It is difficult for a Christian to withstand temptation is it not? The Bible states that God always provides a way to escape temptation but I often find that it eludes me. Could it be that I am not looking hard enough for my avenue of escape?
I was talking to a close friend the other day and let something slip that I immediately wish that I had not said. My remark was not without coarse humor mind you, but as my friend is well aware, funny or not, I am trying to remove this type of talk from my being. When I apologized to him and stated that I did not think I would ever whip this particular problem, he (having known me for many years and knowing that I have struggled with trying to conquer this particular problem the entire time he has known me), good-naturedly agreed.
“Perhaps my family was right about me and I am just a bad seed”, I sadly remarked to him. He laughed, but to my consternation he agreed with me again. My friend was well aware of the origination of the “bad seed” remark. What I was referring to was one time when I was a teen my mother called a family meeting after I had yet again gotten into some serious trouble. My father, mother, brother, and I were present; my mother was at the head of the table and I was at the foot of the table and she was staring me down with piercing eyes. My brother and father were on opposite sides of the table and were also staring me down and looking intently upon me with disgust. The purpose of the meeting was to determine why I could not behave and why I was always in trouble. My mother went around the table asking each of us for our thoughts as to why I was such a disaster. When she got to my brother, he shrugged his shoulders and stated, “I dunno, bad seed I guess”, and of course all thought it was very funny and particularly clever, (even me).
My brother’s analysis may not be so far from the truth and before you get too smug about my situation you might read your Bible, especially the part whereby it emphatically states that all of humanity has inherited sin from Adam and from Eve. We all are “bad seeds”. The Bible states that we are all guilty and not one person who has ever lived is without sin. Beginning with Adam and Eve sin was passed from generation to generation right through today. Jesus Christ is the only person who ever lived who lived a perfect life entirely devoid of even one sin.
God is righteous, just and holy and according to His royal laws all sin must be punished. Thank God for Jesus Christ as He willingly took our rightful punishment for every sin that each of us, (who have accepted Him as our Savior), has ever committed. Jesus was the innocent Lamb of God devoid of sin who deserved no punishment, rather a vast reward and yet He willingly paid a heavy price for our sins. His sacrifice was the only acceptable payment for our sins and without it we can never be reunited with God.
When I am tempted and fail, I realize that I have let Jesus Christ down. When I reflect upon what He did for me on the cross, I am ashamed when I let Him down. Unfortunately the flesh is weak, but the spirit is pure and strong and one day the weak vessel in which we reside will be replaced with a perfect glorified body. That day when we reunite with our Savior all sin will be removed permanently and will haunt us no more and our “bad seed” status will be gone forever. Christians have spiritually been born again as “good seeds” directly descended from our Father Jesus Christ Himself. Our days of sin committed in the flesh derived from bad seeds will soon be completely gone replaced by the perfection of our Father who is the personification of love.
Now that thought should put a smile on your face for the rest of the day and make you more determined than ever not to let Him down today and to look for that way of escape when temptation comes knocking.
1 Thess. 5:9
For God did not appoint us to
wrath, but to obtain salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us that whether we
wake or sleep we should live
together with Him.
Bad seed
Feb
20
2008
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Feb
20
2008
Posted in, Forgiveness