Sin Separates

 Our sins separate us from other people and from the Lord. We we sin against other people, we hurt them, and they do not want to be around us, so we are separated. When we sin against the Lord, we are separated from Him, even though His heart desires to have fellowship with us. This is the reason that many of us, as believers, do not have a close relationship with the Lord. We have allowed sin into our life, and we have done nothing to get rid of it. Therefore, we are separated from the people whom we need and from the Lord who saved us. We must realize this truth and deal with our sins as the remedy. God spelled it out to Isaiah for us. (Isaiah 59:1-2) God's arm is not too weak to save, and His ear is not too deaf to hear, but our iniquities are separating us from our God, and our sins have hidden His face from us, so that He does not listen. I pray we will never let a sin problem separate us from our Lord.

God is holy, and He doesn't have anything to do with sin. When we come to Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have to repent of our sins, once and for all. What does that mean? It is not just feeling sorry for our sins. It is having a change of mind that leads to a change of action. We see the destruction and separation brought on by our sins, so we turn from all of them forever. It is not that we will never sin again, but it is that we purpose in our heart to stay away from sin and to confess it quickly, if we fall into sin. Confession is God's sin cleanser. (I John 1:9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confession is to hate sin like God does and say what He would say about our sin. When we do that, and we repent of that sin, so that we do not do it willfully, we are cleansed and our fellowship with God is restored and strong again. Therefore, we need to listen when the Spirit convicts us of any sin and confess it right then. Also, we need to ask the Spirit to show us any unconfessed sin on a daily basis, so we can confess it, as soon as possible. In this way, we will not find ourselves separated from God because of our sins. Also, once we confess our sins to God, we also confess them to people we have hurt, so they can forgive us, and we can be restored to fellowship with them, too.

#NHBaptistdotorg

Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 61-63.