Free Food Anyone?

Have you ever driven up to the drive through window of a fast food restaurant and been surprised by the fact that the person before you paid for your food? How delightful is that? To have someone pay for something you were going to have to pay for anyway is amazing. It's so nice that you may even want to pay for the person behind you.

Do you think anyone in this situation would say: 'I understand that my meal has already been paid for, but let me pay for it anyway.'?  Your probably thinking that would be a silly response. If it's already been taken care of then why in the world would you want to pay for it again? What's the use in wasting your money that way? It could go to something much better, like paying for the next person in line or something for a friend or loved one. Why bother paying for something that has already been paid for?

Your right, it is silly. So why as believers, when we mess up and sin do we insist on trying to 'pay' for our mistake? I find that often times when I make a mistake instead of accepting God's mercy and forgiveness for the situation I will instead waste time trying to make up for the sin. I may do it by spending the day angry at myself or by trying to be the best Christian I can that day, but all in all it seems that I am trying to pay for something that Jesus has already taken care of.

Why is it that as Christians we tend to get wrapped up the idea that our works will fix things? The bible tells us that we are not saved by works but by faith. If our works don’t fix the big issue then why do we so often try to use them to make up for our wrongs after we’ve already been forgiven?

We are not worthy, and the bible tells us that our righteousness is like filthy rags to God, but through His son he has made us righteous in Jesus. The author of Hebrews tells us that we can boldly approach the throne room of grace because of what Jesus has already done for us. And it is by faith that we are made righteous not works.

We've got to get it in our heads that God is no longer mad at us. All of God's anger was poured out on Jesus at the cross. He has reconciled himself to us, and our only job now is to be reconciled to Him. We don't have to work to gain that approval or recognition, we just simply have it because we are children of God. His love for us has no bounds and will not stop simply because we messed up, no matter how 'big' that mess up may seem.

Because of what Christ already did for us we have the freedom to realize our wrongdoing and repent of it, asking God in the process to give us the strength, wisdom, and conviction to make the right choice next time. We don't have to wallow in self-pity or try to make up for it with some kind of penance. We simply need to accept His forgiveness and move into a deeper relationship with God. We don’t have to spend the day worrying that God is mad at us because He’s not. He waits patiently for us to accept the forgiveness that Jesus already paid for and enter boldly into His throne room to draw closer. And as we draw closer to the Lord we become more like Jesus. As we become more like Jesus it becomes easier for us to live life according to how He lived it. Don’t stall the process by rejecting what Christ has already done. Don’t try to pay for what has already been paid for.

Think about the fast food analogy next time you feel like you have to make up for a sin and instead of choosing to waste time choose to enter into His presence and let His love remind you of who you are in Christ- an over comer. I dare you.

~Dawn 

Not Just Your Neighbor or Your Enemy For That Matter...

Isn’t it amazing how reading just a few Bible verses can wreck you? They can take your whole view on something and turn it upside down in seconds. I’ve been working my way through the book of Matthew lately and today in one of my classes we were told to do a devotional assignment, it didn’t matter what you read or how much just that you read something in the bible and then wrote down your thoughts on the passage. So naturally I chose to do the devotion on the next part in Matthew that I was going to read anyway.

Now usually when I read the Bible I tend to speed through passages I know really well because I think I know them and I want to get to a part that I’m not too familiar with. But do you know that sometimes God can teach you more with a story you’ve read a million times than with one you’ve never even laid eyes on? God threw me for a loop today as I read Matthew 5:43-48 it’s the passage in Matthew where Jesus is talking about loving your enemies. Now if you’ve been reading my blog for a while you’ll know that I’m doing something called the Love Challenge 2013 and I’m currently seeking after God and asking Him to teach me about love. And let me tell you, He’s already started the teaching.

