Morning By Morning #71

Sin might become utterly sinful.

Romans 7:13

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

Beware of winking at sin or thinking too lightly of it. When we are first converted our conscience is so tender we are afraid of ignoring even the slightest sin. Young converts have a holy timidity or godly fear of offending the Lord. Unfortunately, the delicate blossom on this newly ripe fruit very soon falls off due to the rough handling of the surrounding world; the tender new plant of true devotion quickly turns into a willow that is too easily influenced.

Yes, sadly it is true that even a strong Christian may gradually become callous, where the sin that once alarmed him doesn’t bother him in the least anymore. We become familiar with sin degree by degree until we come to the point of being like someone who has been exposed to the booming noise of a cannon so long he no longer even notices soft sounds. At first a little sin startles us, but soon we say, “Oh, it’s just a little one.” Then a larger sin comes along, followed by another, until by degrees we begin to think of them as only a minor problem. Soon our minds are filled with this unholy thinking: “True, we may have tripped a little and fallen into a little sin, but for the most part we’ve been righteous. We may have said one sinful word, but most of our conversation has been consistent with that of a Christian.” Thus, we begin to gloss over our sin, throwing a coat over it to conceal it, and calling it cute and clever names.

Dear Christian, beware of taking sin too lightly. “Be careful that you don’t fall” (1 Cor. 10:12) little by little. Sin? A little thing? Isn’t it a poison? Who knows its deadliness? Sin? A little thing? Don’t even “the little foxes…ruin the vineyards” (Song 2:15)? Doesn’t the tiny coral ultimately build such a large rock it can shipwreck a navy? Don’t small but steady strokes finally fell lofty oaks? Won’t a slow but continual dripping of water ultimately erode huge rocks?

Sin? A little thing? It crowned the Redeemer’s head with thorns and pierced His heart! It was the very reason He suffered anguish, heartbreak, and affliction. If you could measure even the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would flee from it as though it were a serpent and would abhor even the slightest appearance of evil.

Look at each and every sin as having crucified your Savior, and you will see sin as “utterly sinful.”

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

No one likes to blush, but if nothing ever causes you to blush, you may have seared your conscience by thinking too lightly of your “little” sins. Jeremiah warned the people of his day, saying, “You have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame” (Jer. 3:3). Later he delivered this message of the Lord: “Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them” (Jer. 6:15).

Instead of becoming cold and hard, may we once again learn to blush. May our prayer today be in agreement with that of Ezra, who prayed:

“0 my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens” (Ezra 9:6 KJV).