What Is Sin

“What is sin?
It is the glory of God not honored.
The holiness of God not reverenced.
The greatness of God not admired.
The power of God not praised.
The truth of God not sought.
The wisdom of God not esteemed.
The beauty of God not treasured.
The goodness of God not savored.
The faithfulness of God not trusted.
The commandments of God not obeyed.
The justice of God not respected.
The wrath of God not feared.
The grace of God not cherished.
The presence of God not prized.
The person of God not loved.
That is sin.”
We all have fallen short of the Kingdom of God, we must remember we was created to bring Glory to God! We must hate the very thought of hurting our Heavenly Father, we must choose to love God more than sin, and the ways of the world. For we are born and again when we confess Jesus as Lord Romans 10:9 we are no longer slaves to sin, but we are now washed in the Precious blood of Jesus Christ!! Therefore we must turn from our wick ways and we must walk after the spirit and away from the world! What is sin, anything that takes the place of God in your life!!

Don’t Feel Qualified For Your Calling

For the first forty years of his life, Moses lived in a place of strength. As a member of Pharaoh’s household he had social prestige, wealth (Hebrews 11:26), and youthful strength. When he became aware of and troubled by his peoples’ oppression he used this strength to exact vigilante justice on an oppressive Egyptian. That wasn’t God’s plan for deliverance. He had to flee for his life and ended up tending livestock in the quiet fields of Midian for his second forty years.

So he passed his youth in a palace of power and his middle age in pastures of peaceful obscurity. Then one day he stumbled on a burning bush, which turned out to be God’s surprising call for his third forty years:

Behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:9-10)

This call scared Moses out of his wits. So much so that he argued his case face-to-face with God.

Objection 1: I’m a nobody, God.

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). Any fame or social credibility I may have once had is gone. In fact, I’m a shepherd and “every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians” (Genesis 46:34).

Objection Overruled: “I will be with you” (Exodus 3:12). This calling is not based on your credibility but on Mine. I don’t want Egypt or Israel impressed with you. I want them impressed with Me.

Objection 2: They aren’t going to believe me, God.

“But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’” (Exodus 4:1). They’re going to think I’m loony! I can believe in you myself because you’re revealing yourself to me. But we’re up here on a mountain where no one sees. I’m still a nobody and nobody’s going to listen to a nobody’s words, especially if he’s claiming to be speaking for God!

Objection Overruled: I will be with you. The same power that I demonstrate to you in secret I will demonstrate to them “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you” (Exodus 4:5). My point is to impress them with Me, not you. Trust me, I will show up!

Objection 3: I am not gifted to do this, God.

“Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue” (Exodus 4:10). I know the rhetorical expectations of Pharaoh’s court. I mean, I wouldn’t even qualify for Midian’s Got Talent! Haven’t you read the strengths books, God? I can’t do this!

Objection Overruled: Moses, “who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak” (Exodus 4:11-12). You’re still missing the point. I want Egypt and Israel to be impressed with me, not you. Don’t be afraid. I will be with you and your unimpressive mouth.

Objection 4: Don’t make me do this, God.

“Oh, my Lord, please send someone else” (Exodus 4:13). God, seriously, there’s got to be a better candidate for this job! I might still be wanted in Egypt for capital murder. If not, I’m just a nobody. Worse, I’m a shepherd! And if it’s not bad enough that I’m an obscure murdering abomination, I stumble all over myself when I speak publicly! I don’t want this calling.

Objection Overruled: Enough! I have purposes in choosing you for this call. You don’t know all those purposes yet so stop leaning on your own understanding and trust Me (Proverbs 3:5–6)! But since you have such little faith for this, I’ll send your more eloquent brother, Aaron, with you and “I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do” (Exodus 4:15). Now get moving!

Do you feel unqualified for what God is calling you to do? Join the club. Kingdom work is supernatural work, no matter what your calling is. If it doesn’t require real faith, a desperate dependence on God to be with you in order to succeed, then either it’s not God’s calling or you don’t get it yet.

Have you been arguing with God over your calling qualifications? If so, remember Moses. And remember that God’s call on you is not about you. It’s about him. And the question is, are you willing for God to use your weakness to show how impressive he is?

Don’t use your weaknesses as an excuse for unbelief. Move forward in faith. God will be with you, will guide you, and will give you the help you need. For God’s M. O. is to choose…

…what is foolish in the world to shame the wise… what is weak in the world to shame the strong… what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)

Your Sin Is No Match To God’s Grace

The old hymn says it beautifully: “Grace, grace, God’s grace; grace that is greater than all my sin.”

