“Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!” Psalm 112:1 ESV
Reflection: what is sin?
In Genesis, we learn how God spoke to Abraham, and ultimately made a promise, an oath to him and his offspring, of great blessings. We read “And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:5-6 ESV. And, later, we see a more detailed explanation as Abraham’s son Issac was considering leaving the land due to a famine. “And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,” Genesis 26:2-4 ESV.
Now, we might wonder here why God chose Abraham to give such a great promise to. We get a sense of it in Genesis 15:6, where it states And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:6 ESV. Notice He believed the Lord. But, what does that mean, to really believe in something or someone? We all know how easy it is to say we believe in diet and exercise for losing weight. But to actually diet and exercise, to follow what we say we believe in, is much harder. Or said in another way, belief without action is worthless. And, we learn later from the Lord’s exchange with Issac, Abraham’s son, what “believing” in the Lord actually meant to Abraham. It says, “because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.””Genesis 26:2-5 ESV. Not only did Abraham believe in the Lord, he did what the Lord commanded, and followed his statutes and laws.
Psalm 112 outlines all the blessings of the righteous, of those who fear the Lord, and “greatly delights in his commandments!” It is not enough to say we believe in the law, but then we choose to ignore it. If we don’t live it out what we say we believe, we actually demonstrate by our actions that we don’t believe it. We are just fooling ourselves. God’s promises of blessings are still valid, still in effect, to His people. He has laid out how we can receive His blessings, by His commandments, statutes and laws. In them, we learn about Him, who He is, who we are, and what is important to Him. He didn’t give us all these commandments, statutes and laws just to make it difficult for us. They are there to guide us, to help us in this fallen world.
So what is your thought on the reflection today, about what sin is? Isn’t all sin simply what is against the will of God, even if just exists in our hearts? Remember Jesus taught us ““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”Matthew 5:27-28 ESV. “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Matthew 15:18-19 ESV. With this recognition, David prayed “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” Psalm 51:10-12 ESV
As followers of Jesus Christ, we probably all desire the blessings of God, right? But, let’s be honest. Do we “greatly delight” in His commandments? In His statutes and laws? “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2 ESV. Let’s not just say we believe in God. Let’s listen to Him and do what He says. Then we will be blessed.