The Power of Sin in Me

During the Covid-19, a video was circulating of a Caucasian woman who had found her little two- to three-year-old daughter on the kitchen counter. In this video, this little girl had eaten almost all the chocolate cake her mum put on the counter. The evidence was all over her face, dress and hands. The shock to me and maybe to a host of other people who may have seen the video was, when the mum who took to videoing her daughter after finding her asked who had eaten the chocolate cake, this innocent beautiful little princess responded that a black man had come into the home and had eaten the chocolate cake.

The mum laughed it off on camera, but I obviously did not find it funny. First of all, why was it that it was a black man that could have come inside their house to steal the chocolate cake and not an Asian or white man? That is for another day.

But the one that shocked me the most was, who taught this little two or three (not more than three) years old to lie? She was caught ‘in the act,’ the evidence was all over her face, hands, dress and the counter where she was still seated. Who taught her to deny that she had done it and cast the blame on another person?

That was the power of sin at work.

Have you noticed that (in an ideal world where freedom of living is promoted, when babies begin to form their words, they most likely will say, ‘da-da’ or ma-ma first. Many times, the next word they say is No! Who taught them that rebellion? How do they know when you tell them, ‘do this’ or ‘don’t do that,’ their response is No.

That is the power of sin at work.

I know that for some of us, especially for those of us who have not surrendered our lives to Christ, we glory in our religiosity, our morality and our discipline. We tend to glory in our pride that we don’t do that or we do this – we give to people, we are kind, we don’t lose our temper (even at the most apparent reason). We talk about how good we are. But the Bible says that ‘Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?’  (Proverbs 20:6). But what every human being is called to is more than just face value.

You know, Jesus taught that a man commits adultery in his heart simply by looking at a woman lustfully. A person kills another human simply by being angry with them or calling them a fool – ‘Raca.’ (Matthew 5: 27-28). What Jesus is saying here is that it is definitely more than the façade, more than the face value. It’s more than what we present, what we do but about the motive, the heart. Why did you do that seemingly good deed?

You are very religious and you love those that believe the same way as you, but you could kill your enemies with just the look of your eyes. You can pretend you love someone and say all the ‘darlin’ and all the ‘my love’ in their presence. What counts before GOD is what is in your heart. Are you cussing them out in your mind as you call them, ‘me darlin’?’ Did you give that gift because you wanted to truly bless that person or were you hoping to get something in return?

You are known to be the gentlest of all humans in the face of others, but what does GOD

see when He looks at your heart? Is there jealousy, envy, hatred or unforgiveness in it?

I want you to know that I am not better than you, neither is any Christian for the Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that, ‘All have sinned and come short of the glory of GOD.’ 1 Kings 8: 46a says, ‘When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin…’ David said in Psalm 51:5 that, ‘For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.’ But we have just chosen to believe that GOD can do what He says He can do. He can deliver us from the wretchedness that sin inputs upon our souls. From the power of sin.

Now I understand why that innocent, little three-year-old could lie to protect herself.

Jesus came to deal with the issue of sin. He was a sinless man that took the sin of the whole world on Himself so that sin would no longer have dominion over us – lording it over us; mastering us. Jesus came to give us the power to prevail over sin -whether the sin of commission or the sin of omission (James 4:17 - New Living Translation – says, ‘Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it’).

We can each have the power to prevail over sin, to have our conscience cleansed and our motives purified but this can never be done in any other way other than surrendering our lives to the LORD Jesus, asking Him to come into our lives to help come out of falling short of the glory of GOD but actually living a life that glorifies the thrice holy GOD, to be restored to fellowship with GOD (which is GOD's original intent for creating humanity).

On your own, on my own, on our own, we can never do it but through the strength of Christ, we can do it.

My ask today is, will you consider all I have said? Will you try to examine the truth of what is written above, and will you consider giving your life to Christ, in exchange for His own? That would be the best decision of your life – ever!

Think about it.

And if you’re like me and have surrendered your life to Christ but still struggling in any area of your life, the first thing you need to be reminded of is that the price has been paid for your sin. The power of sin is broken over your life. All you need to do is come in agreement with what Jesus did on the cross and begin to align your heart to the truth and fact that you

have been delivered from the power of sin. Then you will begin to walk in victory. We keep doing this till the day we see Him appear in the sky.

'May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.' (1 Thessalonians 5:23) AMEN!!!