If you could just snap your fingers,
and instantly have the ability
never to commit
one specific sin
for the rest of your life,
what would it be?
If you're anything like me,
I'm guessing
there's a specific sin that
immediately comes to mind.
Because if you're anything like me,
there's probably one
or more sins that you really
struggle with.
Sins that you are well aware of.
Sins that you have tried
so hard to beat.
But sins that you keep committing
over and over again.
I'm guessing the last thing
that you would ever do
is give thanks
for that sin.
And yet as we celebrate
Thanksgiving this week,
we're talking about
things that you've
never thought to give thanks for.
And today we're talking about
giving thanks for
ongoing struggles
with sin.
Why would we give thanks
for that?
Well, just to be clear,
ideally, of course,
we would never sin.
Every single sin
upsets our God.
Many of our sins
harm other people.
And so yes, anger is bad.
Gossip is toxic.
Drunkenness is destructive.
All of that is true.
But do you know what's worse?
Pride.
Self-righteousness.
Living under the delusion
that we can clean up our lives
to the point that God would look at us
and on the basis of our own behavior,
be completely
and perfectly pleased.
God's big goal for us
during our time on earth
is not to give us the ability to just rid
our lives of sin.
Rather, it's that we
completely and constantly
cling
to our savior, Jesus Christ.
And one of the ways that
God accomplishes that in our lives
is through our ongoing struggle
with sin.
In fact, God has
quite a track record with this.
You read through the pages of the bible,
and it's the murderers,
the adulterers,
the drunkards,
the thieves, the cowards.
These are the people
that God chooses for hugely important roles
in his saving purposes.
In fact, there's maybe no better example
than Paul.
Arguably the greatest missionary
that the world has ever seen.
In his letter to the Corinthians,
Paul talks about a thorn in his flesh –
something that afflicted him
that just would not go away.
Over and over again,
he prayed that God would remove it.
And yet God simply responded
by saying this,
That thorn in Paul's flesh was a constant
reminder of his own weakness.
But it constantly magnified
God's grace and God's power.
One day, we'll know what it's like
to live without any sin.
In the mean time,
God wants nothing more
than for us to completely trust
the one who already has.
And so even when we struggle with sin,
we can say, "Thanks."
Let's do that.
Heavenly Father,
we give you thanks
that you use all things for our good,
even our ongoing
struggles with sin.
Until our dying day,
keep us in humble faith,
boasting only in your grace
and in the work of our savior, Jesus.
In his name,
Amen.
As we talk about some rather
unusual blessings
that we are thankful for this week,
we of course don't want to
overlook the obvious ones, either.
Feel free to comment
and share below about anything
that you are thankful for
as we celebrate
Thanksgiving this week.
We'll see you tomorrow.
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