It's like when you have a cold. How do you know you have a cold? You have a headache, your eyes water, your nose runs and you feel like death warmed over. But is the headache the cold? Is your runny nose a cold? No, those are the symptoms.
So what is sin? Lying, cheating, stealing, coveting, idol worship, murder. No one of these items are the actual definition of sin. They are all symptoms, just like the runny nose. So if lying isn't a definition of sin and neither is idol worship, then what is the definition?
Sin is- get this - enslavement. Anything that enslaves, is sin. Ok, now stop, before you start calling me crazy. Think about this.
When Jesus was talking about His being here at all, do you remember what He said? "I come to set you free." What do you suppose He was talking about?
In sin, we are enslaved and must be set free. God hates slavery of any sort. You can see His attitude about it, by the story of Moses.
A few years ago, the Lord showed me this reality and it so set my mind free. Truly, the U.S. was God's will and His hearts desire, has been demonstrated in our history. Slavery existed and was abolished. Enslavement, simply by prejudice has been stomped on. The whole attitude of the U.S. citizens is that of freedom and there is a hatred of anything that enslaves. That's exactly how God feels about it.
One of the main reasons for the creation of man, was the expression of freedom that could be had, no other way. In all of heaven, freedom cannot be accomplished or won. One must experience and understand slavery, before one can experience and fully understand freedom.
Now let's go to those individual symptoms. Any one, will do. Thievery. What happens to you, when you steal? First, let's not forget the law of restitution. It is a universal law, set into motion, at the foundation of this world, just like the law of gravity. It's just as real and just as ever lasting. It is the author of 'what goes around, comes around'.
You cannot get away from the law of restitution, I don't care what anybody says. The backlash, is not God's punishment, it is the law we set upon ourselves. We pulled the trigger.
No matter how the outcome plays out, there is enslavement involved. Any 'sin' enslaves the 'sinner'. Tell a lie, and see what happens. Am I right?
Does covetousness, add to your life or does it wind up enslaving you? How about lust? Can you think of any sin symptom that does not, eventually if not immediately, enslave the sinner?
So you see, it's not the sin that God hates, it's what that act brings upon His children. Slavery. He didn't create us for slavery, He created us for freedom. So for us to fall into the pitfalls of sin, enslaving ourselves, is to pervert God's intent for mankind.
It's so foolish, for a non-believer, refusing to meet Jesus, saying 'I'll have to give up my happiness', to run from the only thing that can set him free. While he may see his drinking and carousing as fun, drinking kills the liver-gives you a hangover-pretty much wastes time and that carousing may just wind up paying back with some horrible disease. How is that freedom?
You can go into the Old Testament, and read God's instructions to His people and see, just as clear as day, His instructions to remain free. Sickness enslaves. Sin is enslavement. Fear is enslavement. Anything and everything that is not of God, enslaves.
Something for you to ponder. Don't steal because it will hurt YOU. Don't hate because it will hurt YOU. Don't lie because it will hurt YOU. Don't covet because it will hurt YOU. Don't worship the wrong god because it will hurt YOU. Every 'Do Not', is simply keeping you from stepping into a snare and keeping you from harm. That's all. That's IT. Plain and simple.
God is not a dictator, He is a Father. Don't pet the Black Widow. Don't play with that Rattle snake. Stay away from the cesspool. Don't eat that Poison Ivy. Is that dictatorship?
So you say, "How come God can tell us not to drink booze, when He created everything and it wouldn't be here, if not for Him". Whiskey is great on wounds. It not only sterilizes, it numbs. It's also pretty great when you're in pain. Drink the stuff. But to drink it, just to get a buzz on, is to set yourself up for others to take advantage of you, and most likely a horrible headache in the morning.
Drugs? God gave them to us. What do you think Solomon's garden, was all about. The difference, of course, was that Solomon was the pharmacist. The drugs from plants and flowers, had medicinal purposes. It's when man abuses those drugs, we get into trouble.
Glutony of any kind, kills man. Drugs can kill you, booze can kill you, food can kill you. It all depends on how you use it. In a sinful way (enslavement) or as God intented, medicinal and nutrition.
So it all boils down to this - what will harm you, what will enslave you. Stay away from those things. Pretty simple and pretty easy to swallow. Don't you think?
Be happy, be free.
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