When someone acknowledges God's law yet deliberately harbors secret sin, he exists between two oppressive mindsets.
The result is 'the war within'.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:5-8
God's design for life is the 'wisdom' being sought in this passage. It is not rational to ask for divine insight and simultaneously be determined to reject its application. When we pray for direction but have already purposed in our minds to go our own way, we fall headlong into a life of dissonance.
Harboring secret sin places you in an unrelenting, pressure-filled state of mind. Eventually, a decision must be made to bring some relief; either the utter rejection of a life of faith, the adoption of religious teachings that repress the Holy Spirit's power to convict, or ... repentance.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. Luke 5:32
And ... if you attempt to conquer hidden sin in your own strength, cognitive discord is the result.
Repent, therefore.
No comments:
Post a Comment