Psalm 66:18-20 “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; 19 but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!”
“Cherish is the word that I used to describe all the feelings that I have hiding here for you inside.” Many of you will recognize those lyrics from one of the prettiest love tunes ever written and sung by The Association. Maybe you, like me, actually sang it to the love of your life somewhere along the way. But in Psalm 66, the Bible is not talking about composing symphonies of love to our God! It is referring to actually playing kissy face with the very things that break God’s heart. And if we start loving on the dark side, we will be missing life in the light.
When I read that verse, I was blown away by the reality that too many of us who call ourselves believers actually sing more love songs to our sin than we do to Him who we call our Lord and God. Say what you will, but when we treat our sin with any intention of entertaining it rather than exterminating it, we are in trouble with a capital T! We have to begin to become militant with the wrong that we do so that it doesn’t get in the way of our sacred romance with the Lord. God sent his son Jesus to wipe our sins out by his death on the cross and not to give us permission to party with our enemy. So my simple question to all of us today is: Do you love the very thing that you should be kicking to the curb?
When we experience conversion, we are then ready to be consecrated to God so that He can use us. Religion uses God while Christianity is a faith that allows God to use us for his glory. But God is holy and we are not and while we can’t earn it, those who wear his name should definitely yearn it. But no man can love two masters so we much choose to refuse to let sin do what it used to in our hearts. And this comes when we allow God to totally clean house in our hearts.
To help make this a reality in my own life, I actually wrote a “Dear John Letter” to my cherished sin that I found myself stuck in. Many of you have received that dreaded “Dear John Letter” signifying the end of a relationship. Maybe even more of you have written your share of them over your days. One of my Christian heroes, Keith Green, once recorded a song entitled “Dear John Letter to the Devil” and so it inspired me to write my own. I want to share it with you today:
My Dear John Letter to My Cherished Sin
Dear Sin that I was once chained and caught up in; I ecstatically would like to inform you that you have been eliminated from further contention as the love of my life. As you are probably aware, the competition was exceedingly tough when my flesh was in control. When I put me first, I didn’t care what God wanted, but there is a new Spirit in charge. And now because my new expectations are set by the God of the universe, you have now failed to make the final cut. I am deleting your name from my brain effective immediately. Yes I used to cherish you, but now that’s hard to do because I got some information about the evil things you always want me to do. And because of this we’re through.
Yes, my Mama warned me, and how my Daddy tried, but I bought the tales you told me how you’d always keep me satisfied, but you lied, and exploited my pride, so consider yourself currently denied. You see, now I believe in Jesus and what He says He’s going to do, which is put an apple in your vulgar mouth and cook you in a sulphur stew, one that will never be through, (Is it soup yet? No!)
And if it wasn’t for the Grace of God, then I’d be down there cooking right next to you. Something I don’t want to do, So Goodbye to you! I am a child of the living God, and because of that truth, Jesus loves me and that puts me way out of your league; I suggest you set your sights lower next time. Like back to Hell where you came from. I was going to say that it’s not you, it’s me, but no! It is definitely you! With no intentions of ever missing you.
PASTOR RUDY
Here is the good news Family: What God cleanses, God uses, and I want to be more beacon than benchwarmer. How about you? Maybe it is time to write your own letter. I’ll loan you the paper but the Spirit will give you the power to do so.
Let Pastor Rudy know what you think by emailing him pastorrudytlc@comcast
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
