(Clint Archer – The Cripplegate) “If you want to stop gossiping, then stop lingering at the water cooler, stop reading tabloids, stop being part of the grapevine, stop feeding your appetite for the scuttlebutt, stop soliciting “news” from the office gossip, and tell them that you are not interested in people’s personal lives.”
Instructions printed on products are quite often, well, instructional. After a nail-breaking, white-knuckled attempt at prying open the child-proof cap on a medicine bottle, I have meekly consulted the instructions on the label— push down, pinch sides, and twist anti-clockwise— and in an instant access was granted. That’s the point of the child-proof lid, to be complicated. But sometimes the instructions printed on products give the impression that the manufacturers think humans are really obtuse.
Here are some actual examples:
On an American Airlines packet of nuts: Instructions: open packet, eat nuts.
On Sainsbury’s peanuts: Warning: contains nuts.
On a hotel provided shower cap: Fits one head.
On Nytol sleep aid: Warning: may cause drowsiness.
On a bread pudding: Product will be hot after heating.
On Boot’s children’s cough medicine: Do not drive a car or operate machinery.
On a child’s superman costume: This garment does not enable the wearer to fly.
On a bar of Dial soap: Directions: Use like regular soap.
God’s word gives us instructions on how to stop sinning. It may seem obvious at first, and yet it is amazing how many times we need to be reminded.
3 Steps To Stop Sinning…
Disclaimer: You cannot stop sinning on your own. It’s theologically and practically and experientially impossible. You must have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you to free you from your bondage to sin, renewing your mind, convicting you of evil, granting you the fruit of self-control, and leading you into righteousness. So, only Christians can truly stop sinning and replace it with righteousness.
But Christianity is not about behavior modification, it’s about Christ. Changing your behavior is not the goal; pleasing your Savior is the goal. Changing your behavior will not earn you favor with God. Jesus earns that for you and gives it to you as a gift. But we still sin, and if you are a Christian, you don’t want to sin. So how do we go about stopping?