Articles
Temptations Come
I got an e-mail today from Ignatius Morgen Chombo, a former government minister in Zimbabwe, currently living in South Africa. Seems as thought the Zimbabwe government has seized his property and confiscated his funds in what they deem was illegal activity on his part while serving as a minister. They got almost every last dime, but he still has $ 100,000,000.00 that they didn't get, and he wants my help in moving it to the USA, for which he will give me 20% upon completion of the deal. He assures me that this is totally legal, and that I will basically have to do nothing but provide my banking information.
I'm not sure one in one hundred million would fall for that deal, but if you are interested his number is +27733783736.
Temptation leading to sin comes at us every day. Sometimes it's pretty sneaky and subtle, and it gets by before we notice. Other times, it comes with sounding trumpets and flashing lights like Mr. Chombo's offer above. We don't have much trouble with the noticeable ones, but we sure could use some help with the others.
Let us be careful that we don't think we are on the inside looking out when it comes to sin, it doesn't work that way. We all sin. With almost all sin, in some way or another, it's our effort to get what we want, when we want it and the way we want it and sometimes regardless of the cost.
For certain, Satan is involved, but if we have the opinion that Satan makes us sin, we don't quite have that right. No one, including the devil, can ‘make' us sin. Our sin comes because of a less than perfect relationship with holy God. He is (holy) and we aren't. We are aware of many terrible things that we know to be sinful, and some of the worst we might even call 'inhumane' because of the harm they cause to people, physically, mentally or even financially. Like it or not however, these things are in reality totally 'human', because humans have a depraved nature. That depravity allows us to do things that are shameful, deviant, immoral, corrupt, profane, impure, degenerate and the list goes on and on.
Our race has a tremendous capacity and unfortunately a tremendous talent to sin. The Psalmist said, “All have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!” (Psalm 14:3) We know as humans we have a sin problem. We also know that sin comes from within, so it is from within that we combat sin. From within, we challenge Satan, and allow God to help us control our actions. We pursue God as Christians, yet sometimes we see just how selfish we can be, how greedy we can be, how we treat others with spite, and how insincere we can be. These fleshly qualities certainly keep the waters muddied in our efforts to please God.
Fortunately, God fixed this problem long ago, as He gave His only Son to forgive us, purify us, and keep us that way as long as we obey His will. Even with sin in our lives, we have confidence before God because of Jesus who bought our sins, and paid the price for them in His death. God wants a pure heart, (Matt 5:80) but He doesn't ask for perfection. What God seeks are those with a contrite spirit who seek Him with a committed attitude, who are willing to obey His commands. Thank God for His willingness to forgive, otherwise we would not stand a chance, even less of a chance than me calling Mr. Ignatius Morgen Chombo to discuss his under the table deposit into my bank account.
