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| “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him…” |
| —Psalm 103:13a |
Most of the time, we somewhat unconsciously sin. I’m not suggesting that we aren’t responsible for our sin. Quite to the contrary. I’m just quite certain that most of the time we sin rather casually and without much concern for what we are doing.
In contrast, at least in my own life, I find that not sinning takes a good deal of effort on my part. Yes, the Holy Spirit is right beside us to guide us away from sin and toward righteousness. He speaks to us through our conscience and nudges us in the right direction. But because our natural tendency is to sin, it takes decided effort to listen to the Holy Spirit and, more so, to obey His leading in our lives.
The Psalmist recognized the importance of consciously acknowledging God’s desire for us to strike out toward the righteous pathway. Please notice what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 103:13-18:
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
Because we “fear” God—that is because we have undiminished respect for Him—we receive His mercy, grace, and love. Our response should, therefore, be to redouble our efforts to listen carefully to the Holy Spirit and follow His leading when He tries to move us away from sin and toward righteousness.
It’s not that we want to become a “goodie-two-shoes.” No! We want to express our love for God because He first loved us and sent His Son, Jesus, to die in our place and pay the penalty for our sin.
We express our love through obedience to His will and to His Word. In so doing, we press forward along the path of righteousness that the Holy Spirit lays out before us.
We consciously choose to become more like Jesus and less like our own sinful selves. And that is most pleasing to our God.
