“Watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you.” (Gen. 4:7). “Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55)
Lord Jesus, there are stretches when our emptiness and loneliness feel like the Grand Canyon demanding to be filled. Other seasons when our shame, anger, or pain seem more powerful than a team of stallions, or a nuclear reactor. That’s when we are dangerously vulnerable to any carpetbagger promising relief. More so, that’s when you must be our living Savior and deepest satisfaction. Otherwise, we are capable of anything.
Sin isn’t just “crouching at our door.” It also lives inside us—enticing, tantalizing, lying. It seeks to seduce, control, then destroy us. Sometimes sin allures us to satisfy our flesh, sometimes to justify our rage, sometimes to medicate our pain; but always to destroy us, and much more precious to you.
Jesus, that’s when, like Stephen, we must see you standing at our Father’s right hand—the hand that judged you in our place, and raised you for our justification. Hallelujah, for the Gospel. Hallelujah, for the riches of grace.
Sin crouches to control and destroy us; you stand to serve and save us. Jesus, you saved us from eternal separation; now save us from self-implosion. Sin’s pleasure is so brief, superficial, and fatal. But you, Jesus, are so true, good, and beautiful. So Very Amen.