I asked the question yesterday: “How did we get here...?”

How did we get here to a place where the majority of those who claim to be in the body of Christ (church) today...are adamant in their belief that a ‘born-again child of God whom the Son has set free’...cannot live out their lives in Christ on this side of heaven...without sinning? (John 8:32-36)

I believe a quick answer to that rhetorical question is found in Heb. 3:13, where we are instructed to “exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

That’s one of the dangers of sin – it is so terribly ‘deceitful’. Which is why Jesus came to set us free from ALL sin; as opposed to just the ones we tend to deem as the ‘big, bad ones’. And if you read the preceding verse there (12), you’ll see the danger that is at stake here, and please note who this warning is issued to- ‘brethren’.

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief...in departing from the living God...”.

That’s what sin does if left unchecked- it begins to harden our hearts, gradually.

I think Paul used a great analogy in his writings likening sin to ‘leaven’, and how even a ‘little leaven will spread through the whole loaf’ (1 Cor. 5:6-7; Gal. 5:9). But perhaps another word picture or two will help bring more clarity for some of you....

You come out of surgery where the surgeon was hopeful he could remove a cancerous tumor that was spreading throughout your body. You later learn in recovery that he was only able to get 85% of it, which really...when looking at percentages...is pretty good; is it not? How comfortable are you going to be with that report, given the fact you already knew this cancerous tumor was fast growing and showed an aggressive ability to spread?

Or here’s another good one- your family is away on vacation, and the day before you return home, you are checking in with one of those security cameras you have in your home that monitors any activity 24/7, and you happen to see 7 rattle snakes slithering across your living room floor. Having no clue as to how they got there, you immediately get on the phone with a specialist and arrange for them to get into your home now and remove them, pronto. When you get home the next day and find a note on the counter that says he got six of them...let me ask you: are you sleeping in your bed that night?

Why do we not have the same mindset when it comes to ‘sin’ that continues to show up in our lives and in our churches, especially since we see the danger it can have? Oh...we’ve been taught that everyone’s gonna continue to sin because that’s what ‘sinners’ (saved by grace) do- they sin. I mean...”Christians are not perfect, just forgiven”, right? And besides...you don’t know anyone who ‘lives a sinless life’ so you must be ‘good’, correct? I still shake my head over the statement I have heard before ...how we are just ‘saints who sin’. Really? Where in the Bible is that verse?

For those  who have latched on to a false security that teaches you can ‘never lose’ your place in God, or not get in to that ‘mansion in heaven’ that’s waiting on you...why would the ‘brethren’ be warned about ‘departing from the living God’, as mentioned there in Heb. 3:12? You do know what that looks right, yes? Take a look at John 6:66: “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” Do you think they stumbled into heaven on their own? How can any of us enter into ‘life’ outside of ‘abiding in Jesus’? (John 15:4-5; 5:40)  And for the record, 'eternal life' does not begin after one 'dies' (John 17:3).

And guess what - IF...we are abiding in Him...we ‘ought to be walking just as He walked’ (1 John 2:6) and ‘no longer sin’ (1 John 3:6)...because anyone who has been ‘born of God...no longer sins’ (1 John 3:9; 5:18). Yes...you’ll find those in your Bible as well.

Let me finish up today with a simple example as to how that ‘hardening’ takes place within us over time when we begin to turn a deaf ear to the word of God. Perhaps you can recall a time early on when you first began your walk with Jesus, and the overflow of peace and joy you were experiencing was undeniable. And dare I mention the appetite you had for the word of God? You could not get enough of it, which explained the rapid ‘growth’ in the things of God that you were experiencing (1 Pet. 2:2). Oh...and the clarity of His voice that was speaking to you, pointing out things in your heart and your rapid willingness to confess and repent of any and all things the Holy Spirit was convicting you of as the process of purifying your heart began (John 10:27;2:5; Luke 6:46). Do you remember how you lost all interest in things that no longer mattered...maybe it was the list of TV shows you fed upon all the time, or the music you listened to, or podcasts that consumed you, etc.

Then...one day you found yourself ‘drifting’ back in to some old and familiar ‘patterns’, maybe not ‘sinful’ but certainly not fruitful or edifying to your newborn spirit (Heb. 2:1). I think this is an example many of us can relate to given how we have so many TV’s in our home and how easy it is to just sit back and flip them on to ‘occupy our minds’. And maybe those first few times you heard some questionable words, or saw some in appropriate scenes...you were quick to turn the TV off, feeling like something ‘dirty’ had splashed on you. But...for one reason or another...you found yourself back watching them again. And before you know it...those words and scenes no longer seemed to ‘offend’ or disturb your ‘spirit’ the way they did early on when your walk with Jesus was so fresh and new.

I think you get the picture here, as this is not about whether one should have a TV set in their home or not; but more about how our hearts harden gradually...over time. And by the way...how is your time in the Word going these days? “Good”, you say? And you continue to practice sin or still have a callused attitude towards it because you are ‘under the blood’? Interesting. I wonder if that might feed in to that ‘form of godliness’ that Paul speaks of manifesting in the ‘last days’ (2 Tim. 3:1-5; Matt. 15:8-9; 7:22-23)

The purpose of feeding on the word of God is so we might be ‘cleansed by it’ as it exposes all those dark areas in our hearts that need to come out (Eph. 5:26-27). But really...there is no need to pray and ask God to expose those things within us that defile us...if we are not willing to deal with them once He does expose them (Ps. 139:23-24).