Deceitful Hearts: Sin Is Never Trivial

We are never to wink at sin or see our sins as a trivial matter. Jesus went to the cross for each one. All sin breaks relationship with Him as well and sets us on a trackless waste going nowhere fast. Believers are to do our best to avoid any pretense of it. It is not our friend. Indeed, Scripture tells us to put to death – destroy by all means possible – whatever belongs to our sinful nature. This takes an act of the will. And God takes this seriously. Our sins caused His Son to die and He never winks at it as if it is cute or have a “boys will be boys” or “girls will be girls” mentality regarding it. His desire is for us to rid – put to death – all sin in our lives and this is done one by one as He faithfully brings them to light. We never get there either until we are home with the Lord. It is a battle we will deal with our entire lives. Many times the same one – over and over again, ask me how I know.

We need to get our eyes off our sins and onto the Lord Jesus, Who modeled how He desires for His brothers and sisters to live. Not only that, but gave us the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in that wonderful way. Flesh is not consistently capable. It will fail us every time if we are merely depending upon it. Selfish ambitions, vain conceits and all else cause us to fall. We must depend upon the Holy Spirit to empower us to walk in a manner worthy of our Lord and we cannot go forward until we recognize the evil lying within our own hearts. And, as the Prophet Jeremiah writes in Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NIV): “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ‘I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.’” 

Jesus wants our hearts and for us to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Him. This is taking hold of the life that is truly life and one without regrets. We need to be discerners of what defeated us in the past and flee from it as Joseph fled from Potiphar’s wife. It is good for us to know our own weaknesses and bolster ourselves against them. The enemy and the flesh are very good at seeing what is unguarded in our lives and generally that is their occasion to gain advantage. Never lower your guard against sin. It is an insidious monster taking control before we know it. You don’t go to the bakery if you are trying to lose weight. We are to be sensible and knowledgeable people regarding our own weaknesses. This is always for our best interest. And any success against sin strengthens us for further temptations.