Why Should I Want To Overcome Sin?
Why didn’t God just create a perfect world in the first place? Is He not able to create a perfect world? Did God create the world mostly perfect and is now trying to make it completely perfect (eradicating sin etc)? But wait… that would imply God does not have complete mastery over sin… but scripture says He does have mastery over all things… nothing happens without His permission. I’m confused!
There is a very good and important reason why you should overcome sin.
To Answer Lets Go Back to the Beginning…
John 1:1-4 You might think the oldest event recorded in the bible is the creation sequence in Genesis 1 but lots went on before that. Here we have a record of two… always existing… with no beginning & no end (John 17:5; 1 John 1:2).
At this point there was nothing else but two self existent personages… they had perfect minds… they had perfect unity and harmony… there was no completion or striving between them.
We also see that their minds and actions were creative and they made stuff. We understand that creativity through our own minds which are in the image of God. We manipulate materials to make stuff. How? We plan… we design… likewise with God.
The Harmony of God
Is harmony some sort of eternal spirit principle that God has to follow? Like gravity operating in the physical realm? No, God is not answerable to some higher principle that he has to abide by or face the consequences. The harmony and oneness of God is simply who they are. Their character, their mind, their nature, and their example is the principle.
Since they are not compelled to act harmoniously you could say they are FREE to act otherwise if they so desire… but they do not desire to act otherwise. Is simply not who they are.
1 Corinthians 15:24-28 / John 17:20-23 (harmony and oneness is what God wants for us too)
The Creativity of God
In similar fashion you could say they are not compelled, or required to create… but they do! They act of their own free will to create things non living (like rocks, gravity, galaxies) and things living (angels, mushrooms, polar bears). For the moment let’s focus on: a planet (called earth) and angels.
Genesis 1:1 in the beginning God created the universe and within that universe a planet we call earth (Isaiah 45:18). And the universe He created was perfect… it had matter, energy, laws, etc. and the matter was also created such that it could be living or non-living… perfect for the purpose it was intended.
We might think this is the next recorded event after John 1:1 but its not… Job 38:4-7 the angels had already been created. They were not made of matter, not subject to the laws that governed matter, they were formed of something called spirit. The angels were also created perfect and without flaw for the purpose they were intended.
These perfect angels jumped for joy when they saw the earth created. It was a perfect place for them to live in perfect harmony. God did not create a fatally flawed world filled with confusion and desolation. God created a perfect world.
Angels on Earth
2 Peter 2:4 (weak trans)God did not spare the angels who sinned but in chains of darkness confined them until the judgment reserved for them… even perfectly created beings in a perfect environment could lead to sin. The inference from Revelation 12:4 is that 1/3 of the angels were affected by this sin and rebellion.
How would angels sin? The biblical definition of sin is breaking the laws or commandments of God. So they must have violated God’s law. Which means there must have been some sort of administration of God’s law and rule on this earth populated by angels.
Jude 6 indicates they went beyond the positions of authority or administration God had given them. They are now confined and restrained. The place they are confined to… is earth.
Isaiah 14:12-14 notice that morning star elsewhere called Lucifer had a throne (seat of administration or authority) but desired to leave his ordained position and compete for something higher… supreme leader/exalting himself over God or as equal to God… but he is cast down and there is great destruction on the face of the earth.. a state of confusion, a wasteland that was later to be renewed by God (Gen 1:2)
Lucifer has a different approach compared to that of the Father & the Son. Instead of harmony Lucifer acted as an adversary… instead of cooperation he wanted to compete with God. What drove him to this is not explicitly stated but is apparent throughout scripture… a mixture of vanity and false reasoning… envy, jealousy, bitterness, love of self rather than love of others.
Satan’s way is also the way of a destroyer rather than a creator.
Was Lucifer Set Up to Fail? Was He Created With a Fatal Flaw Built-in?
· Ezekiel 28:12 Lucifer was a being created perfect
· Ezekiel 28:13 a created being
· Ezekiel 28:14 had a place at the throne of God (Exodus 25:16-20 pattern of heavenly things)
· Ezekiel 28:15 he became wicked and sinned
Lucifer was the very best that God could create by decree or command… all the necessary wisdom, beauty, surely he received training and instruction at the actual throne of God… he could think, reason, make decisions, perhaps even having foreknowledge of results and consequences. His name means bringer of light… so he was probably tasked with teaching or administering God’s rule and law among others. But he turned away to lawlessness and became the adversary (satan).
Lucifer was not set up to fail or compelled to be evil. God his creator did not write evil somewhere deep down in his makeup so it would bubble up at some later date. There were other angels made of the same stuff as him… and they did not become evil. In the same way Lucifer was not compelled or programmed to obey. He chose not to remain in harmony, oneness and cooperation with God.
Some things cannot be created by command or decree… like harmony and agreement. If harmony is commanded and enforced then it becomes something very different from harmony and agreement. If God gives me life and says “live in harmony with me or else you will be punished”… is that harmony, or is that fear? 1 John 4:18 read context (verses 16-21)
God’s Creativity Moves Forward!
God could simply let all His created beings live free… some free to live in love and harmony… some free to live in disagreement and competition. But then God’s creation would by definition not be harmonious. Example: If we have a group of ten people and a few of you disagree then the group is by definition not in harmony.
You are living in just such a world right now… a world of disagreement and competition… a world of love and hate… a world of freedom and of fear. And God your creator wants you to make a choice. Do you want to walk in harmony, peace, oneness with God or not? Ephesians 6:12
Disagreement, jealousy, hate, competition will be judged, condemned and done away. But, for now God patiently allows these things to “co-exist” to fulfill an even greater purpose than the creation of the universe… or the creation of angels… God allows these things to co-exist for the greater purpose of creating you. Creating children in His own likeness and kind. Children who through choice and decision develop the same mind… the same attitude… the same character as the Father and the Son. Philippians 2:5 / Romans 12:2 to set yourself on a trajectory that will never falter or fail… and needs never fear because you are set in the way of love, harmony and creativity.
God Is Creating Children
God has given you a mind like His… only limited and scaled down. Its composed of matter not spirit so that it has a built-in end point (about 30,000 days). After a given number of years or days your chromosomes will unravel, your cells will stop replicating themselves and your body will die.
But you also have a spirit in you… a human spirit. Everybody has one, so you’re nothing unique. The spirit in you does not have life in and of itself. When you die it returns to God. He keeps it. Like a book on a shelf… a record but not alive.
What’s unique is the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in a person… Maybe that’s you, maybe you have yet to request and receive God’s Holy Spirit. That Holy Spirit is the seed… a seed of eternal life planted in you. It’s God’s gift of eternal life in you right now. Its working with your spirit to bring about a wonderful new creation… a spirit born child of God… who chooses what is good and will not be persuaded otherwise.
Today what you are is encased in a frail body made of matter… but now you are being prepared to one day receive a body composed of spirit… filled with permanent and eternal life… in a state of harmony and creativity with God your Father… an ever-expanding way of love and harmony with no end.
That is why you should WANT to overcome sin!
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