READING: 1 Corinthians 5-8
“Shouldn’t you be filled with grief. . . . ?”
1 Corinthians 5:8
I fear that we don’t grieve sin enough. We speak against sin, but then tolerate it. We argue that sin will destroy us, but we at times live in sinful patterns ourselves. I cannot remember when I’ve seen believers weep over sin, whether theirs or someone else’s. It seems that sin has little effect on us today. In that sense, we’re like the Corinthian church that tolerated some kind of sexual sin in her midst. They were so arrogant they thought they could set their own parameters, and they chose to ignore sin in their midst:. “And you are arrogant! Shouldn’t you be filled with grief and remove from your congregation the one who did this?” (1 Cor. 5:2).
How differently might we act if we genuinely grieved sin like we should! Sin in the Garden of Eden destroyed what God had created. It led to division and death. It’s distorted the world since then. We look around and see its repercussions surrounding us today; everything from the rebellion of a child to the plots in a graveyard is a result of and evidence of sin. Any anguish we face is evidence of a world under the curse of sin. If we remembered these truths, I doubt sin would so appeal to us. Then, our hearts would deeply break if a local church felt the need to remove someone from its membership because of sin.
But, here’s the reality: we don’t grieve sin because we instead love sin. That’s what keeps us from living as we should.
ACTION STEPS:
- Ask God to make you grieve over sin. Let His heart become yours.
- Pray for someone you know who claims to be Christian, but who does not live that way.
PRAYER: “Father, I don’t ever want to grow comfortable with sin. Please help me.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Review and catch up day