Today, invite God to reveal your sin, set you free – and let His grace rule your life.
We would love to hear from you! Please send us your comments here.
SHAUNA: Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Do you ever struggle with sin? Of course you do, we all do! Now, when Joni struggles against sin, here’s the song she sings.
(Joni sings:)
Search me, O God, and know my heart today,
Try me, O Savior, please know my thoughts, I pray;
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.
JONI: Yep, it’s a song, it’s a prayer, and I’m not kidding, I find myself singing it almost every day. Because most of my spiritual struggle centers around my sin – becoming aware of it, confessing it, repenting from it, asking the Holy Spirit to help me not do it again; help me love Jesus more. Peter Kreeft once said, “There are only two kinds of people: saints, who know that they are sinners; and sinners, who think they are saints.” Well, I’m a saint who knows very, very well the sins that I commit and must turn from, as well as the sins I haven’t committed of which I know I’m capable of doing.
Man, if I lived during Old Testament times when I was a rebellious teenager fooling around as I did on Friday nights. Cheating on that chemistry exam. Or even the present, like nowadays: hogging the spotlight; not giving credit where credit’s due; keeping a record of my husband’s wrongs; cherishing inflated ideas of my own importance. And I could go on and on and on. Look, I fall so far short of God’s glory; I do more than my fair share of Old Testament sins for which I should be stoned; for which I should be sent out of the camp; for which there just isn’t enough blood from bulls and lambs and rams, and scapegoats to cover it all. And it’s why I am so, so, so, so grateful for my precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And His blood – the blood of Jesus – covers it all. And it’s why I say today, Jesus, help me not to sin. I have been saved, but I am still being saved from my sin, and I’ve got a long, long, long way to go.
It’s why the Bible says, “Train yourself in godliness.” Because so many of us struggle when it comes to doing the hard work of saying no to bad choices, peevish attitudes, sinful thoughts. So, how do we move forward? How do we do the hard work of saying no to sin and yes to God’s grace? Well, here is the easy, but difficult answer. After many decades of walking with Christ, I’ve learned this: The God of the Bible, as John Piper said, must become the blazing sun of the center of your daily life. Everything must revolve around Him. Simply put, God must be bigger than everything else in life. He also said that God must become the Niagara Falls of every little creek and rivulet in your life. He must become the Mount Everest among the foothills of the many things that concern you. Grace flowing like Niagara Falls and peace higher and greater than Mount Everest will be yours as you keep the Son of God in the center.
SHAUNA: So today, ask God to search you and know your heart; to try you and see if there’s any anxious way in you. Why? Because Jesus loves you.
© Joni and Friends