No believer would answer 'yes' to this question but the reality is that the majority of us have accepted a certain level of sin in our lives. How about you?

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Do you watch anything on TV or the internet that you wouldn't want shown on a jumbo screen in front of your whole church?

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What about your thought life? Do you harbour thoughts that you don't like to talk about? Do you 'fudge' on your taxes or on your tithing?

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Let's face it, the world is spiraling down... fast. The enemy is pouring on his attack through every vehicle he has in order to erode families and the church. We in the Western world are being deluged with sex, rebellion, violence, drugs and new age philosophies and unfortunately our response too often has been to give in... even if just a little.

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Perhaps for many of us, it is a matter of taking the grace of our Lord for granted. When we get inoculated with grace, we get lazy, saying to ourselves, 'I am saved so I don't have to worry about living completely holy" Romans chapter 6 admonishes us not to take grace for granted.

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God says, "Be holy for I am holy." (1 Pet 1:16) Hebrews 12:14 says, "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." In Ephesians 1:4 we are told that we should be holy and without blame before God.

So what is holiness? To be holy means to agree with God. Do all of your thoughts agree with God? How about your words? What about your choices and decisions? We need to make sure that all of these line up with God's Word because it says, that we will not see the Lord unless He finds us in holy living when He returns.

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Holiness in thought, word and deed will make us so different than the rest of the world that we'll be labelled as weird, but there again, God says, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light:" (1 Pet 2:9)

But it's Just Between Me and God... Right?

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Well you are half right! When we sin, it is ultimately between us and God but not in the way most people think. God is not some schoolyard accomplice that is sworn to protect your career-making heist of 3 packs of Juicy Fruit swiped from the corner 7-11. He says in His word that ALL things will be made manifest... even our private thoughts... NOTHING will be hidden. (See Psalms 69:5 and 1 Cor 4:5) Certainly He is not going to keep hush hush on any deliberate and willful sin. We will have to give account to Him of everything we have thought, said or done.

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A young man approached a woman at a social gathering. As they chatted over a cup of Coca-Cola, they expressed to each other that they were Christians... instant connection. Because of the comfort level the young man had developed with sin, he was quite brazen in suggesting that he and the woman go back to his place for a tryst. The woman of course was quite offended. The young man, unshaken by her immediate response, simply suggested that everything would be okay because, "God will forgive us". Most of us may not treat the grace of our Lord and Saviour with that level of contempt but we often have a similar attitude. We will let our hearts, minds, words or actions stray where they should not and we slough it off, saying to ourselves, "Oh, it's no big deal and it's just between Me and God.

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When we take this attitude, a wall starts to be constructed between us and God. Every time we sin it is like another brick is added to this wall between us and His perfect will. If this continues, it will reach a point where the wall prevents us from even sensing His presence and unless it is torn down through repentance and renewal of the mind, we eventually won't know His presence again until we stand before Him at the judgment seat. Then, each brick of that wall will weigh in at ten tonnes of regret. In addition to losing blessings and suffering consequences on earth, we will lose heavenly rewards and perhaps even our place in the Lamb's book of life.

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Think about the brief enjoyment that sin and compromise offer in comparison to the eternal consequences and think of the eternal rewards for overcoming the flesh and persevering to the end. The rewards certainly outweigh the temporary discomfort of cleaning up our lives and aligning them to God's Word. We encourage you to start making that step today.