But the grace of God is not only great enough to “pardon and cleanse within.” It is so powerful, as Joseph’s older brothers learned in Genesis 45, that it can turn the most horrible sin you have ever committed against another, or has ever been committed against you, and make it the slave of his mercy.

“What do you mean he’s alive?” Jacob had no place to put Rueben’s words.

“I know it’s unbelievable, Father,” Rueben replied. “We hardly believe it and we saw him with our own eyes. The Egyptian lord—the one who demanded that we bring Benjamin—it’s Joseph. He’s not only alive, he’s…” Reuben stumbled over the strange sentence. “He’s now ruling Egypt for Pharaoh.”

Jacob squinted skeptically. A son dead for two decades is not easily resurrected. “You are cruel to tell me such a thing unless you have no doubt.”

“I have no doubt, Father. It’s going to take hours to tell you everything. But we spoke with him. We ate with him in his house.”

Simeon couldn’t resist: “He sat us around the table in the order of our births! Before any of us knew who he was! We thought he was a magician!”

“And you should have seen how much food he placed before Benjamin!” joked Zebulun, giving Benjamin’s head an affectionate push.

Reuben continued, “He told us himself, Father: ‘I am your brother, Joseph.’ We responded just like you’re doing now. I thought he was tricking us. But after talking to him for hours there’s no doubt. It’s him. And the first thing he wanted to know was, ‘Is my father still alive?’” (Genesis 45:3).

Jacob’s stony expression didn’t change, though his eyes were wet. He moved them from son to son, lingering on Benjamin. Then back to Reuben. “But you showed me his bloody robe. He was attacked by a wild animal. If he survived, why didn’t he ever come home? Why would he go to Egypt? Joseph would never have forsaken me.”

The moment had come — the one they had dreaded the whole way home. For 22 years they had kept this festering wound of wickedness concealed from their father. But now God had exposed it. Shame bent the heads of nine sons. Judah was the exception. He had asked to break this news to their father. He had led in their sin. He would lead in owning it. “Joseph didn’t forsake you, Father,” said Judah, stepping forward. “He was forsaken. No, worse, he was betrayed.”

Jacob stared at Judah. “Betrayed by whom?”

“By his own brothers. Brothers who hated him for having his father’s favor. Brothers who hated him for having God’s favor.” Judah pushed hard the heavy words. “We actually talked of killing him, but decided instead to profit from his demise. We sold him to Ishmaelite traders on their way to Egypt. To my lasting shame, Father, that was my idea — to sell my own brother as a slave. The blood on his robe was goat’s blood. We were the wild animals.”

Jacob sat down. Anger and hope churned together in his soul. The silence was long. Then Judah said, “His dream came true.” Jacob looked up again. “Joseph’s dream; it came true. All eleven of us bowed down before him in Egypt. We sold him into slavery because of this dream, never dreaming ourselves that we were helping fulfill it.”

Rueben added, “Joseph holds no bitterness, Father. You know what he told us? ‘God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God’” (Genesis 45:7-8).

“In fact,” said Judah, “he wants us all to come live near him in Egypt to escape the famine. That’s why we’ve brought all these wagons. He said, ‘You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here’” (Genesis 45:13).

Jacob sat deep in thought for a long time. Then he shook his head and said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die” (Genesis 45:28).

What Joseph’s ten older brothers did to him was heinous. They made him the merchandise of international human trafficking. They subjected him to slavery and sexual abuse. With no rights or defense, he was thrown into prison to rot. These likely left Joseph with life-long scars.

But note Joseph’s words: “it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:8). Neither treacherous siblings nor a woman’s lust nor the shame of prison nor a cupbearer’s neglect could thwart the purpose of God (Job 42:2) in preserving God’s people (Genesis 45:7) and fulfilling a prophecy given to Abraham (Genesis 15:13). God made evil the slave of his grace.

And he’s doing the same for you. God is doing more good than you can imagine through the most painful experiences of your life.

If you’ve sinned against someone else, do everything in your power to make things right. But know this: your sin is no match for God’s grace.

And if you find yourself in a place you do not want to be as a result of someone else’s sin, take heart. God knows, and he knows what he’s doing. Stay faithful. In time he will show you that he sent you for redemptive reasons you would have never guessed.