Scripture
For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
~Romans 7:22, NKJV
Quote
The devil loves sin. It is his nature to take pleasure in sin and in tempting others to sin.
~Martyn Lloyd Jones
How simple is the quote above? I don’t think any true believer will take issue with it–the devil delights in sin and rebellion. In Romans seven, Paul confesses for all believers, For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Paul also says in verse 15, For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. If you can’t identify with Paul’s dilemma, I question your salvation. Paul loved the word of God. Paul loved the law. He didn’t have a problem with loving the law, his problem was keeping it. Paul’s delight was to please God. If we were to asks Paul first thing in the morning, “Paul, what would you like to do today?” He would say, “I’d like to please God.” The devil has no desire to please God and he hates the law, the word, the Bible.
So, if you love the word of God and your deepest desire is to please Him, this is the greatest proof that you are a child of God and that you have been born again. You may not be able to pin point the exact time of your spiritual birth but you have been born again. I believe all of God’s children have a desire to please Him. The desire to please God is present, the power is what we lack. I love the holiness people but they are wrong about living above sin; no one can live above sin. Bob Harrington use to say, “The only way to live above sin is rent an apartment over a honky-tonk.” Not only are those who think they live above sin deceived, the carry with them an air of pride and self-righteous. We had a next door neighbor that professed to live above sin. She would not set foot in a Baptist Church. She was like a pharisee, she didn’t want to become unclean by hanging out with sinners. In her mid forties, she ran off with a 22 year old man, that she met at her perfect church. I am a bit leary of those who profess to live above sin. I am very encouraged by Paul’s honesty in Romans seven.
I hate sin. I do not want to sin, but I sin because it is inherent within my human nature. Yes, I fully believe that Jesus is going to save me from myself and my sin. I do believe that He, and He alone, can make me holy, but the process is not complete. When He returns, He will complete the process and I will be holy just as He is holy.
Extra
In any kind of extreme weather, I have a habit of looking at my weather app two or three times a day. At one time they were giving us a 40% chance of rain on Friday, now they have changed it; they have been changing it daily which tells me they are guessing. They are giving us 24% today and then it goes down, 10% tomorrow and 18% Friday. It is dry and a rain would help my emotions.
June and I will be leaving for Mobile around 2:00 pm we hope. We have a couple of visits to make before getting started. My neighbor, Leldon Chasteen has been in the hospital and I did not know it. He is coming home today I hope. Gloria Green is also coming home. Joyce Anders is in HH but I do not know what the problems are: I plan to see her before we leave.
Grace Point folks remember the stew tonight at 6:00 and be sure and check out the concrete slab. They poured it yesterday. They have another pour this week…it the front porch that goes across the front. We should see iron next week.
I hope you have a good day