DIKKON EBERHART
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confined by the walls of our sin

2/16/2019

12 Comments

 
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​Dikkon Eberhart



My Kairos Prison Ministry brothers and I, who visit with inmates and have fellowship with them, have freedoms because we are on the outside that they do not have since they are on the inside.  But—just like them on the inside—we are confined by walls.  Just like them, we are confined by the walls of our sin. 

Yes, we can walk out our front doors, get in our cars, and drive up into the mountains in order to walk miles through a forest and listen to birds sing. They can’t do that.    

But I tell you, readers, we may drive back to our houses and park our cars and walk back in through our front doors and find ourselves confined by the walls of our sin. 

Inside our houses there may be relationship problems with our wives or our children that are persistent.  There may be a health problem that frightens us.  There may be a financial problem that wears us down.  There may be a work problem we have no knowledge how to fix.  There may be an addiction problem that forces us to act in a way that is disrespectful of God. 

Inside our houses, inside that wide world that appears to be open and free to us, we are confined by the walls of our sin. 
 
WHY ARE WE CONFINED BY THE WALLS OF OUR SIN?

We Christians know that Satan exists.  He’s why we are confined by the walls of our sin.  Satan has existed since the Garden of Eden, and he will exist until he is thrown down in fire by Jesus at the end of the world.  His purpose is to create pain and discord and hatred—and then, having been successful, to create even more pain and discord and hatred—among all of the people. 

Ultimately he seeks to overthrow God Himself.  He wants to BE God. 

He cannot overthrow God because God wins.  He cannot BE God because God already IS…and because God wins.  But in the meantime, Satan can make us writhe with pain and misery and make us blast out at one another in sin-filled ways. 
 

Satan’s power is formidable.  But ultimately he is a loser. 

All he can provide is hatred and fear and pain.  Hatred and fear and pain LOSE in the face of what the Christian Trinity provides, which is love and forgiveness and peace. 
So why are we confined by the walls of our sin?
 

Because there is—and there will be—a struggle within us to do good when we are enticed by Satan to do bad. 

Until we find salvation in Christ Jesus, we feel an URGENCY to do bad.  It is an URGENCY to hurt—either other people, or ourselves, or God Himself.  When we do find salvation in Christ Jesus, immediately our URGENCY disappears. 
 
We still sin—I DO—but our URGENCY to sin disappears. 

We are still confined by the walls of our sin—but we are safer, as saved people, within those walls than we were before we were saved. 
 


12 Comments
floyd samons link
2/16/2019 02:17:40 pm

"Urgency to sin." Well said.

It's a complex issue; to be free and yet to be trapped by the weakness of the flesh.

True freedom is to be in Christ to be free of this, as Paul calls it, vile flesh.

Thanks for the thought provoking post, brother.

Reply
Dikkon
2/16/2019 08:55:46 pm

You're welcome about the post, Floyd.

Do you feel you have an unshakable internal awareness of what it will be like to be in Heaven and to be free entirely of this struggle with being confined within the walls of our sin?

Scripture provides me with alluring pictures which are, of course, accurate theologically, and yet sometimes I feel I get more experiential and tonal sensation from passages in fiction.

Reply
floyd samons link
2/16/2019 09:17:29 pm

I'd say I have an unshakable belief that we will one day be perfect in Him, but I don't have that awareness of what it will be like to be in heaven.

I understand the feel and inspiration from fiction, but not probably as much as you. I think you're artistically and mentally far beyond my more simple thoughts.

But we both know that God can use anything in His creation to inspire and encourage. As they say, and here's proof of my simple roots, "Different bait for different fish!"

Doug McDaniel
2/16/2019 04:17:41 pm

John 3:30 That’s all I have to say on the issue.

But of course you nailed it brother.

Shalom!

PDoug

Reply
Dikkon
2/16/2019 09:03:54 pm

Dear Doug,

I like the succinctness of your John 3:30 response!

Thank you.

And may you and your family be blessed!

Reply
David Murphy
2/17/2019 05:05:50 pm

Dikkon, this is truth!
"But I tell you, readers, we may drive back to our houses and park our cars and walk back in through our front doors and find ourselves confined by the walls of our sin."
Freedom is found in truth. Sin hides from truth, and therefore, entraps!
Love you and your writing, my Friend!

Reply
Dikkon
2/17/2019 10:08:20 pm

Dear David--

Yes, freedom is found in truth, and, yes, sin hides from truth. So truth prevails. You have stated it, and it is true.

One of my sins is the sin of complication. I hate that sin!
I don't want to be confined by its wall!

Jesus speaks simply; I admire that.

Reply
Hazel Moon link
2/17/2019 09:04:45 pm

Sin does come in hideous forms even sins we are not calling them sins. Worry for instance when we are told by Jesus not to fret, be fearful or anxious and there we go. I am so happy you are able to encourage the brothers behind those stone walls and I know they look forward to your visits. Keep up the good work.

Reply
Dikkon
2/17/2019 10:12:33 pm

Thank you, Hazel! I'm grateful for your support. I feel your prayers buoying me--and my other Kairos brothers--up!

Yes, we do look forward to our visits. There's another reunion in early March, and the next Walk is in April. I'll talk more about the Walk when we get closer to it.

With blessings to you and yours!

Reply
Ed link
2/18/2019 02:03:05 pm

Whether it's inside our houses, or outside of them, I find that sin is still lurking.. ready to pounce on us at any time. That's why we, as Christians, need to be like watchmen at the wall... vigilant in all areas.
Ah... but to put that watchmen mode into practice... and keep it there.. That's the charm!

Reply
Dikkon
2/18/2019 09:51:10 pm

Hi Ed--

Yes, that's the..."charm," and you've expressed it charmingly!

May you be vigilant, Ed, and successful as a good watchman at the walls.

Blessings!

Reply
Betty Draper link
2/20/2019 05:02:17 pm

Seeing those living in remote primitive villages find Christ and watch those eye light up after they accept the truth of Jesus for themselves is to see them released from spiritual bondage. Oh they still live in a remote village, with out any modern things but no longer does the fear of the spirits of dead ancestors or the trees or the ground or the what ever will harm them is a sight to behold. but like all of us that sin nature still can have power if they walk away from truth, and some do. But here is the greatest truth of all, God never walks away from us, He waits like the prodigal son father did until the son was sick of himself to turn back . A lost person has nothing but sin to turn back to, a saved backslidden or what ever title they give a believer who has failed has the power of the Holy Spirit residing in him. And satan cannot separate that from the believer. That's where expecting truth is where to put hope. When our son was in the pig pen, we did not chase after him , we prayed for God to make him miserable by the power of the Spirit. This past Sunday morning in church there was a man that was a crying mess during the worship music service, my husband went over to sit by him, pray for him, sat with him the whole service. He was a former pastor, he was having a crisis of faith.
I tell you brother the older I get, the more heartache I have, the more I see the works of evil in my own life at times I long for heaven. Here I can only see through a glass darkly and to get freedom there is always a battle against truth, the devil does hate it. . Oh but there, there all darkness will be gone, no enemies, satan and the old nature gone, totally like Jesus, sinless. We will see the fulness of truth and there will be no battle against it, we will look truth face to face. Great post.

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