"Sin pretends to bring milk and butter in a lordly dish, as Jael did to Sisera, but the hammer and nail is in its heart and hand. They who serve diverse lusts are deceived, as the Apostle says (Titus 3:3) All the servants of sin are deceived, not of sin's wages, but by sin's promises. Though they sport themselves, while they play and nibble at the bait like silly fishes, it is only to their own deceiving, for an evil heart has deceived them (2 Peter 2:13). Therefore the Apostle exhorts us to take heed lest we be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). Sin's first work is to deceive us, and when it has thereby drawn us in, it hardens and so destroys us."Ralph Venning (1621-74)
When we see the many and mass atrocities committed through all of history, we see the depth and magnitude of sin. God hates sin, I believe, not because it offends Him and his holiness, but because He is love and sin causes sorrow and griefs to man; and like we would recoil in horror if someone were to attack or oppress one of our own children He does likewise and has made a plan to change the heart of man to overcome evil in our own lives and the tyranny of sin perpetrated against others. As Christians, we must also beware of our hearts being hardened and so our effectiveness destroyed.
Photo by Biliana Rakocevic
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