How Much Sin Can a Christian Get Away With?
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It’s a common question in the church.
Perhaps many do not ask it out loud, but certainly many wonder in their heart:
How sin can a Christian get away with and still go to heaven? How much sin can a Christian get away with before their relationship with God is strained or broken?
It was a wonderful setting at an equestrian retreat center.
A few dozen men had gathered for a weekend of spiritual renewal. I was privileged to be the morning speaker. On the table before the men were glasses of orange juice for each one.
I invited them to enjoy a glass of refreshment.
No one responded.
I encouraged them to come. No one!
The reason? Each one of the glasses had a bit of horse manure; some quite a large piece others barely visible. I picked up one of the glasses where the horse pucky was barely visible and urged someone to drink.
“You can’t even see the stuff. It won’t hurt you.”
No takers.
“Why,” I asked?
“You will go to the movie next weekend and drink your fill of violence, nudity and F-bombs. And enjoy it. You will even tell others how much you enjoyed drinking the pleasure filled with the world’s horse manure. But, won’t dare take a drink of this orange juice filled with the same stuff?”
This explains why the Church is powerless and has become more like this hedonistic culture.
“It’s not the same,” they protested.
Oh, but it is.
That with which we fill our mind will either conform us to the world’s trends, fads and ideology or it transform us into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul instructed the believers, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2 NKJV).
How Much Sin Can a Christian Get Away With?
The mind is the ideology, philosophy, reasoning, thought patterns, and world view by which we live our life. It is the stuff that shapes our behavior patterns; our defense mechanisms; the systems by which we handle adversity, trials and tragedy.
These things are shaped in us by our family and friends from our earliest days. They continue to be shaped in us through education, childhood experiences and dealing with the circumstances of life.
When a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they have inside them the “old man” or the “old woman.”
That is the mind by which they lived before they came to Christ.
The disciple of Jesus is commanded to renew their mind so they can live their life in a way that will exemplify “the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.”
That is why the Apostle Paul said, “Don’t be conformed (shaped in the pattern, fashion or trend) to this world but be transformed (metamorphosis – that which changes a wooly worm into a monarch) by the renewing of your mind.
The believer that chooses to fill their mind with the stuff that grieves the Holy Spirit and with those things which God said He hates is drinking pollution.
They will be weak in Spirit, double minded and inconsistent in their spiritual walk.
How much violence; how many cuss words; how much nudity is too much?
God said, “These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:16-19 NKJV).
This explains why the Church so powerless and has become more and more like this hedonistic culture.
This is why our Sunday worship celebrations have become more entertainment oriented and have little conviction and power to transform lives.
Those who come to worship and sing how much they love the Lord and adore Him were filling their minds and emotions with the very stuff the Lord hates just the night before.
Maybe they have been doing so all week long.
While at the same time they have been filling their minds with those things which the Lord hates, they have spent very little time or maybe no time reading the Word of God, meditating on the Word, and in prayer.
How much violence; how many cuss words; how much nudity is too much?
How much poison is too much?
How much will it take to kill you?
Do you really want to drink it and find out?
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How Much Sin Can a Christian Get Away With?
Oh, my! DId you really do the manure/orange juice? LOL! But, yes, that is exactly the point! We must be as pure with our spiritual food and drink as we are with our physical food. Love it!
Yes, I really did! It’s a great illustration to help people connect the filth of sin and what happens when we allow it into our hearts.