Theme: AWAKE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SIN NOT
Text: “Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people” – Proverbs 14:34.
Comment: Sin, otherwise called transgression, iniquity, etc, is of various types. And there are varying degrees of sin. Everyone knows the sin or sins that he commits. Isaiah, a Prophet of God, stated: “For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us: and as for our iniquities, we know them” – Isaiah 59:12.
Sin includes the following: murder (directly or through an agent); bribery, stealing of any type – be it “yahoo yahoo”, “419”, fraud, adultery, fornication, drunkenness, lie telling (religious or non-religious); witchcraft, wizardry, magic, occultism, consulting with evil spirits, fortune telling, effeminacy, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, pedophile, hatred, envy e.t.c. Let us examine our ways and learn not to lean on our own understanding. – 2 Corinthians 13:5; Proverbs 3:5-7.
God had purposed to destroy Nineveh, a great city of old, with over 120,000 inhabitants. They repented thoroughly at the preaching of Jonah and God forgave them their sins and spared the city. (Jonah 3, 4) Christ said: “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. ..- Matthew 12:41-42.
King Solomon declared “The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness” and “By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted.” – Proverbs 11:6,11.