"Through Thick and Thin"

"I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad." (Psalms 119:96)

  If there is something you are looking for here in this life that shows perfection, good luck with that; this world we are living in is a fallen world, all that was good before the fall has been corrupted by sin, and perfection was destroyed the moment Adam disobeyed God's command. This might be the stumbling block for many who put their hopes in anyone else but Jesus Christ, making those that are flawed and human out to be perfect and infallible. I can't remember where I heard this, but sin enters our hearts as easy as picturing pink elephants enters our minds, when we are told not to think of them. The harder we try not to sin, the easier it is for sin to enter our hearts. It is as if sin gets stronger the more we focus upon the commandments of God. That is the whole point Paul makes in his picture of sin living in him, given in Romans 7:14-25. We cannot control sinful desires by thinking about controlling the sinful desires; it is a loosing battle that is not going to end well. I know I have brought this up before, but why did God place the thing forbidden in the middle of the Garden? It sure made thinking about it pretty easy to do, and the temptation was pretty hard to miss. There is another end of every single commandment of God, the end that makes perfect sense and gives life. When we focus upon the part that is our requirement, we are taken to the point of failing almost every time; but when we focus upon the part that is our benefit, we are taken into the place of security in God...

"Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, "You must not covet." But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, and I died. So I discovered that the law's commands which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good. But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So you see how terrible sin really is. It uses God's good commands for its own evil purposes." (Romans 7:7-13) NLT