God or Sin?

"Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me--now let me rejoice. Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.  Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you." Psalm 51:7-12

 Most of us know the story behind this psalm. David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and not repented for a year, but when Nathan the prophet spoke to him, under the urging of God, David repented. He's crying out to God in this psalm, begging Him to cleanse him of his sin. He is completely broken in his repentance, which is the sacrifice God wants, which is what verse 17 says, "The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise." 

According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, the definition of the word 'repentance' is "a change of mind and purpose and life, to which remission of sin is promised." It means turning your back on sin and living for God.  

How many of us will take this approach? "Why don't people say to God, 'I have sinned, but I will sin no more'? Or 'I don't know what evil I have done; tell me, and I will stop at once'?" ~Job 34:31-32
Ask Him to shine a light into your heart and find all the places where there is sin and darkness hiding. "If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, my Lord would not have listened." ~Psalm 66:18. As we continually seek His face, we'll start to see what we need to change, the areas we are still holding onto, and we'll start to change our lives. Rather, our lives will be changed by the encounters and the time spent with God. There was something I heard from somewhere that goes along with this: "whoever you spend the most time with, that's who you start becoming like." Thus, the more time you spend with God, in prayer, worship, reading your Bible, or just sitting at His feet....you start to become more like Him. And God says we are to be like Him. "But be holy in all you do, just as God, the One who called you, is holy. It is written in the Scriptures: 'You must be holy, because I[God] am holy.'" ~1 Peter 1:15-16


However, if we do not repent and change, "But there is a problem--your sins have cut you off from God. Because of your sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore." ~Isaiah 59:2 

You have a choice to let go of the sin in your life or cling to it.

"Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law, which enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are free by God's grace. So since God's grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don't you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you have obeyed with all your heart the new teaching God has given you. Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness. I speak this way, using the illustration of slaves and masters, because it is easy to understand. Before, you let yourselves be slaves of impurity and lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy." ~Romans 6:14-19

In that passage, it said that 'whatever you choose to obey becomes your master.' You can choose sin but it becomes your master and you give up God and His gift of love and forgiveness. BUT...you can choose God and spend eternity with Him after this life. During this life, you choose to obey Him and follow His ways and commands. He will take care of you, give you love, peace, and a joy that can only come from Him and His presence in your heart and life.



So what is your choice? Will you choose to walk the talk, live completely sold out to God or choose to live under the bondage of sin?