The ease of favored sin and matters of free will

(Just a forewarning: I have the feeling this is going to turn into a long essay.)

Sin and the rejection of sin is and always has been a matter of will. Our will. We make choices primarily based on desire. One might argue against this by saying, "What about when we do things we do not want to do? For example, a child cleaning his room after being told to when he would rather go outside" The child, though he desires to go outside has a conflicting desire that trumps this. The desire to obey his parents. Or his desire to not get spanked or otherwise punished for disobeying. The fact is that all of our choices are based on our desire whether it is a conscious desire or subconscious one.

Sin, by definition, is the rejection of God's way and the acceptance of our way...The way of the self. In some instances it is easy to reject sin and go God's way because our predominant desire is the same as God's way. For instance, I have no trouble avoiding getting drunk because I hate alcoholic beverages and think that pretty much all of them taste like I would expect battery acid to taste like. So, because I desire not to drink these things it easy to avoid drunkenness. However, when our predominant desires oppose the way of God that is when sin can more easily creep into one's life. I have an incredibly hot fiancee. I would love to be able to have sex with her....a lot. However, God's Word makes it quite clear that premarital sexual relations are not good. Thus, premarital sex is a much more difficult sin to overcome because I desire this so much.

We must choose. We must prioritize as a child subconsciously prioritizes. Is our own desire a higher priority than God's desire for us? or vice versa? Why?


Romans 9:18-23(NASB)

18So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He ^(AJ)hardens whom He desires.
19^(AK)You will say to me then, "^(AL)Why does He still find fault? For ^(AM)who resists His will?"
20On the contrary, who are you, ^(AN)O man, who ^(AO)answers back to God? ^(AP)The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?
21Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
22What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much ^(AQ)patience vessels of wrath ^(AR)prepared for destruction?
23And He did so to make known ^(AS)the riches of His glory upon ^(AT)vessels of mercy, which He ^(AU)prepared beforehand for glory,

I posit that we do not think about why we do things enough. Why we make the choices we make, why we prioritize in the manner in which we do, etc. An obedient child recognizes parents' authority. Do we recognize God's authority as not only Heavenly Father, but also our Creator and one who determines what is good and right?? This the ultimate question in regard to sin. This is the question that is answered when we choose either to reject sin or to reject God.

There are two choices God and the self. We make our choices and prioritize in the manner that we do because we either want to glorify God or glorify the self. One might argue, "What about when a person loves [so called love] a person so much that they practically worship that other person. This is not glorifying self, but it might be glorifying God right?" Wrong. God wants us to worship and to follow only Him. He wants us to love and to put others above ourselves, but devote more time and energy toward another person or people or thing than to God is to deify that thing or person and to make them/it an idol. "What about Mother Teresa? She devoted all of her time and energy to other people in a loving manner." Here is where I think the matter gets sticky. There is a line that is thin in appearance between doing things for others as an act of worship toward God(Mother Teresa), and doing things for others as an act of worship to one's self or to that person. Mother Teresa devoted her life to others because she saw Jesus in all others. She devoted her life, therefore, to Jesus not to people. She chose God over herself. She chose to serve Christ.

There is no justification for sin other than God's glory. [you just said "what?"] All things exist for the glory of God, even sin. What if God let people who glorify themselves through sin live? What if he allowed atrocities such as the Holocaust and the murders and tortures committed by Saddam Hussein in order to make His own glory known to those whom He chose to reveal it to?

i.e.:

22What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much ^(AQ)patience vessels of wrath ^(AR)prepared for destruction?
23And He did so to make known ^(AS)the riches of His glory upon ^(AT)vessels of mercy, which He ^(AU)prepared beforehand for glory,

19^(AK)You will say to me then, "^(AL)Why does He still find fault? For ^(AM)who resists His will?"


20On the contrary, who are you, ^(AN)O man, who ^(AO)answers back to God? ^(AP)The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?
21Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

I'm ready...

I'm ready to be more broke than I've ever been before, I'm ready to work harder than I've worked before, I'm ready to have fights and work through them, I'm ready to be so downtrodden that i have no other choice but to go to God and know that the Holy Spirit in me can do all things, I'm ready to be married and recognize even that this state of 'readiness' itself is not actual readiness, but is faith. It is knowing that God is with us, & that we are born of Him for Him.

John 1:12-13
12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.