Posted on by Adam

The Spiritual Microscope.

The apostle Paul called himself the “worst of sinners.” I always wondered about that. I mean, this is the Apostle Paul! This is the guy that historically had the largest effect on Christianity, next to Jesus of course. If anyone has ever been CLOSE to God, its the Apostle Paul — yet he calls himself the WORST of sinners. Why?

I think back to 9th grade Biology class. One of my favorite things was working with a microscope in the labs. Maybe I’m a geek – but I still remember the time I looked at a celery cell. The microscope had three different lenses that increased in power. With the first lens, we could see a large group of the individual cells. When we turned up the power to the second lens, we could see three or four cells, and some of the stuff on the inside. When we turned up the power to the highest level, we could see the details of one individual cell. We could see the mitochondria, the lysosome, cell wall, everything (I didn’t even google that stuff, I still remember it!).

When we get close to God, its like we turn up the power on the spiritual microscope and we can see what we couldn’t see before. I think the closer we get to God, the more we see our own sin. This happens to me, but it also explains why the Apostle Paul called himself the WORST of sinners. It wasn’t that he sinned more than anyone else, it was that he could see better. It also indicates his humility.

Do you struggle with your sin? (That’s rhetorical!). My bet is that you say “yes, of course I struggle.” But please press further before simply passing this off as an irrelevant blog post:

Do you truly STRUGGLE with your sin or do you just feel bad about it?

That’s a really introspective question. Go ahead and think about it. No really – think about it. I’m going to wait.

.

.

.

I think most of the Christians in America, especially the Midwest region, just feel bad about their sin – they aren’t struggling – they are not OVERCOMERS. I think most Christians couldn’t make a list of the sins they are struggling with because they’re not struggling at all – they think they have everything under control but they don’t realize they have nothing. It’s not until they are close to God when they will see clearly through a higher powered lens in the spiritual microscope.

That is the description of the Church in Laodecia that is talked about in Revelation 3. The very nature of this sin is that you don’t realize there is even a problem… it’s a “slow and subtle fade” away from your relationship with Christ. It’s self-deception. I encourage you to ask God to show you if you fit into this “lukewarm Christianity” described in Revelation 3. I wrote more about it here.

3,868 Replies to “The Spiritual Microscope.”

  3. I would like to thnkx for the efforts you have put in writing this blog. I am hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a good example of it.

  6. Your style is really unique compared to other folks I’ve read stuff from. Thanks for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I’ll just bookmark this site.

  23. A fascinating discussion is worth comment. I do think that you ought to write more about this issue, it might not be a taboo matter but generally people do not talk about these topics. To the next! Kind regards!!

  29. I’d like to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this website. I’m hoping to see the same high-grade content from you later on as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own blog now 😉

  30. Your style is really unique compared to other people I’ve read stuff from. Many thanks for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess I’ll just book mark this web site.

  33. Howdy! I could have sworn Iíve been to this site before but after looking at a few of the posts I realized itís new to me. Anyhow, Iím certainly happy I found it and Iíll be bookmarking it and checking back regularly!

  34. I blog frequently and I genuinely thank you for your information. The article has truly peaked my interest. I’m going to take a note of your site and keep checking for new information about once per week. I opted in for your Feed as well.

  35. Howdy, There’s no doubt that your web site may be having web browser compatibility problems. When I take a look at your web site in Safari, it looks fine however, if opening in IE, it has some overlapping issues. I merely wanted to give you a quick heads up! Apart from that, fantastic site!

  39. Hi there! I could have sworn Iíve visited this blog before but after browsing through a few of the posts I realized itís new to me. Anyhow, Iím certainly delighted I came across it and Iíll be book-marking it and checking back regularly!

  40. Itís difficult to find knowledgeable people in this particular subject, however, you sound like you know what youíre talking about! Thanks

  41. I was very happy to uncover this great site. I need to to thank you for your time for this fantastic read!! I definitely enjoyed every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to see new information on your web site.

  45. An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a co-worker who was doing a little homework on this. And he actually ordered me breakfast because I found it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending the time to discuss this subject here on your blog.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *