to change their lives.

We must try to keep our way clean. We must help others do it too. May we work together and ensure that the devil does not get a foothold in our lives.

2 Corinthians 13:1-10

Reflection

Are there places in your life that are not clean?

How will you get rid of the dirt?

Who do you have to help see the dirt?

 

Prayer

Lord, it is outside Your will to sin repeatedly. Help! Please help us be obedient when your Holy Spirit shows us that we are busy with the wrong things. And please give us the courage to help one another. Amen

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