Declaring Sin
When people declare sin today, they are accused of being unchristian because they are "judging" other people. Many times, this is not true. As we have read through the Bible and specifically the Prophets, we have read many times when God told the prophets to declare the transgressions and sins of the people.(Micah 3:8) It was part of their ministry. It is still important to do the same thing today in the right way. Micah gives us some direction in this sensitive matter.
We must be full of the power of the Spirit to declare sin the right way. If we do it in the flesh, we will be judgmental. We will look down on people. We will think we are better than they are. That is the wrong kind of judging. However, the good kind of judging simply declares the obvious sin around us in the lives of people. Sin destroys people, so if we ignore it, and we do not declare it, we do not really love others.
We must be full of justice to declare sin. Jesus said it in Matthew 7, which is the passage many people use to say we should not judge at all. That is not what He said. He said to get the beam out of our own eye, before we take the speck from the other person's eye. He was saying that we must be doing right before correcting another. No one is perfect, but we can be right with God. We can live justly. This is part of declaring sin. We show people the right way to live by our actions and our words.
We must be full of might when we declare sin. It has to be done in the power of the Lord. He is the One who convicts people of sin, righteousness, and judgment. We do not have the power to do that. However, when we declare the sin of those around us, we are allowing His power to come to bear on their sin. We can't force them to repent, but our admonition is used in the power of God to lead them to repent.
We declare transgression and sin. A transgression is breaking God's law. It is going against what God has said. A sin is anything we do wrong. We can see it is wrong from knowing God's nature and character. It goes against what He would want us to do. When we declare sin, we do both, because both are wrong in God's eyes.
If we are wise people, we will listen when others declare sin, and we will ask the Lord to show us if we are guilty of that sin, so we can make it right, if we are. We will not be against the declaring of sin. We will support it. If people do not know their sin, they do not know they need to be saved from it. If believers are not shown their sins, they won't confess them, and be restored to full fellowship with God. Declaring sin is a good thing.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Micah 6-7 and Nahum 1.
We must be full of the power of the Spirit to declare sin the right way. If we do it in the flesh, we will be judgmental. We will look down on people. We will think we are better than they are. That is the wrong kind of judging. However, the good kind of judging simply declares the obvious sin around us in the lives of people. Sin destroys people, so if we ignore it, and we do not declare it, we do not really love others.
We must be full of justice to declare sin. Jesus said it in Matthew 7, which is the passage many people use to say we should not judge at all. That is not what He said. He said to get the beam out of our own eye, before we take the speck from the other person's eye. He was saying that we must be doing right before correcting another. No one is perfect, but we can be right with God. We can live justly. This is part of declaring sin. We show people the right way to live by our actions and our words.
We must be full of might when we declare sin. It has to be done in the power of the Lord. He is the One who convicts people of sin, righteousness, and judgment. We do not have the power to do that. However, when we declare the sin of those around us, we are allowing His power to come to bear on their sin. We can't force them to repent, but our admonition is used in the power of God to lead them to repent.
We declare transgression and sin. A transgression is breaking God's law. It is going against what God has said. A sin is anything we do wrong. We can see it is wrong from knowing God's nature and character. It goes against what He would want us to do. When we declare sin, we do both, because both are wrong in God's eyes.
If we are wise people, we will listen when others declare sin, and we will ask the Lord to show us if we are guilty of that sin, so we can make it right, if we are. We will not be against the declaring of sin. We will support it. If people do not know their sin, they do not know they need to be saved from it. If believers are not shown their sins, they won't confess them, and be restored to full fellowship with God. Declaring sin is a good thing.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Micah 6-7 and Nahum 1.