Recently I've been thinking about sin. I know, not the happiest of topics. I don't know about you, but I know that sin is something I do everyday. No matter how hard I try, I seem to do something (or many somethings) that I know God considers to be sinful, and I hate that. I wish and pray to live a perfect life, but no matter how much I WANT to be perfect, I'm not.
And it isn't only that, but there are times that I know I'm skirting the line. I see how close I can get without actually committing a sin. That is no way to live, really. It does not please God when I walk the line and say "Ok God, you say that you want at least 10% of my money in tithes, so I'm going to grudgingly give you EXACTLY 10% and not a penny more."
That is skirting the line, seeing just what I can get away with. We all do it, maybe in different areas. One area that is easy to point out is the area of sexuality. Lots of couples that are in love, heading toward marriage will do more than maybe they should, but won't exactly have sex, so it isn't spelled out in the Bible as sin, so it is ok. Or so they tell themselves.
Or people will speed or break other traffic laws. The Bible never says, "Thou shalt not speed" so it is ok. Or, we gossip--we couch it in a prayer request, but it is still gossip.
All of this is skirting the line. God does not call us to follow a bunch of random rules. That isn't what being a Christian is all about, yet it is what many of us have it. We are modern day Pharisees.
Christianity should be about worship. We live a certain way because we are thankful for salvation, we want our lives to bear evidence of how in awe we are that God chose to make a way for us, sinful, pitiful creatures that we are, to make it to Heaven for all eternity.
NO ONE deserves Heaven, yet we all have the opportunity to go. All we have to do is accept the gift. After that, the way we live our lives, the choices we make should be made out of a desire to bring glory to Holy God, to say "thank you for everything" and to show others just how wonderful it is to be in the family of God.
I can think of numerous times this week when I failed the Lord, when I made the decision to skirt the line, in lieu of making a wiser decision, a more holy decision. Those things I've had to confess and seek forgiveness for, and hopefully I'll learn from them and tomorrow my life will be a better reflection of Christ than it was today or yesterday.
God wants us to grow, to seek to learn from our mistakes. He wants us to want to be better. I think it is awesome that God is on my side, cheering me on, encouraging me to make holier choices. He is also there to teach me when I screw up, and yes there may be consequences, but there is always forgiveness. I just wish I didn't need it so much!
I don't live my life based on a bunch of prescribed rules, that would be a lifestyle of bondage. I have freedom in Christ. I live life based on the knowledge that God is holy, moral, just, loving, perfect, etc and I want to mimic that. I don't to be as much like my Heavenly Father, my ultimate Role Model as I can be. It is more fun to live a Christ pleasing life, than to follow the emptiness of other lifestyles. It is fun because doing the Christ pleasing thing comes with joy and not guilt.
Yet, I sometimes forget that, and that is when I fall into the trap of skirting the line and dipping myself into the pond of sin. No matter how often I fall, God is there picking me up. The Holy Spirit is whispering to me, "I'll help you Child, look toward me next time. Follow me, do as I do."
In Christ,
JLK
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