I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your regulations. (Psalm 119:30 NLT) Obedience has been and always will be an active choice we make every day of our lives. We don't choose obedience once and that takes care of all the concerns we could ever have - it starts with the first step, but we never reach our desired destination with just one step in the right direction! The continual renewal of our act of obedience is necessary if we are ever to leave behind our past dealings with sin and the temptation to return to a former way of acting. If we want to grow in Christ, it requires us to live 'determined' lives. Not just 'determined' in the sense of being committed and focused, but 'determined' in the sense of having a clear destination in mind and not veering from that course. Too many times, we see God's path for us as a suggestion - choosing to figure out our own path to 'righteousness' somewhere along the way. That is nothi...
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. (I John 1:8-10 NLT) A claim is just an assertion that says something, but is it always backed up by fact? Not always. Miners back in the day tried to stake 'claim' to a vein of gold or silver because it declared it as theirs and no one else could 'lay claim' to that portion of the mining area. How many of those 'claims' left the miners physically spent and financially broke as all was said and done? Probably more than actually paid off big time. Claims don't have to always be backed by fact - they can be misguided beliefs that something exists when it actually does not! To 'claim' to have no sin in our lives is a fallacy straight out of...