Heart Idols

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:43-45

Our sinful behavior reflects the sin in our hearts. Every sinful action and negative emotion reveals a problem in our hearts. Our struggles and temptations often trigger sin but they never cause it. The root cause is always the heart and its sinful desires... We choose how we respond to circumstances, and what determines our choices are the thinking and desires of our hearts... Sin happens when we believe lies about God instead of God's word and when we worship idols instead of worshiping God."

2 Things are happening in our hearts: As humans we are always interpreters and always worshipers.
*We think, interpret, believe, trust.
*We desire, worship, want, treasure.

Sin happens when we don't trust God above everything (when we interpret in the wrong way) and when we don't desire God above everything (when we worship the wrong thing.) Tim Chester- You Can Change

Fighting the Battle

How do we fight the external enemies of Satan, worldly temptations, and the internal enemy within; the flesh?

This is how: We need to know who we are in Christ, believe what we know to be true from Scriptures, and obey. Living in the reality of the gospel. Then do that over again, and over again, and over again. For me it is multiple times a day! Romans 6:11; Paul exhorts us to "consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." We have to mentally review our doctrine and live obediently in light of it. Remember, we do not do our part alone--the Spirit enables us.

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being." Ephesians 3:16

"... We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 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." Romans 6:1-6, 6-12

Six Ways of Minimizing Sin

1.Defending: When confronted, my tendency is to explain things away, talk about my successes, or justify my decisions. As a result, people are hesitant to approach me and I rarely have conversations about difficult things in my life.

2. Faking: I strive to keep up appearances and maintain a respectable image. As a result, not many people know the real me.

3. Hiding: I conceal as much as I can about my life, especially the "bad stuff." Hiding is different than faking because hiding is more about shame. I don't think people will accept or love the real me.

4. Exaggerating: I tend to think, and talk, more highly of myself than I ought. I make things, good and bad, out to be much bigger than they truly are (usually to get attention). As a result, things often get more attention than they deserve and have a way to making me stressed or anxious.

5. Blaming: I am quick to blame others for sin or circumstances. I have a difficult time 'owning' my contributions to sin or conflict. There is an element of pride that assumes it's not my fault and/or element of fear of rejection if it is my fault.

6. Downplaying: I tend to give little weight to sin or circumstances in my life, as if they are 'normal' or 'not that bad.' As a result, things often don't get the attention they deserve. They have a way of mounting to the point of being overwhelming.

The Gospel-Centered Life, Bob Thune and Will Walker

The area I most often minimize sin is in blaming. I can be quick to excuse my sin by finding the fault in the other person involved. Or maybe no one person is specifically involved, but rather a thing, or circumstance. In any case, it is sin. I am learning how to identify my sin, compare it to Christ atoning work on the cross, and confess it. The gospel becomes evermore AmAzInG as the reality of my sin is exposed and the holiness of God is revealed. The wonder of it all is that as the understanding of my sin and of God's holiness grows, my love and need for Jesus grows as well. Christ's sacrifice and His gracious work on my behalf become increasingly powerful and ultimately results in a heart that's changed. How about you... in what ways do you minimize sin? Let's together pray for the Holy Spirit to convict, grant us humbleness, and a repentant heart. Christ will be all the more glorious and beautiful.
"The cross looms larger and more central in my life as I rejoice in the Savior who died upon it."

Sin and the Power of the Gospel: Part 2

....Why I need the gospel of Jesus Christ.....

I need the truth of the gospel to penetrate my innermost heart to reveal the sinfulness within me and to then sweep across my self-righteous heart to humble, cleanse, and refine. I, like Newton can affirm, "I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great savior."

The gospel in my life causes...

* ...a pure remedy for my sins as it uncovers the rough ground in my heart so that I can actually recognize the sin!

* ... a prepared soil in my heart so that I can face sin; it then allows the Holy Spirit to bring deep conviction and thus I can feel guilty because I truly am guilty.

* ...an acknowledgment of sin. And with the depth acknowledgment I am able to better grasp the sweet truth of God's forgiveness through His Son,Jesus Christ. "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin" (Romans 4:7-8).

*...the strength and encouragement so that I can endure the fight against sin. I cannot merely face sin and simply know it's pursuing me; I must fight and kill it in the name of Jesus Christ. "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." (Romans 6:14) And "For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13)

*...the ability to suffer well. "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom 5:3-5). "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Rom. 8:18).

*....complete hope! "Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God" (Ps. 43:5). "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). Rejoice in hope of the glory of God..." (Rom.5:2. "According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading..." (1 Peter 1:2-3).

*...complete joy! "Then I will go to the alter of God, to God my exceeding joy" (Ps. 43:4)


The gospel of Jesus Christ is absolutely remarkable. I could go on, and on, and on with Scripture references on the redemptive plan and purpose of The Gospel. I am thankful I have a lifetime to bask in the promises of this gospel and be changed into greater likeness of Christ as I preach It to myself and child(ren) daily.

Sin and the Power of the Gospel: Part 1

Here is a glimpse into what I am studying and prayerfully contemplating as I just finished reading through Romans and started into Respectable Sins, by Jerry Bridges:

John Newton said, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior."

Apostle Paul said, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." 1 Timothy 1:15

Luke writes of a well-known tax collector who said, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." Luke 18:13

Each of these men saw themselves as great sinners with the saving grace of a great Savior. Most people, including myself at times, have lost contact with the reality of the depth of our sin. In fact today's generation as a whole does not even know what the word 'sin' actually means nor the consequences it leads to. The well-known New Testament scholar D.A. Carson made a comment that the most frustrating aspect of doing evangelism in universities is the realization that students generally have no idea of sin. He states,"They know how to sin well enough, but they have no idea of what constitutes sin." The idea of sin has vanished from common knowledge.

Sadly, the preaching on sin is all but vanishing from many churches in our society as well. Or if sin is 'mentioned' it is merely stated as a 'boundry-line' for those outside the church to indulge in. And those inside the church typically exclaim they have little to do with sin.... or at least they have no 'major' sin to be concerned with and nothing that would demand immediate attention for resolve.

Our American culture (yes, even within many churches) at large has been deceived into a state of softening toward sin in order to accommodate modern sensibilities. Powerful, strong, and convicting biblical words for sin have been utterly excised from our common vocabulary.

Jerry Bridges states it well in the following quote from his book, Respectable Sins:

"So what about our conservative, evangelical churches? Has the idea of sin all but disappeared from us also? No, it has not disappeared, but it has, in many instances, been deflected to those outside our circles who commit flagrant sins such as abortion, homosexuality, and murder, or the notorious white-collar crimes of high-level corporate executives. It's easy for us to condemn those obvious sins while virtually ignoring our own sins of gossip, pride, envy, bitterness, and lust, or even our lack of those gracious qualities that Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22)......We look down our religious noses at "sinners" in society without any sense of a humble "there but for the grace of God go I" sort of spirit.......Sin is sin. Even those sins that I call "the acceptable sins of the saints"-- those sins that we tolerate in our lives--are serious in God's eyes. [Such as] Our religious pride, our critical attitude, our unkind speech about others, our impatience and anger, even our anxiety (see Philippians 4:6); all of these are serious in the sight of God."

Our nation (and others!) need to be called back to the Biblical truth of what sin is, the affects of sin, who we are in sin, and how be be freed from the death of sin.

Isaiah the prophet wrote, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (53:6).