THINK TOGETHER
Are you a sinner? Why or why not?
READ TOGETHER
When you become a Christian there are now two things that are true about you at the same time: 1) you are no longer a sinner, 2) but you still sin.
1 Timothy 1:15The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
When we look closely at this verse we can see Paul saying two things about himself. First he is a sinner that Jesus saved. That means that he is no longer considered a sinner by God. He is saved! His sins don’t count against him ever again. But Paul also says 2) that he is the “foremost” sinner. He still sins. Some Bibles say it this way: “I am the chief of sinners.” Or, “I am the biggest sinner.”
Have you been forgiven of all your sins? If you have received Jesus as your savior and are counting on him alone for forgiveness, then you are no longer counted as a sinner by God.
Do you still sin? Are you like Paul – are you able to see that you still do wrong things? IF somebody asked you who the biggest sinner you know is, would you say “I am!”?
OK, so how can we be totally forgiven and no longer counted as sinners, and at the same time be the biggest sinners we know?
Here’s where we have to understand the very important thing we said at the beginning – we are no longer sinners, but we still sin. How can both of these be true at the same time? Here’s an example.
Sometimes over the years I have downloaded a new computer program onto my laptop. But the old version of that program will still be there too. And so whenever I open that program I am asked which version I want to use – the new one of the old one.
We have an old operating system that we had when we were born. One that doesn’t trust God or his love. One that only chooses what is selfish. But we also have the brand new operating system. The Jesus Program! This is a new operating system that reminds us that we are loved no matter what. And it allows us to trust God with our whole hearts.
So now every time something happens to us, or each time we have to make a choice we can choose the old operating system or the new operating system. We can choose selfish sin, or loving from the Holy Spirit.
Because we are no longer sinners we don’t have to choose sin.
But because we can still sin we have to be careful not to choose sin.
We can always choose what God wants, and we can always choose it because we don’t have to selfish anymore because we are loved by God forever.
Because of Jesus we are no longer sinners (but we still sin).
With Jesus we can choose to love instead of choosing selfish sin.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Here’s The Sing Team’s version of Love Lifted Me that you can listen to together.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus,
You have saved me from my sins. Help me to choose to trust you and to choose to obey you instead of choosing my selfish desires.
Amen.
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