Christian Photographers Community

• Prayer and Praise     Thanks for visiting this area of our site to share prayer requests and items for praise!

Morning Devotional...


Degrees of Sin

"Jesus answered him, 'You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin'" (Jn. 19:11).

John 19:1-16


James 2:10 tells us that "whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it." In other words, if through our own efforts we expect to be accounted righteous in God's sight apart from Christ, then we must be perfectly obedient. To fail in one point is to fail utterly and completely, for our Creator's perfect holiness demands justice for even the slightest transgression. We need the righteousness of another to be put on our record because none of us has ever kept the standards of the Lord flawlessly. When we trust Christ alone, His record of perfection is imputed to us, and so we can enter into eternal life as those who have a record of obedience to the Father (2 Cor. 5:21). This is wholly by grace since Jesus credited our account with His obedience and we have done nothing to deserve it.

That one sin is enough to condemn us to hell, however, does not mean that all sins are evil to the same degree and that the consequences for our errors are all the same. God may condemn even the smallest sin, but the punishment of the "virtuous pagan" will be less severe in hell than the one who puts every immoral thought and desire into practice, because the scope of the former person's sins is not as large as the latter one's. To be sure, hell will be awful for both, but as one theologian has noted, all the sinners in hell would move heaven and earth if they could remove but one transgression from their record and have their punishment even barely alleviated.

Many portions of Scripture, including today's passage, tell us there are degrees of sin, guilt, and punishment. The Jewish authorities who turned Jesus over to Rome were guilty of a greater evil than Pilate was because they had greater access to God's revelation and had less reason for refusing to acknowledge Christ's identity (John 19:1–16). Punishments under the old covenant civil law were meted out according to the circumstances of the crime (for instance, see Ex. 21:28–32). Those who are ignorant of the Master's will receive fewer lashes in the end than those who know the Master's will and are disobedient (Luke 12:35–48). Note, however, that even though ignorance may alleviate the consequences for sin, it cannot excuse sin entirely. Our representative, Adam chose his path — apart from the knowledge of God — and we all follow suit. Thus, we are culpable for our ignorance (Rom. 1:18–32; 5:12–21).

Coram Deo

That there are degrees of punishment in hell according to the extent of one's sin means that there are also degrees of reward in heaven according to how we obey. Our obedience, to be sure, cannot earn eternal life, but once we are admitted into the kingdom by grace alone through faith alone, what we do in service to Christ earns for us, by His grace, rewards in heaven. Let us serve Him that our rewards might be even greater (1 Cor. 3:1–15).

Passages for Further Study

Exodus 21:12–14
Matthew 25:14–30




From Ligonier Ministries, the teaching fellowship of R.C. Sproul.http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/degrees-sin/

[attachimg=1]

Thanks, Buddy.  Makes one ponder about the depth and severity of a sin and the worth of our service to our Lord. 

Hi everyone on an overcast and cool Monday morning as we start into Christmas week.  Other than attending church yesterday we had a pretty uneventful day and I have no complaints about such days.  After church we stopped at Firehouse Subs and had lunch and it was good as usual.  The big activity for today is to attend my Monday noon meeting.  Following the meeting we are having a short visiting time around some finger foods.  So a little later this morning I must get to the grocery store so I have something to take and share.  I may try to wrap Pat's Christmas presents later today.  I did at least open up the shipping boxes yesterday and verified that I had gotten what I had ordered and all was well.

Jeanne, I like the way you have decorated your message box with the Christmas lights. 

Buddy, thanks for sharing those challenging Thoughts for this week. 

Thanks for the great devotional Buddy and reminding us that once we accept Christ that our battle has just begun. Not for our salvation but for those rewards. 

Hi everyone.  Wow what a rainy and windy night we had.  In looking at the rain gauge it appears we have had about 3 inches of rain since early evening last night.  For the first time in a long time I seem to be fighting either a lot of sinus problem or just an old fashioned cold.  So today will be a slow day and I plan on staying home and taking things easy and probably get some extra rest.  I sure didn't want to get up this morning.  I do want to try to get the packages wrapped and around the little tree before the day is out and that is my big goal for today. 

Hi everyone on another gloomy and rainy morning.  I am still battling this cold and just plan on staying home today.  I did get my Christmas wrapping of gifts completed yesterday so don't have a lot to do today. 

Larry:  I hope you are getting over your cold and sinus problems.  Always the holidays seem to be so busy and so many visitors - perhaps you have an allergy to all the scents.  We are both intolerant of perfume - and really wish church would be fragrance-free zone.

speaking of church - we went to a church service last night and disappointed that the "birth of Jesus" was not in the "sermon".  Wonderful speaker this young pastor - the music wasn't the old-fashioned Christmas but the choir is outstanding and they did have three great songs.  An hour and a half - all full of young people & the church is growing like crazy and they now intend to build three churches in Haiti and Mexico and I forget where else.  Amazing stuff - we really just want to retreat to a smaller and more quiet church but I will never leave the Bible Study for women.  Don can't hear a thing in there so even the Sunday School doesn't help him -or he misses so much.  What a quandary!  There has to be an answer.

Two of our grands are coming this afternoon to help us and play cribbage and they plan to stay overnight.  Not many 20 and 18 year olds spend time like this with grandparents.  We are so blessed.  Everyone is coming tomorrow afternoon. 

Back to kitchen work.  The turkey is baking now and I will carve it today - making room for the ham and the meatballs to cook tomorrow. 

Christmas greetings to everyone!  We drive out of her this weekend and hopefully have good roads.   

Hi everyone.  It is another cloudy morning and day predicted with perhaps a little more rain.  It is already up to 72 degrees and expected to go to 79 this afternoon. Still fighting this cold and can't get far from the tissue box.  I did get a good nights sleep.  We will not be attending the candle light service at our church tonight as I sure wouldn't want to share this cold with anyone.  Scott was over and had dinner with us last evening and will be back over tomorrow to have Christmas with Pat and I.  Pat has the food on hand for the Christmas dinner and will be preparing some of the dishes today. 

Carol, it is a tribute to you and Don that your two young grands want to come over and help you and then spend the night.  Too bad that Don can not hear in your church service as it sounds like you have a very active church.  I hope you will find the roads open and clear of any snow or ice on your trip back to Arizona. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

[attachimg=1]

Merry Christmas. 

Hi everyone on this first day after Christmas.  I think the back of my cold is broken as I slept very well last night, in fact I didn't get up until 9 am today which is not my pattern.  I sure feel much better today.  This will be a quiet day for us and I will watch some football games.  We did have a delicious lunch yesterday and had our gift exchange.  We have nothing that needs to be returned this year for which I am very thankful. 

Hi, friends,

While I'm thinking of it, Happy New Year to one and all, and may our Lord's blessings go with each of us throughout the year.

I'm sorry I've been away, but thankful to be back.

It's been good to learn of what's going on with each of you. Thank you for sharing with me.

May you receive an extra special blessing today.

Ruth Ann

Time to start a new week HERE