Sin still exists and tries to deceive the naive sheep, as often as possible, by promising us everything…
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isa 53:6 NIV
Why do we go astray? The simple answer is that we are all imperfect this side of Heaven. There are many who claim to be Christians, but they have neither given their hearts to Christ, nor seek to follow Him, preferring this fallen world instead. Then there are some sincere believers who, either from lack of knowledge or laziness, have not begun to grow in Christ, so we can follow Him. But even the most mature Christian will not get it all right, all the time. It inspires me that the great St Paul said, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Ro 7:15) If he struggled, my Friends, where does that leave this sheep?!
Immaturity leads us astray. We listen to the wrong voices. We look in the wrong direction. We choose to follow the three enemies instead of the Good Shepherd, and we turn away from Him and what’s truly good. Immature sheep are still too susceptible to sin’s power. To our Flesh, that old MMI person, sin is enticing, persuasive, very attractive. Sin convinces us we cannot live apart from that thing, that person, that position. Sin promises us fulfillment, but never delivers…because sin is deceptive. It is a lie conceived by the father of lies. Anything he can do to get God’s sheep to go our own way, instead of following The Way, this is what he does. Only maturing sheep have a fighting chance…more tomorrow…
Three Real Enemies
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
July: 26- Jas 2:19; 27- Dt 31:8; 28- Jn 14:15; 29- Jn 8:11
August: 30- Ro 8:1; 31- Pr 4:23; 32- Pr 18:21; 33- Ps 118:24; 34- 1Jn 4:4
35- Mt 16:24
36- Isa 53:6
<>< Peace, Diane