I have always looked at this passage as simply love your enemies, nothing more and nothing less. But as I took a closer look at it today I began to see something different in this passage. Firstly it’s not only talking about loving your enemies but also blessing them, doing good to them and praying for them. Love is an all around thing, you can’t just say “I love you.” You have to act on it and follow through. You see love is a choice and it is shown not with words but by actions. You don’t just tell your boyfriend or girlfriend you love them, you do things for them to show it. You spend time with them, give them gifts, hold the door open for them, give them your attention and advice along with many other things. We are suppose to act this way with our enemies as well. We are called to care about those who are against us, who spit curses at us, throw us the finger, and cut us off on the road. We should pray for those who hate us, who’ve hurt us physically and emotionally, who’ve abused us and stolen from us. Jesus didn’t just say love enemies who’ve lied to you but don’t love that guy who took your life savings or stole your I-phone He said love your enemies that means all of them. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” We’ve all done wrong, the bible doesn’t say one sin is worse than another. But we are also told that God forgives all sins, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)  If we are to become more like Christ we must be able to forgive anyone of all things and love everyone just as God loves everyone.

God’s love is so great for everyone that He sent His son to die in order to was away all of our sins and allow us into His family. Once we’ve accepted Christ into our lives we start the process of becoming more like Him. This doesn’t just mean becoming nicer and always following the rules, but it really means that God wants to make us into His son. Jesus loved everyone, He came in order to give the hope of salvation to all the world. God’s heart is for people and as we get closer to God our hearts should begin to match His as well. This means we should have a heart for everyone. Jesus illustrates this in Mark 12:31 where He says, “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”  We are told to love everyone, the good and the bad, just like God does. Going back to my original passage in Matthew if you go on to read after Jesus tells us to love our enemies He says something else that I always took just to apply to enemies as well. Matthew 5:46-48 says, “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? ⁴⁸ Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Even lost people greet their friends and love others, we see it all the time, the good people. So what are we doing to stand out from the crowd? What are we doing to show that our God is real and that He loves everyone? Well Jesus just told us, love your enemies, but not just that love your neighbor. Now neighbor doesn’t just refer to the guy living next to you or the family who lives down the street from you but it means everyone. Why? Because God does, and we are God’s light to the world. How else will people see that we are different if we treat them like they treat everyone else? If we chew out the store clerk because they got our order wrong or if we cut people off on the road because we’re in a hurry and their just moving too slow we are acting just like the world. “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) We need to follow Jesus’ example and treat everyone the way we’d treat our best friend or our parents.

I’m not saying it will be easy, nope you don’t just wake up one day and say ‘I think I’m going to love everyone like their my best friend today’. It is a process. But we need to begin to do it, first in obedience to God’s word and then as you grow in God you will find that you’ve truly begun to care for the people of this world in the way God does, with love and compassion. If we can show this love not only in our actions but our prayers as well, then it will help to open people up to the thought of Christ. They will begin to see Him in us and a seed will be planted in their life that could someday grow into a relationship with the Lord. So go out and show the love of God today and see how they react. I dare you. 

More Verses to Consider:

John 3:16 

Romans 5:8

Ephesians 2:4-5

1 John 4:7-8

Job 34:19

Matthew 6:14-15

Acts 3:19

Ephesians 1:7

The Love Challenge 2013

I'm a sucker for romance, you name it books, movies, music I love it all. I'm not afraid to say that I know every word to One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful and Taylor Swift's Love Story or that I've seen Letters to Juliet at least 5 times. I'd like to think I'm not the only lover of romance out there, there are plenty of people I know personally (guys and girls) who love a good chick flick. So what am I getting at you might ask. Well next month is the month of love also known as February and God's been talking to me a lot about love lately.

You see, love is everywhere, or at least we think it is. The media has flooded us with untold numbers of chick flicks, romance novels, and mushy gushy songs, not to mention all the "What kind of Girlfriend are you? and What's Your Perfect Type?" quizzes that we find in magazines these days. We are overstimulated with the massive amounts of 'love' that's being pumped into our society. This has drastic effects on people as a whole. With every movie we watch and every book we read our view on love changes. We begin to have expectations of what love should and should not be. The problem now is that these expectations are false. Chick flicks give us a condensed version of love that takes us on an adventure from the chance meeting to falling for you then the big break up happens and finally we get a happy ending. That my friends is not how it is in real life. Some relationships don't work out, and others don't have a big break up caused by a bet both people in the relationship made for a job (hint hint, How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days). No they are far more complicated than that and the warped version of love the world is pouring into us has begun to change our mindsets. Don't you ever wonder why so many relationships fail and so many couples get divorced? I'd have to say a good deal of it has to do with our skewed vision on what love is. We have expectations of our relationships that just simply cannot be met and when they aren't things fall apart very quickly.

