DECEMBER 24 "WHAT ARE REALLY BAD SINS?"

You ever notice that when God is dealing with His children about their sin, He rarely mentions alcohol, pornography and drugs.  Not to say that any of those are not bad, they are bad, really bad. My own parents divorced over alcoholism. Alcohol, porn & drugs divide and ruin families all the time. We know that they are bad and can become addictive, but they are also, in many ways, superficial sins. Again, for some, alcohol, porn & drugs are way more than superficial, they are deep strongholds in their lives, but they are the exception to the rule. On average, those who do come to Christ are quickly delivered of these sins. When I became a Christian, I was forgiven and set free. I was not off behind the church smoking pot before service, I had no desire anymore. You'll find that often when God is dealing with His people about their sins, He is dealing with issues that He sees are deeply rooted in our hearts. And that is..., our selfishness, prejudice, hatred, bigotry, envy and simply how we treat each other. We oppress one another, we ignore the needy among us while we self indulge ourselves in exuberance. We hate, we are unforgiving, violent, cruel and often unmerciful towards one another. (Just think how many people spend Christmas alone every year because someone in the family is mad at them, angry, envious or does not want to forgive) When God looks at humanity what He sees in us that makes us sinners is not some stupid 14 year old with orange hair smoking weed in a park, He sees adults who no longer have orange hair and smoke pot, but still hate and live all to themselves not caring about anyone but themselves. God has no problem cleansing us from our superficial sins, it's those deeply rooted sins of the heart that seem not to go away. Cussing normally goes, drunkenness normally goes but our anger and disregard seems to stay. Ask any Pastor, the #1 problem in any church is not drugs & alcohol or even porn, it's the Saints tearing each other apart. It's divisiveness,, contention & strife. Often times when someone refers to another person saying, "they have a good heart" what they often mean is NOT, "they don't snort coke anymore" but rather what they mean when they say "he/she has a good heart" is that they treat people well, are courteous & caring of others. God's judgment against the Jews in Hezekiah's day was that they had "bad hearts". No regard for one another whatsoever. Look at yourself today, you may have cleaned up well on the outside, you may have been set free of some superficial sins, but how are you doing with the deeper issues of the heart? Has God been able to reach down into that heart and rip out the true sins, the really bad sins? Circumcision is still the way, and it hurts. Circumcision of what? We know, circumcision of the heart, but it is just as painful an operation, if you truly let God cut all that extra flesh out, it will hurt, but that's where true conversion comes!