It is the goodness of God to forbid us from sin. It is the goodness of God also to describe sin for us in his moral law, so that we might know it when we see it and keep from it with all our might.

Not long ago our church studied through the Ten Commandments together. In preparation for considering this formidable and famous piece of Old Testament law, it was helpful for me to consider, or reconsider, the goodness of God in all that he does, including giving us the law.
More than just a list of do’s and don’ts, Jesus later summarizes all the law, including these “top ten,” in terms of love. So, we might well approach each commandment as an answer to this question first and foremost: how can I better love God and love my neighbor? And, like everything that God says and does in this world, it is for our good as well as his glory.
Read More

Related Posts:

.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{align-content:start;}:where(.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap) > .wp-block-kadence-column{justify-content:start;}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{column-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);row-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);padding-top:var(–global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);padding-bottom:var(–global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd{background-color:#dddddd;}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-layout-overlay{opacity:0.30;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}
.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

The only solution to dealing with your sin — whether for the first time ever or the hundredth time today — is to stop blaming others, stop running from a recognition of your guilt, and run to Jesus Christ who knows how to clean up the tangled mess of sin’s consequences in your life.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).
It’s not a pretty picture, but it’s true. You have seen someone trying to clean up their own mess before, and that this just ends up making things worse as long as they continue doing more of whatever caused the mess in the first place. If it is the Cat in the Hat’s “spot killing” war on the pink cake stain that started in the bathtub but ends up covering the snow in the front yard, it can be comical. If it’s Macbeth seeking in vain to solidify the kingship he obtained through murder, by committing many more murders, it is tragic.
But have you noticed the same trend in your own decisions? Or, for that matter, in humanity everywhere?
Read More
Related Posts:

Casting our burdens on the Lord means going to God while we are burdened, with the very things that are causing us to doubt Him, to get discouraged in prayer, to feel weighed down in real life. This is not just optimistically throwing your garbage up into the air, hoping against hope that it won’t just fall back down on your head. No, this is resting in the concrete assurance of your Creator God.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer … let your requests be made known to God (Philippians 4:6)
Prayer is the means God has given us for unburdening our souls. This is important to consciously, biblically affirm. Otherwise, we may feel weighed down with anxiety, with guilt, with discouragement, or with sorrow and yet have no solution for these soul burdens.
Does that perhaps describe you? As a Christian, you have a vague awareness in the back of your mind that we should not be constantly walking around with 1000-pound weights on our souls, but honestly you have forgotten lately what the biblical answer to this problem is.
Maybe you have tried the same things everyone at work or school is trying. “Escapism” seeks to avoid challenges by ignoring or entertaining them away. “Stoicism” tries to muscle or muddle our way through the pain by sheer force of will, or lack of feeling. Personal “problem-solving” determines to overcome issues in our own strength or wisdom. Or “positive thinking” attempts to conquer real problems with unrealistic optimism.
In the face of every human means of facing difficulties, Paul tells us give our burdens to God in prayer.
Read More
Related Posts:

The reality is we are all daily in need of confession and repentance, daily in need of counsel and accountability within the body of Christ, and daily in need of longsuffering grace in order to strive together as Christians. Do not put off this vital warning until tomorrow. As the writer of Hebrews reminds us, tomorrow may just be too late.

Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.—Hebrews 3:13
I was thinking this past week about cases where a person who has been a professed believer, maybe even a well-known Christian leader, falls into public sin or even apostasy, walking away from the Christian faith. Sadly, there have been many such cases in the news lately.
We often think, and maybe even say, afterward that in hind sight there were some tendencies we could see in that person’s life that led to their eventual demise:
“I did notice he treated his wife very coldly, so come to think of it adultery is not that surprising”,or“I do recall now that they were always seeking approval from people, so I suppose its only natural that they followed that bad crowd,”or“I did hear her constantly complaining about her circumstances, so I guess we shouldn’t be shocked that she ended up declaring she was angry with God and deciding not to be a Christian any more.”
But the fact is, those tendencies toward destructive sin, even apostasy, are alive in every one of us every day!

We must not put off until tomorrow the repentance that is needed today.

There is not a human alive who does not struggle every day with some sin that, if left unchecked, will bring him or her to spiritual ruin.
Read More
Related Posts:

I once heard a pastor relate the story of a conversation he had with a fellow passenger on a lengthy transcontinental flight. The pastor struck up a friendly dialogue with the man sitting next him. “What do you do for a living?” the man asked. The pastor shared that he had been in the ministry for many years, spoke of some of the specific blessings and challenges he had experienced, and then asked the man what his profession was. “I’m an actor,” the man replied. Knowing that acting can be a difficult and brutal industry to break into, the pastor inquired, “Have you had any success in that field?” The man answered, “Yes, I’ve had a pretty good experience so far.”
Afterward, when this fellow passenger got up from his seat, a lady nearby leaned over to the pastor and said, “What an opportunity, for you to get to sit next to him!” The pastor, not understanding the woman’s excitement, asked, “Why? Who is he?” The woman looked at him in disbelief and then simply said, “That is Tom Cruise.”
A Remarkably Unremarkable Man
Imagine sharing personal space with one of the most famous Hollywood stars in history, and not even being aware of the significance of the encounter! Yet, the people of Jesus’s day had an infinitely more momentous opportunity to rub shoulders with Immanuel himself. The town’s people watched Jesus grow up in Nazareth, and the Jewish leaders sat and visited with the young boy Jesus about religious questions in the temple. All the while, however, many of those with whom Jesus interacted had no idea that they were in the presence of the Messiah himself!
Among those who knew Jesus—or at least knew of Jesus—before Jesus began his public ministry, was a man named John. John was actually a member of Jesus’s own extended family. You see, a few months before Jesus’s own miraculous birth there was another remarkable birth. The baby—born to faithful Zachariah and Elizabeth—has come to be known as John the Baptist.