Love Does Not Rejoice in Unrighteousness
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death”. (Proverbs 14:12)
I have found in my own life that compromise multiplies quickly and before you know it, you have a big fat runaway snowball tumbling down a hill wrecking everything in its path. The thing about sin is that it is usually enjoyable for the sinner. We ignore the wisdom and cautionary tales of those with experience. We think it’s just the one time, that it won’t really be that bad, that we’ll get it together and repent later. We turn a deaf ear to the clear commands in scripture and abuse the grace of God as a license to do what we want.
The book of Judges is filled with sobering case studies of how easy it is for our hearts to turn to idols and away from God. A generation would turn to idolatry and sin, God would allow them to feel the devastating consequences of their actions, and then He would raise up a leader to call them to repentance and bring them back to Himself.
“And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10) It happens again and again. And you see in this verse the exact reason why; they did not KNOW the Lord. They had the commands written and available to them, they had the rituals and traditions, but they did not have a personal relationship with their Creator.
God is not like the crotchety old lady sitting on a porch step wagging her finger at everyone who passes by or complaining about how loud the music at church is. The intentions of God’s commands are not to stifle us, but to set us free. Our sin grieves the Lord. It breaks His heart. Jesus knew this. He spoke everything into existence, He has a perfect understanding of the law and why it exists and He fulfilled it in every way. He did not indulge in sin ever. He knew there was nothing about it to be enjoyed.
So what is the answer? How are we to break this cycle? “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes”. (Judges 17:6) Notice the people did what was right in their own eyes, they followed their own passions and desires, because they had no king. This is not the case any longer, our King has come! We are not left to our own devices, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords was made manifest among us, He conquered sin and death on the cross and He rose in triumph, giving us access to His throne in Heaven that we can now come to Him boldly and confidently. We don’t follow a list of rules but a living God! As we walk in step with Him, as we abide in Him, our hearts are transformed from enjoying sin to despising it. We grow to want to avoid anything that would grieve His heart, because we love Him.
I have found in my own life that compromise multiplies quickly and before you know it, you have a big fat runaway snowball tumbling down a hill wrecking everything in its path. The thing about sin is that it is usually enjoyable for the sinner. We ignore the wisdom and cautionary tales of those with experience. We think it’s just the one time, that it won’t really be that bad, that we’ll get it together and repent later. We turn a deaf ear to the clear commands in scripture and abuse the grace of God as a license to do what we want.
The book of Judges is filled with sobering case studies of how easy it is for our hearts to turn to idols and away from God. A generation would turn to idolatry and sin, God would allow them to feel the devastating consequences of their actions, and then He would raise up a leader to call them to repentance and bring them back to Himself.
“And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10) It happens again and again. And you see in this verse the exact reason why; they did not KNOW the Lord. They had the commands written and available to them, they had the rituals and traditions, but they did not have a personal relationship with their Creator.
God is not like the crotchety old lady sitting on a porch step wagging her finger at everyone who passes by or complaining about how loud the music at church is. The intentions of God’s commands are not to stifle us, but to set us free. Our sin grieves the Lord. It breaks His heart. Jesus knew this. He spoke everything into existence, He has a perfect understanding of the law and why it exists and He fulfilled it in every way. He did not indulge in sin ever. He knew there was nothing about it to be enjoyed.
So what is the answer? How are we to break this cycle? “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes”. (Judges 17:6) Notice the people did what was right in their own eyes, they followed their own passions and desires, because they had no king. This is not the case any longer, our King has come! We are not left to our own devices, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords was made manifest among us, He conquered sin and death on the cross and He rose in triumph, giving us access to His throne in Heaven that we can now come to Him boldly and confidently. We don’t follow a list of rules but a living God! As we walk in step with Him, as we abide in Him, our hearts are transformed from enjoying sin to despising it. We grow to want to avoid anything that would grieve His heart, because we love Him.
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