Re: [TruthTalk] Dead to Sin

[Terry Clifton]

ShieldsFamily wrote: Bob Dylan is Gary’s biggest hero, FYI.  He was supposedly a Christian at one point in his life, and wrote lyrics for Believers.  I have no idea what became of him since then.  Scripture doesn’t say “desire to serve”, but “serve”.  Big difference.  I’d say that’s what you do.  Even when tempted with internet porn.  Getting tempted isn’t a sin, as Jesus was also tempted.  Embracing the temptation is a sin, and that doesn’t sound to me like what you do.  Just get a better spam filter. Izzy   I guess we see sin a little differently, Iz.  In old testament times, the word sin was a term used by archers who were shooting arrows at targets.  They did not have a bulls eye to shoot at, just a mark on a tree or a stump or some such.  If they did not hit the target, they were said to have sinned.  That meant that they missed the mark.  Used Biblicly,   sin means that we have missed the mark set for us by God.  The mark for Christians is to be as perfect as our heavenly Father.  We all missed  that mark before we were saved and we will still miss it from time to time after giving our heart to Christ, just as King David, Moses, Peter, Abraham and others have.  The big difference that I see is that before Christ became my Lord and Savior,  I sinned and bragged about it.  My sin was deliberate.  Now when I sin, it breaks my heart and causes me shame, and is not deliberate.   Whether anyone else knows or cares is not the determining factor.  I have come short of the mark.   There is little consolation in  missing the mark by a narrow margin now when I once missed it by a mile.  I have still missed, and a miss is a sin., whether by an inch or a mile.  I was tempted and missed the mark.  Doesn't seem like a big deal compared to an ax murder, but both miss the mark.  Good thing God looks at the heart, huh? Terry