Sometimes Christians are listening to the words of people who tell them about what is sin and what is not, what is whright and what is wrong. It is important to listen what persons are telling, because it may be a person amongst them sent by god to give us an advise. Bot these advisements are to be endorsed from Holy Spirit, that lives in us to make them valid.
Especially when we begin our life with Jesus Christ and have more contact with His words, reading the bible, a lot of doubts arise.
It is important to know that these dobts are legitimate and show us that the Holy Spirit is working inside us.
See what is written in the bible about that: Psalm 19:12-14
12 None of us know our faults.
Forgive me when I sin
without knowing it.
13 Don’t let me do wrong
on purpose, Lord,
or let sin have control
over my life.
Then I will be innocent,
and not guilty
of some terrible fault.
14 Let my words and my thoughts
be pleasing to you, Lord,
because you are my mighty rock[a]
and my protector.
These words went deep into my heart. How small and weak are we humans, ahead of the glory of our criator. We are not able to see our faults How could we, having so many possibilities to lapse, maintain ourselves free from sins with our own strenghts?
This spiritual blindness is the result of our displacement from god. The longer the distance from the light, the darker will become the surroundings. But what is darkness? .. Darkness is the absence of light. The christian going through the darknes, going away from god, is longing for leaving the sin without success. Perhaps he is able to see his carnal sins ( gluttony, laziness, libido), and, perhaps he can see some cognitive sins ( lie, proudness), but he is not able to see his spiritual sins (lack of regrets, disobedience to God).
Let us see the requirement god gave us to be saved from destruction – it is reversal – repentance! Repentance does not mean to do the appropriate in fear of god. One does not obey god to get rid of punishment. Repentance as told in the bible and proclaimed by John the Baptist, who prepared the people for the arriving Jesus, is a mystery to many. Repentance ist nothing that is to be done a single time to be done for ever – no, it is to be done again and again.
Repentance is a way of life
Let us examinate Matthew 3: 1-3 J
John told the people to reverse, to be baptized. That is the first step, with which the journey begins, that opens and prepares the way of Jesus to enter in our life. The decision to be baptized and follow Jesus, is up to You, to me, to us, it is mentally. We decided consciously. At the time of John the Baptist the persons had been convinced of him. God exposed his will to the people straigt through a person living lonesome in the deserts and …” used clothes made of camel hair and a belt of leather, eating grasshoppers and honey from wild bees. …” That shows us, that Jesus is using humbleness to send us his message.
Nowadays we have other species of “John the Baptist”, for example: our parents, a friend, a priest etc. But, in any case it is the decision of every single person, and made consciously. That is the repentance of the soul, the preparing step.
Mark 1: 7-8 He preached saying, “After me is coming One mightier than I, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I indeed have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
In this way the word of our Lord is to touch the heart today. To go to church and be baptized is not the end. It is necessary to go on in the process, to keep on living this repentance in order to Christ may fill us with the Holy Spirit.
A great number of persons recently converted and old converted too, had tapped into this trap, thinking that being baptised is the end of the process. They are disappointed, if they sin after baptism. Therefore it is good to read what David wrote, when feeling weak.
Psalm 19: 12-14
12 None of us know our faults.
Forgive me when I sin
without knowing it.
13 Don’t let me do wrong
on purpose, Lord,
or let sin have control
over my life.
Then I will be innocent,
and not guilty
of some terrible fault.
14 Let my words and my thoughts
be pleasing to you, Lord,
because you are my mighty rock[a]
and my protector.
When a person likes to drink alcohol, sometimes with friends, or with his wife during dinner – that cannot be called sin, if he does not get drunk. This person knows Jesus, is taught by a believer, this believer tells the nan, that it is not right to drink alcohol. And now? Let us ask the bible: Proverb 31:6 Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish, and wine to those who are of heavy hearts.”
Deuteronomy 14: 26 Then you may spend that money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your heart desires, and you may eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you, and your household.
Here we have two bible verses that seem to be antithetical. How to come out of that collision ? We will not speak more about this conflict with alcohol today, this is only an example. When we seek single versos, we will be confused, and perhaps confuse someone with false reports. We talk about repentance and about the difficulties to recognise our own mistakes.
This verse may help us to free us from this conflict:
Mark 7: 14-15 When He had called all the people to Him, He said, “Listen to Me, every one of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing from outside a man that by entering him can defile him. But the things which come out of the man are what defile him.
Finally I could understand the verse. It is not the case of drinking that is wrong, but the circumstances, the reason why I am drinking. What is in my heart, when drinking ? When I drink some alcohol that my friend had produced and offers me to prove, it is o.k.. When I drink during a fiest only to show that I am duing the same as the others, it is not allright, I sin.
In this case, in this real situation that happens with me, it is necessary to search inside my heart about my relationship to alcohol.
When i am drinking beer at a party