4-Letter Word

Hebrews 12:2-4 (NIV)
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Wow...think of how many lessons and principles can be extrapolated from this small chunk of scripture. My mind is racing! I'm going to try to focus and make this as brief as I can for the sake of my newly reformed ways of blogging. Let's focus in on verse 4.

How many Christians do we know who are struggling with sin? How many times have we struggled with sin? How can this be? Weren't we saved and delivered from the ignominy of sin altogether when we accepted the redeeming glory of the Cross? Why do so many Christians still struggle with sin then? The problem is found in a simple 4-letter word - with.

The scriptures states that we should struggle against sin, not with it. Why is this so important? What's in this 4-letter word? "With" is defined as: accompanied by; in some particular relation to; characterized by or having. In understanding what the word "with" implies, it becomes clear why Christians shouldn't struggle with sin.

When we accept the gift of grace, we proclaim a breaking of ties with sin, we denounced our relationship with sin, and we come to the realization that we are no longer characterized by sin. We are dead and it is Christ who lives through us! Our lives are now characterized by Christ. For this reason, we have been called to struggle against sin; to be in opposition of and in resistance to sin. Which brings us to the second half of the verse – the importance of resistance.

I dare to say that no one you have ever known has ever resisted anything to the point of shedding blood for it. And yet this is the level of resistance that is expected of us, if need be, when it comes to our struggle against sin. The truth is that we may never have to push resistance to such a severe degree. Most of us need to merely turn our eyes away from the half-naked woman on the billboard or go about or business when casual conversation turns into murmuring. But we must allow our willingness to resist to develop through the Holy Spirit.

God can only grow us through the testing of our faith. And as Dr. Edwin Louis Cole points out in, “The Power of Potential”, all testing is based on resistance. Whatever you give into in life grows stronger, while what you resist grows weaker. YOU MUST RESIST SIN! The Word says to flee its very appearance. Run away if need be. You must make the decision to have no association with sin.

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you" James 4:7 It's time to stop struggling with sin, and start struggling against it. It's through the struggle against sin, total submission to God, that the character of Christ can be developed in our lives.

IN GOD WE TRUST

"The motto IN GOD WE TRUST was placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment existing during the Civil War. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many appeals from devout persons throughout the country, urging that the United States recognize the Deity on United States coins. From Treasury Department records, it appears that the first such appeal came in a letter dated November 13, 1861. It was written to Secretary Chase by Rev. M. R. Watkinson, Minister of the Gospel from Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, and read:

Dear Sir: You are about to submit your annual report to the Congress respecting the affairs of the national finances.

One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.

You are probably a Christian. What if our Republic were not shattered beyond reconstruction? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION; within the ring the allseeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW.

This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.

To you first I address a subject that must be agitated."

Read the full story.

The irony of the Rev. M.R. Watkinson's suggestion is that what was once meant for the acknowledgment of The Almighty has become an overlooked statement imprinted on the very thing that most people find themselves placing their trust in - the almighty dollar.

The state of our economy is at the top of the list of platforms for this coming election's presidential hopefuls. The falling U.S. dollar is a concern for all those involved in global trade. The fear of America being picked apart by countries to whom we are in debt weighs heavy on the back part of the minds of every hard-working American.

The American Dream is fast becoming nothing more than a fantasy to a nation who's people are individually in debt up to their eyeballs. We're wasting our lives at jobs we don't like to pay for things we don't really need. Materialism will only last a lifetime and is never worth the sacrifices we make to gain the money to sustain it's hold on us.

Money is just a concept. Purchasing goods and services with pieces of paper and metal is merely an idea that we place faith into. If we're not careful, chasing money becomes its own religion with money itself as our god and materialism as the lifestyle of worship to this god. Money is a god who's value always changes. But Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8).

If every bill and coin disappeared from my pocket and bank account today, my trust would remain in Christ. If tomorrow there was no food in my house or no roof over my family's head, my trust would still remain in Christ. My job is not my source. My paycheck is not my source. God is my source for all.

No matter what sort of financial need you might be in as you read this, God's desire to meet your need remains the same. No matter how bleak the situation may seem, God knows what he is doing. Trust Him enough to let Him do what He needs to do through your circumstance.

Although the value of the U.S. dollar may not be the same as it was in 1861, always remember that God is as worthy of our national motto today as he was then - IN GOD WE TRUST.