Psalm 101 (NIV)
At the age of about 8, I had a wort on my leg. Bear with me on this one! I remember I used to pick at it constantly. It was the smallest wort but I couldn't help but always know it was there.
At that age and living in India, I always wore shorts. I could see it, I couldn't help but pick at it and it troubled me. At times, out of embarrassment, or the desire not to pick at it, I used to put a plaster over it.
After about two years, I managed to pick it right off. And no, I didn't store is safely in a jar.
The reason I recount this delightful story is because sin is like a wort. Compared to the rest of our lives, it can just be a small bit of all that we do. Yet it is there, we are drawn to it, we know that it is ugly, we don't want anyone to see it, we try and cover it up and sometimes we can't seem to get rid of it.
This Psalm joins in with the call to purity that as a church we have heard with particular emphasis over the last few weeks.
v2 'I will be careful to lead a blameless life....'
but that is only the beginning!
He then makes statements that imply that he will kill people that slander their neighbour in secret (v5) and that his morning ritual will be to put to death all the wicked! (v8)
I'm not advocating we do that, but as John Hosier said that when we point a finger at someone we have three pointing back at us.
John Piper says, 'be killing sin or it will be killing you'.
So instead of our daily morning ritual being killing the wicked in the land, let it be us killing sin within ourselves. This requires a conscious decision. Sin doesn't just die or mysteriously disappear. It needs to be picked and hacked at consistently. We have a choice - we kill sin or it will be killing us.
"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Cor 10:4-5)
Fight.
At the age of about 8, I had a wort on my leg. Bear with me on this one! I remember I used to pick at it constantly. It was the smallest wort but I couldn't help but always know it was there.
At that age and living in India, I always wore shorts. I could see it, I couldn't help but pick at it and it troubled me. At times, out of embarrassment, or the desire not to pick at it, I used to put a plaster over it.
After about two years, I managed to pick it right off. And no, I didn't store is safely in a jar.
The reason I recount this delightful story is because sin is like a wort. Compared to the rest of our lives, it can just be a small bit of all that we do. Yet it is there, we are drawn to it, we know that it is ugly, we don't want anyone to see it, we try and cover it up and sometimes we can't seem to get rid of it.
This Psalm joins in with the call to purity that as a church we have heard with particular emphasis over the last few weeks.
v2 'I will be careful to lead a blameless life....'
but that is only the beginning!
He then makes statements that imply that he will kill people that slander their neighbour in secret (v5) and that his morning ritual will be to put to death all the wicked! (v8)
I'm not advocating we do that, but as John Hosier said that when we point a finger at someone we have three pointing back at us.
John Piper says, 'be killing sin or it will be killing you'.
So instead of our daily morning ritual being killing the wicked in the land, let it be us killing sin within ourselves. This requires a conscious decision. Sin doesn't just die or mysteriously disappear. It needs to be picked and hacked at consistently. We have a choice - we kill sin or it will be killing us.
"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Cor 10:4-5)
Fight.
Very very true!
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