Another Chapter for my book. Festering Wounds/Symptoms of Sin/The healing of Grace A brother in Christ once said that we tend to put band aids on deep festering wounds. He was and still is right. Webster defines a festering wound as: A physical injury to the body consisting of a laceration or breaking of the skin or mucous membrane. A mental or emotional hurt or blow. Like many festering sores or injuries, they have a root cause. The root cause is what needs to be treated or healing will never occur. I use the analogy of a festering wound in comparison to the symptoms of the sin in our life. Because we are fallen creatures born in sin, sin often will breed festering wounds in our life. A symptom or festering wound can be anger, jealousy, bitterness, envy, greed, lust, licentiousness, sloth, and others. Sin is the root cause of all festering wounds. The question is often ask, how do I sin because I am angry, jealous, or whatever the sin I am committing? Genesis is a good place to start. It tells the story of Adam and Eve in the garden. It describes the fall of man, and why sin is in us. Sin is not something that comes from outside or around us. Yes, people may seem to be the cause of you getting angry or jealous, but it is not coming from outside or around you, it is a heart issue. Yes, people are sinful, and can live disobedient sinful lives, but it may come from an unchanged heart, or a heart that does not know God as their Redeemer. Still as Christians we are prone to sin, and wrestle everyday with the issues of the heart. Proverbs warns us to “Guard your heart for from it flow the issues of life.” The majority of sin is cause by an idolatrous heart. Idolatry is defined as “The worship of a physical object as a god. For example: Idolatry(The worship of something other than God) often breeds anger, jealousy, bitterness, UNFORGIVENESS, envy, greed, and sloth can all be attributed to idolatry. To further infect the festering wound is an unrepentant attitude (the heart). My unrepentant attitude disturbs my worshipping God. It impedes my connection with God. My intimacy with God is broken. When I am angry it is because I did not get something my way. I want my children to obey me so I get angry. I want my spouse to love me, and spend time with me, and when they don’t, I get offended, hurt, and maybe angry. When I lust after a woman, or wealth, or any physical object, it is idolatry when I am disappointed because I did not get something I wanted. My heart wants what it wants, idolatry happens, then I become lonely, disappointed, or feeling sorry for myself. When there is unforgiveness in my heart, my heart is worshipping the thing I want, perhaps what I want is for them to say I am sorry, or I want to be right and prove they are wrong, it is all idolatry. Because our hearts tend to serve and love those created/physical things so much we serve them, worship them, and when we don’t get them we get angry, mad, or jealous. Our hearts are not worshipping-serving God but-Rather our heart is worshipping the created thing. Clearly, when we do not get what we want - we have a sinful tendency to become idolatrous, loving the created things more than we love God. No, I don’t think you will lose your place in heaven or go to hell if you die while your heart is in a state of unforgiveness, or if you have just sin and the second coming of Christ occurs. If you wake up in hell it may mean you were not saved in the first place, and not because you did not forgive someone. Salvation is of The Lord, by grace alone, through faith alone, but not a faith that is alone. I was created to worship God alone. As the result of the fall, found in the book of Genesis, we are born with a bent/sin and love to worship the created things more than the creator. It is not a sin to want good health, or to want a love one to be healed of cancer, good healthy children, a nice home, car, a good husband, a good wife, and even wealth. In and of themselves, these things do not cause us to commit idolatry. Idolatry happens when worship the created things more than we love The Creator (God). God created us for Himself, to love Him above all things. He loves us unconditionally, Jesus Christ loves sinners. We also are called to love one another, as God has loved us, unconditionally. The bible encourages us to give thanks for the all good things come from God. The good things God has created for us are made for our pleasure, and enjoyment. The created things He made are to “Serve Us” and not for us “To Serve Them”, they are created for us to have, to enjoy, to love & cherish in sickness and in health, and if need be, to release back into the hands of its Creator. On April 14, 2014 it will be five-years since the Creator called my wife, Sharon, home to heaven. It is by far the most difficult in my life, to release the created physical thing back into the hands of God. Praise Him from who all blessings flow. Soli Deo Gloria Your friend & brother in Christ - Ricardo Avila Sr.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 01:38:46 +0000
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