What a jarring question. As I was feeding my faith this past week, I heard Dr. Charles Stanley of In Touch Ministries say do you cherish your sin more than your relationship with God. I never heard it put that way. However, Psalm 67 says, “If I have cherished sin in my heart the Lord will not listen to me.”
How do you identify cherished sin? It is a sin that we justify in our life. Further, we protect and love this sin. Moreover, we can idolize this sin. Defending, hiding, and deliberately choosing this sin means we cherish it.
People are known to plan in secrecy for their sin. Self deception convinces them this sin makes them happy. For some it is a way of escape. They look forward to their sin.
Imagine praying to God and He does not hear you. That is devastating. The God of the universe is not hearing you when you pray because you have created this barrier between Him and you. God does not tolerate sin. He hates sin because it destroys us, His children.
Why would we want to create a barrier between God and us? It is one of Satan’s greatest deceptions. He deceives us to think it is okay for us to sin because Jesus died for our sins. Yes, Jesus died for our sin, but that does not give us freedom to sin. Jesus’ freedom gives us the strength through the Holy Spirit not to sin.
Temptations will come. Nevertheless, it is through Jesus’ power that helps us not to sin. We choose. The Bible says with EVERY temptation God will give us a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). That means we do not have to do it. We do not have to cherish the sin we are in. Otherwise, we put a barrier between God and us. It is how we block our blessings… Amen. Love & Blessings!