Heart to Heart from the Housewrights
As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly - Proverbs 26:11
These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.” 2 Peter 2:17-22
“Well, those are not very uplifting verses,” you are probably saying to yourself right now.
And, you are right.
They are hideous. And, they remind us of who we are and what we are capable of.
So often, we love to brag on ourselves, proclaim our goodness to others, and put selfies on social media that yell, “Hey, look at me!” But, is that what we really want? Do we want people to know us - the “real” us?
In both Proverbs and Peter’s first letter, we find the truth of what we are really like. We have the proclivity, nay, the downright desire to often go back to that which traps us. That which troubles us. That which keeps us down.
Like a dog returning to it vomit.
Every single one of us has a sin (sins) that perpetually haunt us. We miss the aim and don’t hit our target. We allow distractions. We do not stay focused. We trip and we fall.
But, thanks be unto God, we can get back up. “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts,” I John 1:8-10.
So, you’re struggling with sin. You keep messing up. You want to change but “old habits die hard” as they say.
Thank God for grace.
Thank God for mercy.
Thank God for forgiveness.
Thank God for hope.
Thank God for being a new creation.
Thank God this is a new day and you can start over…
Look. It’s not ok to sin. It’s not ok to shrug it off. It’s not ok to say, “It’s who I am. God made me this way.”
Those are not words which should ever come out of a follower of Jesus’ mouth. Sin is the very reason Jesus obeyed the Father - even to death on a Roman cross. Willingling he died - so we might die to self and sin. It’s why Paul wrote to the followers of Jesus in Galatia: Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there, Galatians 5:24.
We all have today. Today, let’s keep sin at bay. Give it not an inch in our lives. Let’s put the flesh in its place. After all, the very next verse in Galatians 5 has Paul declaring: Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
For the next 24 hours let us agree to say no to the flesh and yes to the spirit. Hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second…let us walk in the Spirit and be led by the Spirit and then - and only then - we will not fall into sin.
“Go, and sin no more…”
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