7 Deadly sins (Wrath)

Wrath; Vengeance or punishment as the consequence of anger.

Back in the 80's there was a Star Trek movie called "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan".

It has a ring to it doesn't it?

Khan wouldn't have sounded nearly as threatening if the title was "Star Trek II: The anger of Khan", or "Star Trek II: Khan is really mad now".

That just doesn't work as well. That's because the word "Wrath" has some weight behind it.

When we hear the word, we get a picture in our minds don't we?

Wrath is something that we fear from others, but we fantasize about those that have wronged us, suffering under our wrath…….maybe that's just me.

So why is wrath considered a deadly sin? If someone has wronged you then they deserve your wrath right?

Well, there are a couple of problems with that.
1.) In the Bible, God says, "Vengeance is Mine". That's fairly self-explanatory.
2.) When Jesus was asked how many times we are to forgive someone who has wronged us, His answer was 70 times 7 (That's 490 times). Nobody has ever wronged you more than that……deal.
3.) When we seek vengeance on someone who hurt us, we never truly seek to just get even, it's always done with the intent of hurting them slightly worse than they hurt us just so they are certain that we got the best of it.

God tells us that He is just and He will deal with people on His terms. Wrath tells God that we have a better way of handling it than He does.

Do you see the danger?

If God created us (and I believe He did), then where do we get off telling Him that we have a better way of handling those that have wronged us. He created us. I think He should probably have the say so on vengeance.

What if you baked a cake and you made it exactly how you wanted it, and when you put the cake on the table it stood up and started telling you that you didn't mix the ingredients correctly, and the oven heat wasn't set right.

The first thing you should do is call a psychiatrist, but after you hung up the phone you would smash that cake and throw it in the garbage.

"No cake I made is gonna talk to me like that"!

I know it's a crazy example but it truly is the same thing when we tell God that our wrath is just what the doctor ordered.

Let's let God be God and we can just spend our time forgiving those who have wronged us, and trying not to wrong anyone else.

Wrath is a heavy word…….and I just don't think we have the strength to support it.

Forgiveness.

That has a pretty good ring to it as well.

7 Deadly sins (Greed)

My wife and I took the kids to this annual sale at the local high school this last weekend and my son found this Pac-Man game that plugs right into the TV, for $1.00.

Some of you reading this are like, "What's Pac-Man"?

If you said that, you need to wash your mouth out with soap, and not just any soap, Lifebuoy.

Pac-Man is one of the greatest video games ever invented.

We used to hang out at this corner store after elementary school and drop quarters into that game like our life depended on it.

We got to be fairly good at the game but I had a downfall.

It was no doubt a downfall that plagued millions of unsuspecting kids world-wide.

Some of you know what I'm talking about.

It was the fruit.

You see, on every level there was a moment when a cherry, or an orange, or some other random piece of food popped up on the screen and if you ate it, points were rewarded.

The goal of the game was to clear the screen, the fruit was just a bonus.

But the fruit was so tempting.

How many times had my Pac-Man met it's fate by my magnetic movement toward the fruit, when all I had to do was eat one more dot, and advance to the next level?

It's funny because it's a game, but all too often it's our downfall in the real world too.

Greed.

We seek more when what we have is sufficient.

The quest for one more is a dangerous quest because sooner or later we end up with more than we can handle.

Greed is an ugly sin too, because when greed comes to the surface in our lives, it reveals our heart to others.

Satan could have used any tactic to get to Adam and Eve in the garden, but he appealed to their greed.

Adam and Eve had it all.

They had everything they needed.

They were living the good life.

They didn't have to worry about bill collectors. When April rolled around in the Garden of Eden, they had no fear of the IRS.

They had it good!!

But Satan told Eve that he could give her more and just like Pac-Man, she went for the fruit.

The rest is history.

Satan chose to appeal to their greed because it's an innate characteristic....so it was easy.

Given enough time and a place where we think nobody can see us, and we will exhibit all kinds of greed, won't we?

The truth is that God's grace is sufficient for us.

We don't need anything above and beyond that, and when we start looking for more than we need, God is very good at teaching us that greed is not an attribute we should have.

He threw Adam and Eve out of paradise for it.

Allow God to be sufficient for you.

Just clear the level and forget about the fruit.

You will be glad you did.

7 Deadly sins (Pride)

Proverbs 16:18 - "Pride goes before destruction.."

Most people have a particular sin that continually trips them up.

For me, it's pride.

That's even tough for me to type. I don't get to watch much TV usually, but the other night I got to catch a show called "Bully Beatdown". It is basically a show about people who get bullied all the time and they bring the bully to this show to give them a taste of their own medicine. The Bully agrees to enter this cage with a professional MMA fighter in the hopes that they can survive the few rounds and win some money.

In the episode I watched, the fight was extremely one sided. The bully was just getting what we used to call back in the day, a "First class butt whoopin".

The professional fighter was just toying with the bully and basically kept closing the bully's windpipe, forcing the bully to "tap out" repeatedly. The host of the show kept asking the bully, "Do you want to quit now? Do you want to give up?", and the bully just kept coming back for more punishment.

He absolutely refused to just quit even though it was extremely apparent that he had no chance. In the second round the referee called the fight over.

Pride comes before the fall.

Pride is what got Satan thrown from the luxury of Heaven.

In my opinion, it is the most dangerous sin there is.

God says to humble yourself. Pride says, "God, get outta my face".

At least in my case, pride is attractive and something I tend to run towards because it feels good to get the credit and glory and recognition for something. That's the truth.

Maybe you struggle with pride like me. The following verse should make your knees buckle: Matthew 23:12 - But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

I don't know about you, but I do a fine job of humiliating myself, I really don't need God's help.

So it is my goal to be completely pride free.

You might be saying to yourself, "That is impossible".

But I would remind you as I remind myself what Paul said in Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Regardless of your struggle I hope this encourages you, that you too, can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.