Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. – Romans 3:23 ESV

Warrior;

ALL means ALL!  It doesn’t mean the bad ones, or the Democrats, or those that deny God- it says ALL, as in EVERYONE!  Paul in his letter to the Romans, makes a very hard statement!  We might question ourselves, who gives Him the right to make such a statement?  And the answer is Jesus! Jesus Himself stated it clearly when He said “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (Mark 10:18) We have lots of problems in this world and it comes down to 2 reasons; Free Will and Sin!  I have someone I am helping reconnect with God relationally and He said that God asked him what the best gift that Jesus gave him was and his response was salvation.  Then God asked Him, what was the second greatest gift and while he was speaking I found myself writing out the answer; my hand-written answer was TO KNOW JESUS.  His answer was FREE WILL.  I said, “Free will”?  I attempt on a regular basis to give back my free will, I don’t want it- please God make me an AUTOMATON!  I have attempted many times to give back my free will, begging God to just, “press the button”, but God refuses.  Because “A gift that is commanded is NO gift at all”!

Leader, God established early on with His children that the cost of sin is blood, blood must be shed to cover the sin of the person\family. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. (Leviticus 17:11) The shedding of blood covered our sin, and it started, IN THE BEGINNING; Genesis 3: And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (v21) The Book of Romans chapters 5-6 go into depth about Sin and its ramifications. The SIN SECTION is encapsulated by the final verse in Chapter 6; For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) In the garden we were without SIN and we were WITH GOD. But then this thing called FREE WILL came into play and everything went wrong! Just like in the heavenlies when God gave Lucifer and the angels free will, THINGS FELL! The story of Lucifer’s fall is described in two key Old Testament chapters-Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. This represents the actual beginning of sin in the universe. It precedes the fall of Adam, man’s first sin was in the garden, but the World’s first sin was in the heavenlies when there became MORE THAN ONE WILL! Sin originated in the free will of Lucifer in which he chose to rebel against the Creator. But it was ADAM that created the PANDEMIC OF SIN that corrupts us today, Adam made it part of man’s DNA. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:12-14,18-19)

Conduit, clarification on sin and guilt comes from an article on the website of IFCJ (International Fellowship of Christians and Jews): There are two kinds of guilt. The first is the kind that causes a person to think, “I am bad.” This kind of guilt is debilitating and unproductive. The second kind of guilt leads a person to realize “what I did was bad.” This kind of guilt is what is more properly referred to as “regret.” It is enlightening, empowering, and a great catalyst for positive change. The person who experiences this type of guilt believes, “Those actions are not really a part of who I am. I am so much better than that. I am created in the image of God – how could I do such a thing? I must make some changes so that my actions reflect who I really am.” Also, Did you know that there is no Hebrew word for sin? The closest we get to it is the word ‘chet’, which literally means “a miss.” When someone aims an arrow at a target, but fails to hit it, it is called a ‘chet’. He missed the mark; it was a mistake. Another word we use is ‘aveira’, which literally means “a cross over.” This word implies that while a person was supposed to stick to a certain path, she veered off from it and got stuck in the mud. In other words, that person made a mistake. These nuances are profound. They emphasize the idea that while we miss the mark, it does not mean that the “shooter” is doomed. With time and practice we will get closer and closer to hitting our target and getting things right. God says whether your sin is ‘Missing the Mark” and not doing what God has called you to do, or doing what He has called you NOT TO DO- it is sin! However, when we ‘cross the line’ and embark on practices of sin and making those practices acceptable to others, even celebrated by others- it is a higher level of sin! Either way, God requires perfection! But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law. For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law. (James 2:9-11) The Bible makes it clear that God does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11), since all human beings were created in His image. Rather, the Bible instructs us to “show no partiality” (James 2:1). God has created all people equal in worth. We must remember we cannot be GOODNUFF for GOD! THERE IS ONLY ONE PERFECT-JESUS! When we accept the PAID PRICE of Jesus on the Cross, we then are imparted with JESUS’ STANDING BEFORE GOD! God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification. (2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 4:25)