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No Matter What It Is, Jesus Is Better

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The Empty Promise of Sin

So, you’ve sinned, again. Maybe it’s the reoccurring sin that fades away, or it’s the like the hydra that bites with another head. Perhaps your battle with sin this week has been painful.

We are not left without instruction. We are not left without good news. In this dry and weary wasteland, we need to be refreshed from God’s Word.

Contrary to what the world says, Christians are not those who forsake pleasure. Christians are those who seek a greater pleasure in seeing and savoring Jesus Christ.

When we sin, fall into the trap that sin is only pleasurable for a season, that sin is deceitful, and that the world and temptation offer only photocopies of joy.

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Sin is an empty joy; knowing Christ is a costly joy.

And as a Christian, we need to see temptation and sin rightly. Every temptation is not what it appears to be.

Sin always overpromises and underdelivers, so we need God’s grace to see the hook through Satan’s bait.

Jesus Is Better

The Bible cares about your desires and in your fight against the flesh, the world, and the devices of the devil. So, here is a list of what the Bible says is better — better than sin, better than lusts, better than the world’s appetites, better than Satan’s offers, and better than your own logic, thinking, hoping, dreaming, and our fleshly desires.

We need a renewed mind lest we be the fools of the world who ‘trusts in his own mind’ (Proverbs 28:26, ESV).

Beloved, you have a wonderful counselor, heed His instruction about what is better:

  • It is better to suffer for obedience to Christ, than for sin (1 Peter 3:17)
  • You have a better home in heaven than you have here lest you be covetous (Hebrews 11:16)
  • Your treasure is better and abiding in the heavenlies than what you will lose here (Hebrews 10:34)
  • To be with Christ is far better (Philippians 1:23)
  • Cutting and tearing out whatever we find precious that causes us to sin is better than losing our soul (Mark 9:43, 45, 47)
  • Better to be rebuked for our sin from a brother than quiet comfort (Proverbs 27:5)
  • “Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.” (Proverbs 15:16, ESV)
  • “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” (Psalm 119:72, ESV)
  • It is better to find our refuge in the Lord than in any ruler or power (Psalm 118:9)
  • It is better to trust in Christ than in any of man’s promises (Psalm 118:8)
  • Better is one day in the courts of Christ than a thousand days with all the lusts, pleasures, opportunities, and mountains of wealth at our disposal (Psalm 84:10)
  • The eternal covenant of God’s love in Christ toward me is better than life (Psalm 63:3)

Place these verses on your fridge. Put them in your car. Teach them to your children.

Related:
It's Time for Thinksgiving

No Matter What, Jesus Is Better Article; What the Bible Says Is Better Than Sin

Take the truth of what is better to temptation, to the office, into suffering, to counseling, to your preaching, to your thinking, and to your living.

There is more joy in holiness than in every sin under the sun.

Jesus is better.

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Cale is the pastor of Union Baptist Church in Orrick, MO. He is married to his wife Kelly and they have two children (third on the way!). Cale will be graduating with a Masters degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary this Fall and Spring 2023.
Cale is the pastor of Union Baptist Church in Orrick, MO. He is married to his wife Kelly and they have two children (third on the way!). Cale will be graduating with a Masters degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary this Fall and Spring 2023.




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