Let me take you on a walk... the same walk I was on with Caroline last week when she said something so biblically wise and insightful, that it will forever permeate my heart. Let's start walking...Ava found some dandelions and commented on how beautiful they were, even though they were mere weeds. She picked up another strange flower and looked at it ever so intently and admiringly, only to be disappointed that it was yet another weed. Caroline looked thoughtfully over at the carefully handled weed and said, "That weed reminds me of Satan."I asked curiously, "How so?"She replied, "Because Satan takes sin and twists it to make it look beautiful. But, just like that weed will overtake the ground, sin will take over our soul. You know, he was the most beautiful angel, and he likes to trick us by making things that are ugly look beautiful."Silence... more silence... then I uttered a huge, "WOW! That is such a deep thought for a little 11 year old girl!"Caroline can be very insightful and wise beyond her years sometimes. She humbles me and God uses her to bless me in more ways than I can count.So, back to sin and weeds: How many weeds do we have overtaking our garden? How many garden destroyers have we mistaken as flowers just because they might look pretty? Satan would love none other than for us to fall for his twisting and marring of sin into something that looks enticing or harmless. It's like the balloon guy... you know the one that wears the HUGE button that says, "I WORK FOR TIPS". He takes a common balloon, and with some air (or a pump if he wants to work less for his tips) and some twisting and turning... voila! You have a crown, or a sword, or a puppy dog... but it's still just a balloon prettied up a bit.Satan takes our sins and twists and turns them into something that seems "OK"... and next thing you know, we've bought into the lie; hook, line & sinker... and our sins don't look like sins anymore... they look like: "No big deal, because everyone does it," OR "I feel fine about it, so it must be fine." OR EVEN, "God will forgive me later for it." Romans 6:1-2 declares, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? IT'S A WEED! Call it by name, pluck it out of your life and ask for God's forgiveness. Don't be fooled by Satan's craftiness... he will do his best to put his weeds of sin in the garden of your soul so that you will be overtaken. Paul continues in Romans 6:11-14 saying, "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."Praise God for being mighty to save us from the deception of the tempter! Col. 1:13-14 says: "For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.Today, I got a very timely devotional written by Charles Spurgeon which illustrates Caroline's point very well:"Sin ... exceeding sinful."
-- Romans 7:13
Beware of light thoughts of sin. At the time of conversion, the conscience is so tender, that we are afraid of the slightest sin. Young converts have a holy timidity, a godly fear lest they should offend against God.
But alas! very soon the fine bloom upon these first ripe fruits is removed by the rough handling of the surrounding world: the sensitive plant of young piety turns into a willow in after life, too pliant, too easily yielding. It is sadly true, that even a Christian may grow by degrees so callous, that the sin which once startled him does not alarm him in the least. By degrees men get familiar with sin.
The ear in which the cannon has been booming will not notice slight sounds. At first a little sin startles us; but soon we say, "Is it not a little one?" Then there comes another, larger, and then another, until by degrees we begin to regard sin as but a little ill; and then follows an unholy presumption: "We have not fallen into open sin. True, we tripped a little, but we stood upright in the main. We may have uttered one unholy word, but as for the most of our conversation, it has been consistent."
So we palliate sin; we throw a cloak over it; we call it by dainty names. Christian, beware how thou thinkest lightly of sin. Take heed lest thou fall by little and little.
Sin, a little thing? Is it not a poison? Who knows its deadliness?
Sin, a little thing? Do not the little foxes spoil the grapes? Doth not the tiny coral insect build a rock which wrecks a navy? Do not little strokes fell lofty oaks? Will not continual droppings wear away stones?
Sin, a little thing? It girded the Redeemer's head with thorns, and pierced his heart! It made him suffer anguish, bitterness, and woe.
Could you weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent, and abhor the least appearance of evil. Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Saviour, and you will see it to be "exceeding sinful."
Have a blessed, and weed-free day!
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