Pulling Away from God

Human beings seem to innately know that sinfulness and God's presence don't mix. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God's command, they instinctively attempted to hide themselves from His presence (Gen. 3:8). Satan tries to keep us away from God and sometimes he uses our own sense of guilt to accomplish this.

When Simon Peter was overwhelmed at the miraculous catch of fish orchestrated by Jesus he said, "go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man" (Luke 5:8). This week while studying some material on evangelism, the author I was reading made the point that Simon was convicted by his own sinful nature and he tried to pull away from Jesus. That is exactly what he did. When we become aware of our own sinfulness it makes us want to pull away from God, away from the church, and away from fellow believers. This is Satan's work. Satan's desire is to keep us sin-sick, guilt-ridden, and away from spiritual healing. Satan whispers in our ears, "they will be shocked at what you have done," "God won't accept you back this time," "keep it quiet and the guilt will soon go away." All of these are the devil's lies. Only the Light of God's presence can destroy the darkness of sin and its slavery over us. Jesus provides the only healing for spiritual sickness.

Sin is shameful. Sin is embarrassing. But sin is also Satan's tool of spiritual manipulation. Guilt is used by God for good to bring us to repentance and spiritual healing. But Satan can also use our guilt. He makes us want to hide from God and cover up our sin. If you feel like pulling away from God because of your sinfulness, you must resist this temptation from Satan. Jesus provides healing. The only way to destroy sin in your life and find healing to spiritual sickness is to "confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you might be healed" (James 5:16). Jesus, the great spiritual physician, can heal all diseases and bind up all your wounds.