In today’s world, sin is classified as immorality! Whatever goes against the grain of the law or human ethics is perceived as sin. Jesus Christ redefined sin, when he says the Holy Spirit will help the world realize that sin really is rejecting Jesus! It’s time to repent – change the way you have been thinking about it!
You see, Jesus is God’s way! He manifested the will of the Father. He represented the Father! If you want to get to God, Jesus is not one of the ways, He is the way! Jesus is not the way to riches, he’s not the way to success, he is not the way to achievement in the worlds terms. Jesus is the way to the Father. It’s a concept that is bigger and brigher than anything mortal man can desire for!
Sin is the result of rejecting God’s way! The moment your wants points in any direction not originating from God, you are about to be drawn away! 1 John 2:15-17 offers an interesting narrative – the worlds ways are about wanting you own way, wanting everything for yourself and wanting to be important is not from the Father. Only those who do the “will of God” are set for eternity!
The narratives in Genesis are quite too bold to be denied – In Gen 3, Man fell, by wanting his own way! The woman saw that the fruit could give her what she wanted (food), she could become like God (everything) and could become wise (become important). Disobedience is the fruit of rebellion, rebellion is not as graphic as we have imagined it, it can be as passive as wanting our way! Our simple good way, once it differs from God’s end, it’s rebellion, it’s sin!
Gen 4 introduces us to the good sides of rebellion. Cain and Abel made offerings to God. I mean this is worship, should it have standards? It seems good, whatever the offerings, but not to God! God evaluates the person before his offering, God also has a standard and a way by which things are done. No mater how good what you do, if it’s your way, sin is at the door. Gen 6 shows the origin of fame. Greatness in man’s context is the product of an unholy alliance between the sons of God and the daughters of men. When the riches of heaven’s revelations are squandered on earthly treasures, we birth giants – idols, heros and super stars. Check the foundation of every larger than life posture.
Gen 11 puts it on grander scale! Men attempt what seems noble, but on their own terms. Let’s reach God, let’s build a tower that reaches to heaven, let’s establish a channel of worship, let’s build something in the earth that will make us famous and memorable. A city, a camp, a cathedral, one monument that’s bigger and finer than the rest. Let’s make a name for ourselves. God interrupts, and has always interrupted! It starts, but consider their end. Any unity that man achieves without the headship of Christ is the birth place of chaos. Jesus must be the vine, and the disciples his branches. When branches begin to have branches, beware of babel.
Self made, self help, self development! Satan mutters into the hears of man, you can do it! It’s in you! You have what it takes! You can achieve anything you set your mind on. Reach for the stars, you may miss it but you won’t miss the moon. Man is subtly driven to want his own way, and lured into sin! Personal agenda is the oxidative stress of our walk with God! It’s the birth place of envy, jealousy, e.t.c. Gal 5:19-21 captures it quite aptly. “It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.”
The Bible lays the axe to the root of what we have revered as God’s and godly! The Bold declaration of Jesus in Matt 7:21-24 rings through… Not all who call me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do what my Father wants! Glorious works done in God’s name will be turned down! Demons casted, miracles wrought, the standards of heaven are not the standards of men!
Kill personal agenda today! You can’t be saved by a sinners prayer! Jesus says you need to first count the cost! Are you willing to die to self? Are you willing to be God made and not self made? Are you willing to stick with God no matter what life in Him means? Are you ready to look away from wealth, possessions and greed to face Christ absolutely even if it leads to suffering for Him? This my friend, is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is either Lord over your all, or not Lord at all!
Selah! Adeolu Akinyemi
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