O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of His saints; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 97:10

It’s unreasonable to think that I can love God and sin at the same time, but I sure do try. My sinful flesh clings to sin because it loves it. I want to be faithful and love God with all my heart, like His commandment says, but the love of sin is always there. It sticks to me like Montana gumbo.

God repeats this call so many times in his Word because Jesus knows what temptation is like. Having lived it, He understands it, but still He calls me to repent and leave it behind.

So He says, “…let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith...”
Hebrews 12:1-2

Lord Jesus, you know how sinful desire clings to me, weighs me down and trips me up. Thank You for coming to walk through the temptations with me, and for understanding how susceptible I am to them.
Thank You for being the perfect, sinless sacrificial lamb to redeem me from the guilt of it all.
Thank You for the forgiveness that covers me, and thank You for giving me the strength to lay those desires aside today, and follow You.
Thank You, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Dan Giles