The 'I' in Sin

In the middle of 'sin' is 'I'. This desire to please the self. Selfishness.

Amos 1-2 describes the sins of Israel and its neighbours which God was going to punish:

³ This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Damascus,
even for four, I will not turn back my wrath .
Because she threshed Gilead
with sledges having iron teeth,

⁴ I will send fire upon the house of Hazael
that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.

⁵ I will break down the gate of Damascus;
I will destroy the king who is in ^c]">[c] the Valley of Aven ^d]">[d]
and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden.
The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,"
says the LORD.

⁶ This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Gaza,
even for four, I will not turn back my wrath .
Because she took captive whole communities
and sold them to Edom,

⁷ I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza
that will consume her fortresses.

⁸ I will destroy the king ^e]">[e] of Ashdod
and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon.
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
till the last of the Philistines is dead,"
says the Sovereign LORD.

⁹ This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Tyre,
even for four, I will not turn back my wrath .
Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom,
disregarding a treaty of brotherhood,

¹⁰ I will send fire upon the walls of Tyre
that will consume her fortresses."

¹¹ This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Edom,
even for four, I will not turn back my wrath .
Because he pursued his brother with a sword,
stifling all compassion, ^f]">[f]
because his anger raged continually
and his fury flamed unchecked,

¹² I will send fire upon Teman
that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah."

¹³ This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Ammon,
even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead
in order to extend his borders,

¹⁴ I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah
that will consume her fortresses
amid war cries on the day of battle,
amid violent winds on a stormy day.

¹⁵ Her king ^g]">[g] will go into exile,
he and his officials together,"
says the LORD.

Amos 2

¹ This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Moab,
even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
Because he burned, as if to lime,
the bones of Edom's king,

² I will send fire upon Moab
that will consume the fortresses of Kerioth. ^h]">[h]
Moab will go down in great tumult
amid war cries and the blast of the trumpet.

³ I will destroy her ruler
and kill all her officials with him,"
says the LORD.

⁴ This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Judah,
even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
Because they have rejected the law of the LORD
and have not kept his decrees,
because they have been led astray by false gods, ^i]">[i]
the gods ^j]">[j] their ancestors followed,

⁵ I will send fire upon Judah
that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem."

Judgment on Israel

⁶ This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Israel,
even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
They sell the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals.

⁷ They trample on the heads of the poor
as upon the dust of the ground
and deny justice to the oppressed.
Father and son use the same girl
and so profane my holy name.

⁸ They lie down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge.
In the house of their god
they drink wine taken as fines.

⁹ "I destroyed the Amorite before them,
though he was tall as the cedars
and strong as the oaks.
I destroyed his fruit above
and his roots below.

¹⁰ "I brought you up out of Egypt,
and I led you forty years in the desert
to give you the land of the Amorites.

¹¹ I also raised up prophets from among your sons
and Nazirites from among your young men.
Is this not true, people of Israel?"
declares the LORD.

¹² "But you made the Nazirites drink wine
and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.

¹³ "Now then, I will crush you
as a cart crushes when loaded with grain.

¹⁴ The swift will not escape,
the strong will not muster their strength,
and the warrior will not save his life.

¹⁵ The archer will not stand his ground,
the fleet-footed soldier will not get away,
and the horseman will not save his life.

¹⁶ Even the bravest warriors
will flee naked on that day,"
declares the LORD.

These sins were: cruelty, oppression, condonment of slavery, stifling compassion, going back on your word, anger, treachery, grudges, intimidation, irreverence, faithlessness, disobedience to God and rebellion. Sound familiar?

Truth is, we still have the same God, who still hates this sin with the same conviction as in Amos's day. We forget that God is holy, and HATES sin just the same today as yesterday. It's time we stop regarding Jesus as Santa, and realise that He is HOLY, RIGHTEOUS and JUST. What he punished back then he will still punish now.

If we look around our world, the same sins are occurring as what God condemned through the prophet Amos. Have you noticed the increase of flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters? I would suggest that it would be of no coincidence that these are happening in the age where slavery, prostitution, lusts and greed abound.

Point is: Sin makes God angry. It hurts and upsets Him, if not saddens Him.

Why? Because it destroys our relationship with Him. It causes death. It creates a world the Creator never intended.

The only solution is for us to REPENT. Turn to Jesus and accept His salvation and grace.

Again I'll say: REPENT.

Joel 2:12-13 says:

¹² "Even now," declares the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."

¹³ Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity."

and similarly in 2 Chronicles 7:14 it says:

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

You see God does not wish destruction on us- hence why Jesus came into the world to forgive us and not to condemn us (John 3:17).

So as we turn to the Lord, let us be a generation that realises God's holiness. Let us be a generation that gives God the praise that he deserves! May we be a generation that realises we are nothing with out Him. May we be the followers He has called us to be.

Baptism

I discovered something today. Something that I'd forgotten that I had. You know the sweetness and the delight when you find a hidden treasure. What was it I found? This blog! Coincidentally, today is the day that I will be baptised!! No- it's of no coincidence what so ever, the Lord planned it and so it shall be. I'm super looking forward to the baptism, but I stress ( I think I say it so much that I will believe it) not for my glory, but all glory be unto the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The following is what I will share with those who will be listening:

"The Lord has always, gently, been guiding me. I remember as a young girl listening to my Ouma talk about Jesus and in those times I knew he was real. Then I remember one night when I was about eight, after I had been particularly horrible to my brother the Spirit convicted me, and that night I repented: I slept on the floor and I asked Jesus for his forgiveness and saving grace.

Jesus is the only way to salvation, He's not just a free ticket into heaven, but He's a person who is intimately in love with me and who journeys with me as we grow in our relationship. Fully man, yet fully God, I will never know the true cost of the shedding of His blood, which paid the wages of my sin- your sin, all so that we may share an eternal life with him.

It's always been in my heart to get baptised, but I never wanted to do it just because everyone else was. I wanted to make sure that it was because I truly loved and desired to follow the living God, the LORD Jesus. But in my procrastination, the Lord kept speaking to me. Last week as I was going for a walk, I witnessed a baptism in this very place, and it served as a reminder... Then on the Tuesday night I had a dream of my self getting baptised and I knew it was what the Lord wanted. So I told the Lord that I will call my youth pastor the next day (as it was really late in the evening.) However, as the next day came along, the cares of the world over took, and I forgot about my promise to God, until my good friend gave me a phone call and shared with me the Bible study he had just been doing- which happened to be on.. surprise? BAPTISM! Click!

I know now that the Lord desires for ALL of his followers to be baptised, in fact in the Bible they got baptised straight after their conversion!

So let this be my public confession that I believe in and I love God, the Father, Son and Spirit, who sent the Son into this world to forgive me of my sin and grant me life.
So to quote Third Day:

"I believe in God the Father
And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
Born of the virgin Mary.
Suffered under Pontius Pilot
He was crucified and dead and buried.
He descended into hell and on the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven where He sits at God's mighty right hand,
I believe that He is returning.
I believe in the Holy Spirit- who is a person,
One Holy Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins
I believe in the resurrection and I believe in
a life that never ends."

As I enter the waters of baptism, I am buried with Jesus into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, I too may live a new life.

Praise and blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ.