“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,” –Matthew 24:12 (NIV)

Frostbite is not a pleasant thing to have. It occurs when one has had prolonged exposure to subzero temperatures without adequate protection. As a result of this exposure to the cold, the blood vessels in the body begin to constrict; preventing the heart from pumping blood to the exposed areas. If not treated in time the affected areas can develop gangrene or even fall off as the skin tissue deteriorates. Frostbite has claimed the fingers, toes, and even limbs of soldiers fighting in freezing temperatures, scientists working in the frigid polar regions of the globe, and ordinary people who simply did not prepare for the cold. That is why we dress warmly before going out into winter’s chill; so that we are protected from the consequences of frostbite.

Sin is like frostbite to our souls. It slowly creeps into our being and in the process causes love to be cut off from our lives. While it may seem tantalizing at first, Satan uses sin to deceive us into thinking that bringing glory and pleasure to ourselves is the highest good. However, while we are being deceived, our wickedness will enslave us to destructive habits which will only bring pain and misery to ourselves and to others. Just as how frostbite causes limbs to fall off, sin will make sure that love is absent from our hearts as it directs us to the worship of ourselves. But as we see ourselves crumbling piece by piece through sin’s vicious work, we wonder if there is any way we can regain what was lost. Yet the great assurance is that there is healing and restoration through Christ. When we have allowed Him to enter our hearts and carry out His redemptive work in our lives, He will purge evil from our lives and clothe us in His righteousness. Through His death His blood has washed of our sin and through His resurrection we are given a new nature marked by His love. By being clothed with His Spirit and keeping in step with Him, sin will not gain a foothold and will thereby allow His love to shine brightly for all to see.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” –Colossians 3:14 (NIV)

People want to live in a world where love forms the basis of human relationships. It is a sentiment reflected in the lyrics of songs, in the aspirations of visionaries who dream of utopia, and in the goals of organizations which seek to promote peace in the world. However, history has shown that man is incapable of bringing about this perfect world where everyone acts in love towards one another. While it is truly a noble and admirable pursuit, our innate human sinfulness prevents us from realizing this desire that we have for a better world. What ends up happening is that selfishness and pride take over our minds; causing us to sabotage any attempts that humanity may undertake to create a world where love is paramount and where everyone lives together in harmony and peace.

In the face of this reality it is easy to fall into disillusionment and hopeless. But the wonderful truth is that there is hope for a better world. However, this hope does not stem from human action. Man has proven that he cannot bring Heaven on Earth. For this reason, God seeks to bring healing to this chaotic world. He is in the business of restoring us from our fallen state and breaking the bonds that our sinful nature has enslaved us to. That is why Christ had to die for us, so that by His blood we are cleansed of our sin and through His resurrection we adopt a new nature characterized by His righteousness. When we have allowed His Spirit to enter our hearts, He will carry out the work of making us like Him in His love. Just as how Christ has shown His sacrificial love for us in paying the penalty for our sins so that we may have life, that same love will animate us as we allow His Spirit to make it overflow from within our hearts. As children of Christ we are to love one another with the love which can only come from knowing Christ as Lord; giving those around us a glimpse of the hope that we have in Christ when He will complete His restorative work to make all things new, and reign on Earth.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

“But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” 1 Timothy 6:11 (NIV)

It is interesting that Paul would tell Timothy to flee from wickedness instead of fighting it head on. Perhaps the best way to fight sin in our lives is to run away from it. Too often we have the notion that we must suppress sin in our lives with our own hands and efforts. But such an attempt is like us trying to stop a speeding train by standing in front of it. Conquering sin is too great a task to accomplish by our own strength or willpower. That is why all that is required of us is to simply run from temptation. However, what often happens is that when temptation comes our way, we act like deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car; unable to move in time and thereby allowing sin to destroy us.

In the face of sin, our legs prove to be weak in running away from it. But there is hope in that our legs can be strengthened only by Christ’s work in our lives. When we have allowed Him to enter our hearts and seek to follow after Him, He will give power in our legs to flee from sin the moment it rears its head. If our eyes are focused on our sin and on us trying to overcome it, we will only find ourselves being pulled further and deeper into it. But if our eyes are fixated on Christ, we will find ourselves being drawn closer to Him as His Spirit works within us and perfects His righteousness within our hearts. With Him guiding our minds and our steps, we will know that to be in His presence is the safest defense against sin. Elevating our minds to the things of above, we will develop such a revolt for sin that we will want to flee from it; acknowledging that we can only do so by God’s strength alone.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

“Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. Then she called, ‘Samson, the Philistines are upon you!’ He awoke from his sleep and thought, ‘I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” –Judges 16:19-20 (NIV)

Samson had physical strength that was without parallel. He was well respected in Israel, but feared by Israel’s Philistine enemies. The strength Samson had been given to him by God on the condition that Samson not cut off his hair. But Samson also loved a woman named Delilah. The problem was however that Delilah was a Philistine spy whose sole mission was to find out Samson’s weakness and ensure that he would no longer be a threat. Relentlessly nagging Samson to tell him the secret of his strength, Delilah was finally able to discover Samson’s secret and cut off his hair unawares. When the Philistine ambush came, Samson was unable to defend himself for the Lord left him when he compromised his secret with Delilah.

The story of Samson and Delilah illustrates the struggle we often have with sin and temptation. Just as how Delilah continued to pressure Samson into telling her the secret of his strength, our sinful nature continues to demand that we give in to its desires. Under the weight of this pressure we, like Samson, are quick to surrender ourselves to temptation. However, though we may think that our momentary lapse into sin has had little effect on our strength, the reality is that sin has weakened our resistance to it. The moment we compromise with sin, it saps us of our ability to fight against it and we fall into its destructive clutches. If we think that we can resist temptation by solely relying on our willpower, we are sadly mistaken. Sin is too strong a force for us to resist it alone. But the wonderful hope is that Christ has overcome sin and death. When we have allowed Him to enter our hearts He will strengthen us by His Spirit to fight against the pressure that sin levels against us. It is only when we remain in Him that He will continue to provide us with His strength and though we may fall we can rest in the assurance that God will always give us a second chance; not taking advantage of His grace, but by His grace seeking to abide by His Spirit so that we may find true freedom in Him.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

‘“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’” –Matthew 26:41 (NIV)

Life as a student comes with its joys as well as its challenges. Perhaps one challenge which seems to be universal for students everywhere is working on essays and assignments late into the night. I remember times when I had to stay up all night in order to finish a paper due that morning. There were moments where I would wish that I could go to sleep, or at least shut my eyes. However, I knew that the moment I rested my head, I would fall deep into slumber and would not be able to finish my work. I had to pray to God for strength during those times. I knew that if I relied on my own willpower I would easily succumb to the temptation to fall asleep. But once I prayed to God to give me strength knowing that I could not carry on my own, He would always sharpen my mind and senses; giving me energy to finish my work in time and succeed by His grace.

In the same manner, how often have we wanted to let our guard down and allow temptation to lead us astray? Often times the allure of temptation is great and though we want to resist, part of us wants to indulge in sinful behaviour. Paul himself admits this struggle in Romans 7:15 when he writes that, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” We compromise with ourselves saying that a one-time tryst with sin will not harm us and that we can pull ourselves out whenever we choose to. But the reality is that once we give even the slightest allowance to sin in our lives, we have already gone too far. Sin has that nasty effect of sucking us into a downward spiral and taking us further down the path than we would be willing to go.

But where can we get the strength to fight against temptation? No matter how hard we try out of our own efforts, we always end up doing things that we do not want to do. The problem lies in the fact that we are inherently sinful and thus it is no wonder we are so vulnerable to sin because it is embedded in our nature. It is only when we have allowed Christ to enter our hearts that His blood cleanses us of our sin and we become clothed with His righteousness. Abiding in Him and keeping in step with His Spirit, He will give us the strength to walk the other way when temptation strikes and according to 1 Corinthians 10:13, “…He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” God will keep us vigilant and alert so that He may fulfil His perfect will for our lives and that we may dwell in the freedom which comes from knowing Him.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

“…but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!’” –Luke 24:5-6 (NIV)

At the centre of humanity is the resurrection. It is what believers in Christ on Easter have celebrated throughout the ages, and it is what continues to be celebrated around the world by those who proclaim Christ to be Lord. Without the resurrection, the redemptive mission of Christ loses its power and His sacrifice becomes irrelevant; bearing no transformative implications for our lives. While Christ died for our sins and we are forgiven and made right with God through His death, His sacrifice becomes a convenient excuse to continue living in sin if the story was just left at His crucifixion and burial. The purpose of Christ’s coming was not simply to cleanse us of sin, but to give us life and freedom from it.

When Christ arose from the tomb, there was something markedly different about Him. His resurrection resulted in Him gaining two things; a new body and a new nature. This nature was characterized by the righteousness which comes from God and it shone forth for all to see.  The old sinful nature was dead and buried, and God raised Jesus up to bring Him into newness of life and clothed with His holiness. But how does this relate to us? When we accept Christ and allow Him to come into our hearts, we become like Him in His resurrection. Through Him our old sinful nature has died and we are clothed by the righteousness which comes from God. Though we were once slaves to sin, we are now freed by becoming slaves of righteousness as we allow His Spirit to help us live according to the new nature He has given us. Have we become dead to our sin and entered into new life with Christ? In doing this we will find freedom from the destructive consequences of sin and allow Christ to raise us up; unshackling us from our depravity so that we will find liberty, hope, and life eternal in Him.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” –Romans 6:4 (NIV)

Rarely do we give a second thought to the burial of Jesus. In the wider Easter story the two main events are His death and resurrection. Yet when we come to the burial of Christ, how often do we treat it as a mundane detail of the story? On the surface there does not seem to be anything extraordinary about Jesus’ burial and we think nothing of it; anticipating the glorious resurrection soon after. But nothing that God does is devoid of meaning. To understand the significance of Christ’s burial is of prime importance in understanding the meaning behind His death and His resurrection. The burial is a key part of God’s plan of redemption and how we are to view our personal salvation.

When we accept Christ as our Saviour, we become like Him in His death, burial and resurrection. The sins of humanity were laid upon Him so that through His death the penalty for each and every one of our violations of God’s holy standards is paid in full. By His blood we are forgiven and stand cleansed before God. However, Christ was buried to show that through Him our old nature of sin has passed away to make room for the new nature of righteousness that is bestowed upon us from God in Heaven. Have we truly become like Christ in His burial? Have we left behind our sinful nature, or do we continue to return to it? When something is dead and buried, it is dead and buried for good. True repentance in Christ is only when we have asked for the forgiveness of our sins and, by identifying with His burial, not returning to them again. Doing this we will find real freedom from our slavery to sin; living instead in the joys and blessings which come form having our new nature through Christ.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.