“Go...and spend no more!”

Is it possible that just maybe...we were taught wrong when it comes to some of our basic Biblical lessons? You know, like this idea of how we ‘are sinners’ vs. we ‘were sinners’?

I’ve used this illustration before and will take the liberty to do so again today. A young adult has a spending problem with their credit cards and rack up insane amounts of debt that will be nearly impossible to pay off given the high interest rates they are being charged. Discouraged and feeling quite defeated, they humble themselves and go to their parents seeking help.

In an unanticipated act of kindness, Mom and Dad offer to pay off all their child’s debt with one single payment, being able to do so given their boundless wealth. But there was a condition attached to this act of charity and it was a request that their child would forego the credit cards, as in tear them up and use them no more. The adult child agrees to do so...in principal.

However, instead of getting rid of the cards, they just set them aside...for a while; you know...hold on to them in case of emergencies. Before long, those ‘emergencies’ arose and they fell right back into their old spending habits; maybe not as bad as before, but still it was getting the best of them.

Before long, they were back at Mom and Dad’s....same story, second verse. And because Mom and Dad loved them and felt sorry for them, they once again...offered to pay off the debt with similar conditions attached. I bet you can see where this is going to go. This idea of going and ‘spending no more’ was not a realistic expectation or condition to be laid down. If anything, it was a lofty goal to aspire to, but certainly unattainable. I mean...folks got to spend and live, right?

Is it possible this reflects the modern day theology of many sincere but defeated ‘believers’ today? Sin gets the best of us...we end up discouraged and defeated and go to our heavenly Father who in turn, forgives us of our ‘debts’, and in turn, tells us to ‘go and sin no more’. (John 5:14:8:11). But modern day teachings and man-made doctrines tell us we can’t really do that...’go and sin no more’, so we continue to sin, and suffer. (John 5:14; 1 Cor. 11:30-32; Col. 3:6). So the ‘problem’ has never been solved, has it? And yet...

Friends – God really meant what He said about ‘sinning no more’. That’s what Jesus came to do; He came to ‘fix the problem by setting us free from sinning...once and for all. (Rom. 6:22) Whoever continues to commit sin remains a slave to sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever. (John 8:34-35)