POWER OUTAGE

Sin in a Christian’s life is a relationship destroyer

Light and darkness oppose each other, both in property and in function. For example, go into a dark room and flip the light switch. Out goes the darkness, and in comes the light. The light has expelled the darkness, exposing whatever had been in the dark.

The Bible says, “God’s light came into the world, but people loved darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil” (John 3:19 NLT). It goes on to say, “All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed” (John 3:20 NLT). But when an evil-doer welcomes the light of God into his or her life, the darkness of sin is dispelled. 

On the flip side, does darkness ever overcome light? The answer is yes: there are times when it does. Have you ever been in a lighted room during a storm, when all of a sudden, the light went out? That occurrence is usually referred to as power outage; something has interrupted the power source. “So, what happened?” you might wonder. Well, the power went out because the power flow has been interrupted by the storm.

In the spiritual world, sin is what interrupts the flow of God’s power in a Christian’s life. Sin interrupts our fellowship with God, resulting in fear, the lack of joy, and effectiveness in our Christian life. When Adam and Eve sinned, they became fearful and ashamed; they hid from God; their sin had put a separation between them and God. How sad! The solution, of course, is to go back to the Lord and confess, renounce the sin, and ask for restoration. The first couple never confessed their sin, but admitted guilt when God confronted them. Similarly, when the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, it is to time to come clean. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 NIV). Also, in Proverbs, we are warned, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). In addition to finding mercy, our prayers are answered. The Psalmist knew that very well, because he testifies, “Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer” (Psalm 66:16-19 NIV). It is a good practice to examine our hearts when things don’t seem to be going well, just to make sure we are not experiencing a power outage.

Sometimes, when power is restored after an outage, the power stays on for only a short time before it goes out again. We see that repeatedly in the history of the Israelis: they sinned, lost fellowship with God, they cried out to Him; He answered and restored them, only for the cycle to repeat itself. We need consistency in our walk with God to maintain an ongoing and uninterrupted relationship with Him.

Sin in a Christian’s life is a relationship destroyer; no matter how small or big the sin, because God judges sin wherever and whenever He finds it. Did you know one of God’s names is Jealous? Moses said to the Israelis, “Do not worship any other God, for the LORD whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14 NIV). God did not want any kind of sin to cause a power outage in our relationship with Him. This is why He hates sin, and sent Christ to be the substitution for us in the first place: to restore fellowship with us.

Since we’re made in God’s image, we possess His jealous nature, which helps us cherish and safeguard our relationship with Him. We need to be jealous enough to not allow anything to come between Him and us, or take His place in our lives. We need to hate anything that will cause a spiritual power outage in our relationship with God. The apostle Paul, in anguish over false apostles in the church of Corinth, wrote to them to express the same. “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him…” (2 Corinthians 11:2-3).

Any time we have a spiritual power outage, we can undoubtedly trace the root cause to some sin in our life. Let’s be on our guard, constantly, and be attentive to the Holy Spirit!