When Sin Numbs the Mind

During the Easter celebrations of 2010, I attended an inter-denominational ecumenical service at one of the churches in Kitwe.

During the delivery of the homily, the preacher's theme was on "How Sin Numbs the Mind".

The story of the creation of man by God, in the Book of Genesis of the holy Bible, tells us that man was initially born without sin.

This remained so for sometime, until the serpent (Satan) tempted Eve, the wife of Adam, to eat the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden. Later on, Adam was made to eat the same fruit. God was angry with Adam and Eve and he chased them from the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 3).

God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to come and live a human life.

He was crucified as a condemned criminal and nailed on the cross at Calvary. He died on the cross and was kept in a tomb, whereupon, He rose from the dead after three days.

The Christian faith's foundation is in the belief that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour.

This is the forgiveness of our sins at the cross, where Jesus Christ took away all mankind's sin.

The crucifixion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ marked the beginning of our new covenant with God.

When a man is born again, satan will find a way to deceive him, just as he did to Eve and Adam. Satan disguises himself as an angel of light in order to deceive man.(2 Corinthians 11,14.). He is a liar, destroyer and a killer.

When man commits a sin, there is always a "voice" which tells him that what he is doing is wrong. This voice is the word of God. Conscience is a feeling of shame when you do something immoral.

Consider a pickpocket who snatches wallets from unsuspecting people. On the first occasion of doing it, he will have a feeling of shame and fear.

As time goes on, he gets used to the vice and his mind becomes numb to the shame of doing it. Later on, he becomes so daring that he even uses force to snatch property from people without shame.

When he starts his criminal life, the voice of God (conscience) is loud and he has a feeling of shame. As he continues in the vice, the voice becomes fainter and fainter until it is no longer "audible" to him.

This is true for any other sin such as adultery, murder and cheating.

The Bible tells us that "we should not be deceived: God can not be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction ; the one who sows to please the Spirit (of God) will reap eternal life" ( Galatians 6 , 6 -7).

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." (Galatians 5 , 16) For the price of sin is death.

Man has the ability to reject sin through the word of God, which is sharper than any double edge sword. (Hebrew 4,12)

One should not be like an "unintelligent horse or mule which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle" (Psalm 32, 9)

Scripture from the NET Bible

http://bible.org/netbible/