Are you comfortable in your sin?

Are you comfortable in your sin?

When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that 

he already had been in that condition a long time, 

He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

John 5:6

Jesus asked a man a question that appears to have had an obvious answer! He came upon a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years and who was sitting beside a pool of healing. Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed. Why would Jesus ask such an obvious question? Perhaps the answer was not so clear. Bartimaeus was blind, yet when he cried out for Jesus to have mercy on him, Jesus asked what he wanted Him to do (Mark 10:51). It would have seemed apparent that the foremost concern of a blind person would be to receive sight. There were times, however, when Jesus considered it important for people to verbalize their need and specifically ask Him to heal them.

Just because we are spiritually sick, or just because we are near a place of healing, does not necessarily mean we want to be made well. We may attend church regularly, but choose to remain sinful. Our generation has taken many of the activities that the Bible identifies as sin and has labeled them as addictions or character flaws or the result of an abusive upbringing. We act as if having an addiction is sufficient excuse for disobeying God's commands. As Christians, we are no longer helpless victims of our sin. There is no sinful habit or past hurt that is beyond the healing touch of our Lord.

Have you gone year after year without receiving spiritual healing? God is capable of freeing you, but you may have become comfortable in your sin. You may not want to be healed. If you really want to receive spiritual health, God can give it today. He wants you to ask Him. - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day 

Comfort, rest, peace, stillness all describe a state probably all of us long for.  The full absence of stress, worry, fatigue, restlessness. 

But are we seeking comfort, rest, peace etc. by carousing with sin?  Are we simply standing near to known believers trying to get warm, rather than fully coming to Christ yourself?  Have we gotten so used to sins that they are no longer seen as such, yet we don't understand why life isn't any better?

These seem like hard thoughts and questions but it's what comes to mind when I was reading that last part of Blackaby's devotional.  The why of the man being healed.  There was a why in there.  Not just a what to be done. 

Consider the man was born and had the problem long before Jesus arrived in Bethlehem.  Many people today have been living in known sin for a very long time.  They have sought out so-called Churches that espouse the same beliefs as they want to hear.  Not what they need to hear. 

They are comfortable with their sin.  They don't know how to live without it. It's been there so long it's no longer even disgusting or repulsive as all sin is to be to a believer. 

Yet look at the healings that Jesus did. Physical AND Spiritual eyes get opened.  

So many so-called self help books and people on the lecture circuit do not connect the two.  People believe they have failed to deal with something, and they have, because they don't view things as Jesus does.  Jesus indeed is more concerned about the Spiritual eyes than the physical.  The physical will be done away with.  Scripture teaches us that.  The rest of eternity will be spent with glorified bodies without defects or problems and a redeemed soul and Spirit.  Everything we see and know in this physical world is going to be destroyed.  

But we can't seem to keep our eyes and fingers off its temptations.  Marty Mcfly used to get chastened by Doc Brown for not thinking 4th dimensionally.  He was also in one movie told that he never considered the future.  A relative hadn't either and died because of that. 

We live in a world where children are taught to live for the moment.  Where you should live by your feelings. Don't offend anyone. Everyone should be accepted for what they believe they are.  That it's not enough to keep to yourself you have to openly encourage and endorse other people's thoughts on life. 

You are encouraged to show that you should be comfortable in the sin that others live in and should do so yourself. 

God doesn't teach that. Be Holy as He is Holy. Pray without ceasing. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and Spirit. Love your neighbor as yourself. Make Disciples of all nations. Think on songs, hymns and Spiritual songs making melody in your heart to God.  Not considering it strange the ordeals we go through because our fellow Christians around the world likewise go through the same trials and temptations.  Loving not the world nor the things in the world. 

When we embrace sin it causes us to be desensitized to it.  When we acknowledge it and ask Jesus for help in dealing with it, it takes on a different perspective. 

Churches and people will indeed try to convince us that there are acceptable sins.  Hey, that's the reality of that point of view.  Saying that homosexuality is ok as long as they come to Christ.  That's not helping them it's condemning them.  Homosexuality is a grievous sin to God.  It's a lifestyle spent living, intentionally, against what God says is right for a man and a woman. Many preachers say that you can be both a Christian and a practicing homosexual. God absolutely does not.  Some even claim to be a homosexual and a preacher. These are demonic people, false teachers that the Bible warns were going to come to lead people astray. 

My dear reader do not be comfortable in your sin.  If you begin to and indeed are saved, ask the Spirit to bring the conviction you need to stop and to overcome that sin. 

Just because you think you are ok and are comfortable it doesn't mean you are safe.  Challenge your thinking about what you have accepted as ok.  In God's eyes it might not be.  

Unbelievers really have no choice in dealing with sin.  Only the resurrection power of Jesus can overcome sin.  You have to come to Christ to find the life you have been missing. 

There will be trillions of people who claimed they did all kinds of things in the name of Jesus that were not saved.  Their comfort in their sin deceived them. Jesus will tell all those people to depart for He never knew them.  Trillions who believed they lived a good life. Didn't hurt anyone. Helping people. All who will be told the same.  Without Christ it is impossible to please God.  Without Salvation you cannot please God.  Your efforts at being successful in life mean nothing without Salvation in Christ Jesus alone. 

So...are you comfortable in your sin?