The coin

Coins are two sided and yet we only ever see one side of the coin at a time, unless we use a mirror to reflect the flip-side of the penny while viewing it. Our consciences are a tool which we have been given by God in spite of our sinful natures to keep us in check, especially as children of God. We know from Scripture that it is the Word of God that guides us into truth with God the Holy Spirit uncovering the areas of our lives which needs repentance. Those nagging zones which just don’t want to die! Ignore any sinful patterns for too long and a person’s conscience will eventually be seared the same way a hot iron dulls the nerve endings if accidentally touched; in like manner habitual sin will have a similar effect on the person involved, before long the sin that you despised will become the acceptable practice. If we have no fear of God when we habitually keep on sinning, we are of all men most foolish. Christ had conquered to free us from our bondage to sin. We are instructed to no longer live in it. In fact the Lord Jesus had this to say; “And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.” (Matthew 18:9) 

For us to be securely rooted upon the “rock that is higher than I”, (the Lord Jesus Christ, my beloved Saviour, the darling of heaven, the rose of Shannon and the Hero of all hero’s) we must have substance to our lives. There must be evidence to our claims of Christianity. Regardless of our failures, of which, over time and after my conversion I have travelled down the road of destruction. However there must come a time in every believer’s life where we take responsibility for our mistakes and cry out for grace in order that we like our great Saviour may also overcome the tests placed before us. It may well take us a lifetime with a particular sin but we must never take it lightly.

A man cannot claim salvation through the blood of the Lamb and continue as he once did. This would be a false conversion; an appealing thought some latch onto just to hedge their bets in case it is needed. Deception playing its part in that individual’s persona and the longer the pattern survives the worse off their conscience is seared. It then becomes an acceptable thing to believe that God will accommodate them on their own merits and because they verbally confess “Jesus as Lord” where in fact they obviously live a life of contradiction. Salvation should be a radical encounter; a person moving from total darkness into God’s marvellous light. If that’s not a radical experience then I am not sure we have understood anything. And I am not referring to our own pity filled light that we try to generate on own merits. With comments like, “I am not as bad as that person”, or “I give to the poor you know” - Blah-de-blah! – That is commonly known as a dead work, it will never generate eternal life, What I am referring to is a personal encounter with the living God which is so brilliant, darkness is forced to flee. God uncovers His glory and anything which opposes Him disintegrates into nothingness – Just a simple Word from HIM and destruction is imminent. For now, but for the grace of God, so much of what we see with our God given eyes remains as we see it. The sun rises and it sets day after day. However there is a day coming when the wrath of God will be revealed; the other side of the coin! Therefore it is crucial that we find grace to make straight that which is crooked in our lives.

It is not enough to have faith without works or works without faith. One without the other is not a true witness to an accurate convert, both faith towards God’s rescue and works must accompany our lives for us to have peace with God. We must strive against sin in our lives; no matter how long the same sin has knocked at our door. While we have breath we have hope, the one side of the coin, but there is a day coming when life as we know it will run its course, the other side of the coin – judgement after death or the wrath of God revealed here on earth as never witnessed before, whatever comes first…

Both sides of the coin (us as individuals) must be studied in detail, not by another, we must learn to examine our own lives and we will then soon cry out with David, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” (Psalms 51:1-3) - David understood his sin and his need to find forgiveness from God is obvious and the only way this will ever be possible is through a deliberate action of repentance and faith towards God. And just like Nathan the prophet was needed to highlight David’s sin in order for his change of heart to kick into gear, his own conscience was not enough. Someone had to man-up and confront the king in spite of the potential consequence. The gospel is all we really have for a dying world; it is the good news that should be on the tip of our tongues for it is the only truth that will free us from bondage. We all have a responsibility to be accurate with that message, God requires it from us! Freely we have received and now we must learn to freely give to others. We must never skirt the sin issues in our lives or the lives of others. Sin is what has kept us from a relationship with the true God of the universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Just as the Lord Jesus laid down his life for us whilst we were still enemies of the cross, we must also follow suit if we are to have the joy of the Lord evident in our lives. There is a day coming when the wrath of God will be revealed and this is part of the gospel message that must never be skirted. It is the other side of the coin.

God help us to be bold in these last days with that message and our willingness to find grace to break the shackles of sin.

Signing off

Tyrone