Lately God has began to show me all the places in my own life that I have these kind of preconceptions and I feel that He is asking me to dedicate February to allow Him to teach me what love is and all about it. Not only will I let Him teach me about love but I want to allow Him to take away the stereotypes that have built up in my mind. How am I going to do this? I am going to completely avoid watching romantic movies, reading chick lit, and listening to romantic songs. Basically I'm planning to remove myself from the realm of media induced romance. Now I'm not saying that I'm giving up personal relationships that would be silly. I am just trying to distance myself from anything that will influence my worldview of love.

I want to challenge each and everyone reading this to do the same. I believe that if you do then God will work greatly in your life over the month of February.  If you are thinking about doing this but still have questions check the Love Challenge 2013 page on this blog or click here. I have a summery of what I've written here, a list of do's and don'ts a list of frequently asked questions, (or questions I think may be frequently asked...) and a few other things. I'd love to hear from you if you decide to take the Love Challenge. If you have any stories about love and what God's doing for you from the challenge you want to share you can e-mail me at thelovechallange2013@hotmail.com and I will love to hear them! I'd also like to post them throughout February on the blog so if you want them posted just tell me and I'll put it up. I can do it anonymously or using any name you give me, whichever you wish.

I hope you all decide to take the Love Challenge this February and are greatly blessed for it!

God Bless!

The Moon Told Me So

So I know I've already written one post about Rise of the Guardians but the movie continues to inspire me. While watching the film for the second time I began to see Jack Frost as an example of a Christian. Allow me to explain.

 If you want to see this film please don't read this post until you've seen it, this post contains details about the main plot and resolution Thanks!

At the beginning of the film Jack Frost wakes up with amazing abilities and no memory. He didn't know anything except for his name given to him by the Man in the Moon. When God calls us into the ministry or sends us someplace He often only gives us part of the story. We may only know that He wants us there but we don't know why. We like Jack only know our name. But at the time that's all both Jack and we need to know. Just think, if God told everyone the exact plans he had for their lives how many people would turn and run from it, or how many would screw it all up trying to get there in a way that wasn't God's will? I can tell you that many people would do just that. Until a month before this last fall semester at CFNI started I wasn't ready to attend the school, but God got me to a place where I was able to say yes when the time came for Him to send me to there. God knows us better then we know ourselves and his timing is perfect when He decides to tell us the next step in His plan for us we just need to trust that He knows what He's doing. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

When God calls us to the ministry many of us may not want to do what God is calling us to. During Rise of the Guardians (ROTG) Jack is called to become a guardian of childhood. When he is Jack is steadfastly against this calling, he doesn't want to join the other guardians and give up the freedom that he has. He sees the job of a guardian as a bad thing. Through the film each of the other guardians explains to him their reasons for being one along with what they guard and eventually Jack finds his own reason to be a guardian. He remembers a time in his past, the time that led to him becoming Jack Frost, where he saved his little sister's life. This past event not only prepared him for the place in life the Man in the Moon called him to but  it proved to him when he looked back on it that he was truly a guardian. What things has God let you go through that's preparing or has prepared you for the plans He has for your life? Allow God to take you through trials and growing pains because they will help prepare you to be successful in your future. Look back on the things you've been through, the successes and lessons that came from them, and see that many of them will help encourage you in the future when you may be doubting you really are called by God.

There came a point in ROTG where Jack Frost's staff was broken in half in order to protect Baby Tooth, an innocent character. This was a great sacrifice for Jack because along with his name it was the only thing he'd had when he'd woken up alone. He believed the staff was his source of power. Sometimes doing what God's called us to do will seem like a sacrifice or even too hard at first. But we are doing it to further God's kingdom in some way to help free the captives from the enemy's snare and shine God's light to this dark world. Just think of all the people you could be affecting by speaking into one person's life. A friend told me today that, "We can't reach everyone but everyone can reach someone." This really spoke to me because it is so true, if we bring one person to Christ and that person brings another then we've touched two lives, even if we never know it. Jack sacrificed his most precious possession to save a life, we can give a little time or face a little rejection to obey Jesus.

