Written by I am currently preaching a series on Revival (our theme this year is ‘Revive and Come Alive in 2005′). In my sermon two weeks ago I referenced Psalm 66:18 where David said: “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” God has not let me forget this passage — He just keeps putting it on my heart. He has made me deal with it.
Yes, we all sin. We all sin every day — and sometimes we make the same mistake time and time again. But I think that’s different from actually “cherishing” sin. I can certainly think of times in my life when I have not just sinned, but have really cherished sin. I looked up the definition for cherish and two things in the defintion stood out: ‘hold dear’ and ‘entertain.’ Isn’t that what we do with sin sometimes? We entertain it and hold on to it dearly.
David speaks of God refusing to listen to our prayers when we cherish sin. How many of my prayers have been rejected because I continued to entertain sin? How many blessings did I forfeit because I was holding dearly to my sin?
O God, please forgive me. Give me strength. May I be absolutely ruthless about letting go of sin.
Amen to that Jeff, just what I needed to hear today. I don’t know about you but I beat myself up sometimes when I commit a habitual sin, especially a sin that I had committed before my journey with the Lord. I hate the sin, do not want the sin around me but sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes fall into the trap. I know God does not want me to dwell too deep in the negative aspect of it (Satan sure does!)My heart is in the right place but at times that fallible sinful man peeks thru. I am made righteous and innocent in the eyes of God because of the blood of Christ. That is what I need to dwell in.
Wow! This is one of those times that I know I’ve read that passage many times, but this is the first time I’ve really heard the message. Keep preaching to me brother. I love the challenge and seeing scripture in a new light. I want to cherish many things…sin isn’t one of them. O God, forgive me too, and show me if there is sin in my life that I’m cherishing.
That’s a great distinction. It kind of goes with 1 John’s competing ideas of “if you say you don’t sin you’re a liar…” and “if you keep on sinning you don’t know God…” We have to work on the sin daily, but always rely on God’s power to overcome. And when we do sin, the blood of Jesus cleanses us. Thanks for helping me see this better.