The Antidote for Sin
Scripture: Luke 17:1-4
"One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! 2 It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. 3 So watch yourselves! If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. 4 Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”
Observations:
Jesus once gave His disciples a quick lesson about sin by pointing out that sin is a reality that everyone must deal with and no one will ever be exempt from. As such, people can't afford to take sin lightly because it has the potential to not only affect individuals but also other people. Like a disease, sin has the ability to infect humanity and spread like a virus to others. For that very reason, Jesus made it abundantly clear that it is the responsibility of His followers to take extra precaution so ensure that they protected themselves against temptation in order to prevent the spread of sin to others. It's also important to realize that Jesus understood the risk involved and that human beings would likely not completely contain sin on their own and that the disease of sin would likely spread. For that very reason Jesus gave emergency instructions about what His followers should do when that happens; the presecription- forgiveness. The only antidote for sin is forgiveness; everything else only makes the infection worse. In order for the cure to take effect, Christ's followers must adopt the same method of forgiveness attributed to God (vs. 3-4) in that it must be unconditional and complete. Anything less only incubates the problem rather than cures it.
Application:
Sin is a reality that we deal with on a daily basis. At any given moment and in every decision we make, the potential of succombing to temptation is a very real possiblity that we face. As believers we have been given instructions from Christ to keep our guard up against temptation in order to curb the spread of sin in our world. We have also been charged by Christ to offer the antidote of God's forgiveness to others when they sin and offer the same cure that we have experienced while at the same time keeping a close watch on ourselves so that we become part of the solution rather than the problem.
Prayer:
Father, thank You for stepping into our sin-sick world and offering us the antidote for sin. Help us to reflect Your mercy and grace to those around us who are in need of your healing and teach us to forgive quickly, completely, and unconditionally. Amen.
Daily Bible Reading Plan
"One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! 2 It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. 3 So watch yourselves! If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. 4 Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”
Observations:
Jesus once gave His disciples a quick lesson about sin by pointing out that sin is a reality that everyone must deal with and no one will ever be exempt from. As such, people can't afford to take sin lightly because it has the potential to not only affect individuals but also other people. Like a disease, sin has the ability to infect humanity and spread like a virus to others. For that very reason, Jesus made it abundantly clear that it is the responsibility of His followers to take extra precaution so ensure that they protected themselves against temptation in order to prevent the spread of sin to others. It's also important to realize that Jesus understood the risk involved and that human beings would likely not completely contain sin on their own and that the disease of sin would likely spread. For that very reason Jesus gave emergency instructions about what His followers should do when that happens; the presecription- forgiveness. The only antidote for sin is forgiveness; everything else only makes the infection worse. In order for the cure to take effect, Christ's followers must adopt the same method of forgiveness attributed to God (vs. 3-4) in that it must be unconditional and complete. Anything less only incubates the problem rather than cures it.
Application:
Sin is a reality that we deal with on a daily basis. At any given moment and in every decision we make, the potential of succombing to temptation is a very real possiblity that we face. As believers we have been given instructions from Christ to keep our guard up against temptation in order to curb the spread of sin in our world. We have also been charged by Christ to offer the antidote of God's forgiveness to others when they sin and offer the same cure that we have experienced while at the same time keeping a close watch on ourselves so that we become part of the solution rather than the problem.
Prayer:
Father, thank You for stepping into our sin-sick world and offering us the antidote for sin. Help us to reflect Your mercy and grace to those around us who are in need of your healing and teach us to forgive quickly, completely, and unconditionally. Amen.
Daily Bible Reading Plan
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