At times you may think that you can't do what God has called you to do because you don't have a proper education or you haven't had enough experience. Many people don't feel qualified or worthy to do what God has called them for. When He has asked you to do something rest assured that He's already put inside of you what you need. One of my favorite sayings is, "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called." If we are willing to do what God has called us to do He will equip us. Moses tried to tell God that he wasn't qualified when God wanted him to go set God's people free. First he tried to tell God that no one would listen to him, and God told him that the rod he was carrying would be the instrument God was willing to use to show His power. After this Moses tries to reason with God again, this time by telling God that he isn't qualified in speech. In Exodus 4:10 Moses says, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since you have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." The Lord's response is to send a helper, Aaron, to work with Moses. God always has an answer for your excuse and He's not going to call you if He hasn't already prepared you.

Jack thought that his power came from his staff, but when it was broken and he was needed Jack found within himself the power he needed. It had been there all along placed there long ago by the Man in the Moon when he was re-born as Jack Frost. The staff was simply the instrument used to direct his power. When we are re-born in Christ the Holy Spirit enters us and we become the temple of God. And when we are baptized in His Holy spirit we are empowered to do what the Lord has called us to do. We have God inside of us, what more do we need to tell others about God or to follow His call? Degrees and experience are only tools that can help us in furthering the kingdom of God.

ROTG ends with Jack saying this, "My name is Jack Frost and I'm a guardian. How do I know this, because the moon told me so. So when the moon tells you something, listen." Jack started out knowing nothing, but when he accepted his calling he became the person he was always meant to be. He trusted in the wisdom of the one who made him just as we should trust in the One who created us. Follow God's calling in your life and trust in Him. The next time God tells you something, listen. I dare you.

More verses:
Psalm 32:8
Psalm 118:8
Proverbs 3:5-6
Proverbs 2:6-9
Proverbs 16:9
Isaiah 48:17
Philippians 2:13

 

Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Do you know what heartbreak feels like? I know weird question to start on, but trust me I’m going somewhere with this. I got a taste of heartbreak this last week. I spent a good deal of time crushing on this guy, and let me tell you I had fallen hard (you can ask any of my friends). There was no reason not to like this guy, lets call him Jeremy, he’s funny, good looking, nice, and to top it all off God gave me a dream about meeting him before I actually did. Perfect guy right? Well I thought so, but sometimes God has other plans. At the beginning of last week I noticed that Jeremy was spending a lot of time with a girl I hadn’t met yet. He was sitting with her, waiting for her, and when they were together they looked like the epitome of a couple. As most girls would be I was crushed. I cried a few times and prayed a lot trying to get over it and him. I felt betrayed and not a little bit hurt by the fact that he may or may not be dating this other girl. But God gave me peace about the subject and through it all I saw something amazing.

God is like me in this example. He chases after each and every one of us in the hopes that we will turn around and finally notice how much He loves us. He watches and waits day after day for us in hopes that we will finally get the hint and start spending time with Him. We are like Jeremy, totally clueless. We’re so focused on the things in our lives that we never look up to see our Creator standing there waiting on us. We miss all the times that He makes a special trip to be with us and we let those encounters go to waste.

Imagine how it feels to be so enamored with a person and they not even know you exist. Or worse, they know you but they don’t care to get to know you. That’s how God feels around most of us. Christians, and people alike were created by God to be His companions not to run around exalting ourselves all the time. We are fooled into focusing on the things of this world, even when we think we are doing them for God. He doesn’t want you to put on a show for Him; he’s not looking for that. And He’s not looking for someone who will spend all their time on ministry. Ministry is good and wonderful and we are called to do it, but what God really wants first and foremost in our lives is for us to spend time with Him. It’s as simple as that. He wants a relationship where you get to know Him and He gets to draw near to you.

