'Sin' Tagged Posts
Beyond Labels
Beyond Labels From Our Daily Bread – July 18, 2017 Read: Romans 5:1–11 | But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 A church in my city has a unique welcome card that captures the love and grace of God for everyone. It says, “If You Are A . . . saint, sinner, loser, winner”—followed by many other terms used to describe struggling people—“alcoholic, hypocrite, cheater, fearful, misfit . .…
Destroying the Divides
Destroying the Divides From Our Daily Bread – July 3, 2017 Read: Joshua 7:1–12 I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.—Joshua 7:12 A writing deadline loomed over me, while the argument I had with my husband earlier that morning swirled through my mind. I stared at the blinking cursor, fingertips resting on the keyboard. He was wrong too, Lord. When the computer screen went black, my reflection scowled. My unacknowledged wrongs were doing…
Time to Flourish
Time to Flourish From Our Daily Bread – June 30, 2017 Read: Luke 13:1–9 “Sir,” the man replied, “leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.”—Luke 13:8 Last spring I decided to cut down the rose bush by our back door. In the three years we’d lived in our home, it hadn’t produced many flowers, and its ugly, fruitless branches were now creeping in all directions. But life got busy, and my gardening plan…
Unfinished Works
Unfinished Works From Our Daily Bread – June 28, 2017 Read: Romans 7:14–25 Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!—Romans 7:24-25 At his death, the great artist Michelangelo left many unfinished projects. But four of his sculptures were never meant to be completed. The Bearded Slave, the Atlas Slave, the Awakening Slave, and the Young Slave, though they appear unfinished, are just as…
Complete Victory
Complete Victory By Billy Graham • May 20, 2017 . . . greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. —1 John 4:4 Paul once wrote, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye can not do the things that ye would” (Galatians 5:17). This is the battle or the tension that is present in us to…
The Real You
The Real You By Billy Graham • March 9, 2017 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith . . . —Ephesians 3:17 Experts have told us that society is sick. Their solutions have treated human frailty with infusions of low-income housing, welfare payments, integrated education, and psychological conditioning. But we are learning that this is not the total answer. The world does need changing, society needs changing, the nation needs changing, but we never will change it until…
Spiritual Sensitivity
Spiritual Sensitivity By Billy Graham • March 8, 2017 Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love these things you show that you do not really love God . . . —1 John 2:15 (TLB) There are certain elements of daily life which are not sinful in themselves but which have a tendency to lead to sin if they are abused. Abuse literally means “extreme use” and, in many instances, overuse of things…
Practice the Fruits of the Spirit
Practice the Fruits of the Spirit By Billy Graham • February 26, 2017 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control . . . —Galatians 5:22,23 (TLB) Christ can rid you of inner conflict. Man without God is always torn between two urges. His nature prompts him to do wrong, and his conscience urges him to do right. Antagonistic desires and…
What God Has Done
What God Has Done By Billy Graham • December 13, 2016 With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy redeemer. —Isaiah 54:8 If God is all-powerful and all-loving, it would seem inconsistent with His nature to allow anyone to be lost. Here again we rationalize because we do not understand the nature of God. God cannot go against His own laws and against His own nature. God is holy. He cannot tolerate sin in His…
True Colors
True Colors By Billy Graham • October 27, 2016 God carefully watches the goings on of all mankind . . . —Job 34:21 (TLB) There is an old story that tells about a pig. . . . The farmer brought the pig into the house. He gave him a bath, polished his hooves, put some Chanel No. 5 on him, put a ribbon around his neck, and put him in the living room. The pig looked fine. He made a…
All Have Sinned
All Have Sinned By Billy Graham • October 22, 2016 So it is that we are saved by faith in Christ and not by the good things we do. —Romans 3:28 (TLB) Many people still cling to the notion that man is naturally good. We did not get this from the Greeks. Aristotle said, “There is no good in mankind.” We did not get it from Judaism. Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who…
Symptoms of Guilt
Symptoms of Guilt By Billy Graham • September 25, 2016 Cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again. — Psalm 51:2 (TLB) Guilt is a prominent word among psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, and ministers too. The dictionary calls guilt “the act or state of having done a wrong or committed an offense.” The symptoms of guilt are many, but the root cause is one. We have broken the moral law of the universe as expressed in the Ten Commandments and the…
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