Jesus is the ultimate example of this, He took time out to spend with His disciples before He died, not for any reason but to spend time with them. Then when He went to the garden He took them with Him so He would have companions while He spoke with the Father. Not only that but in the beginning God came and spent time in the garden with Adam and Eve every day, they walked together and talked together. God wouldn’t have put His plan of redemption into action if He wanted anything but a real relationship. He is God and could have easily wiped the slate clean and started again, but He loved us so much that He set in motion a plan to allow all of mankind to come back to Him in love. The bible says He calls us friend in John 15:15, “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” God wants to tell us things, and He is constantly showing things to those who seek after Him. In these revelations He is saying that we are His friends and He trusts us with this information. You trust your friends with your plans right? Well God does the same.

Like when Jeremy got a girlfriend and I felt like my heart was going to break God’s heart for you is broken when you run off to other lovers. He desires a steadfast, unwavering relationship with you and when you turn from Him he is saddened by it. Exodus 20:3 states it simply, “You shall have no other God’s before me.” One of God’s laws is to stay by Him and not waver in your worship. He is jealous for our love, “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2). He wants us all to Himself and not focused on the things of this world.  

God loves us and desires a relationship with us. He is always there waiting for us to come after Him and says so in Proverbs 8:17, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” So don’t be like Jeremy and miss the obvious signs then run off to find someone/something else. Seek after God with all your heart and see how much He loves you back. I dare you. 

More Verses:

Deuteronomy 7:7-8

John 1:12-13 1

John 4:19

Romans 5:8

Zephaniah 3:17

Deuteronomy 4:23-24

Childlike Faith

So the other day I went to see the new Dreamworks film Rise of the Guardians. It's a movie about 5 guardians of children; Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost. These guardians exist to protect the dreams, hope, memories, wonder, and fun in children. In the film there was one child who stuck out particularly to me, Jamie. He believed in the guardians all his life and even had an encounter with them at one point in the film. When everything seemed to be going wrong and all of his friends had stopped believing guess who still had faith? If you said Jamie you'd be right on, his faith in them was what kept the guardians from being defeated and even when his faith began to fail Jack Frost came through for him restoring his faith once again.

Jesus tells us in Luke 18:17, "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." Children are filled with faith and will believe in almost anything a trusted adult tells them. Their belief in people like Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy is proof of this. And when a child believes in something their faith is unwavering so much so that some get in fights over the existence of these figures. Our faith and trust in God should be like that of children, completely unwavering. We should stand up for God and our beliefs just as kids do when their told Santa isn't real. Even when everything around us seems to be falling apart and everyone in the world seems to believe something else we need to be like Jamie and believe, have faith, and stand up for our God and what He has done for us.

In taking another lesson from Jamie we should also let our encounters with Christ strengthen our faith in Him. Each new encounter with our God should serve to grow our relationship with him and solidify our trust. The more time we spend with Christ the better we get to know Him and the closer we are to Him. One encounter with his hero's allowed Jamie to have faith in the toughest of times, how much more will our continuous encounters with Christ keep us in trying times? When the trials of life get us down we must continue to trust in the Lord and just like how Jack came through for Jamie in the end God will always come through for us, its simply our job to have faith.

Children don't need to know how Santa manages to give gifts to every child in one night or how the Tooth Fairy always seems to know when you lost a tooth they just know that it happens. So why as Christians do we feel the need to question the bible? Why do we worry and fret over things like did Adam have a belly button? Or How old is the Earth exactly? Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't answer these questions but I am saying that we shouldn't let them shake our faith in God. We should accept the information and knowledge that God has provided us through His word and the revelation He gives us. God wants us to have faith in Him and that includes having faith in His word. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.", we should apply this to all aspects of life not only when we are asking God for a miracle or blessing but also when it comes to things in this world we may not fully understand. The bible also says in Hebrews 11:6, that "without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." In order to believe in God we must have faith and that faith should be as pure as the faith of a child and trust that the Lord will tell you what you need to know.

In my own personal life I'm starting to find myself moving into a purer and more childlike faith in Christ.  I often find myself wondering how people worry about things like denomination instead of working together to fulfill the work of Christ. I find myself enamored by the beauty of the sky and God's creation. I'm beginning to understand again how easy it is to simply believe. Begin asking God for the faith of a child and the blessings that come with it and see how He grows you. I dare you.

Walking the Walk

So while at work the other day I was moving some books onto a cart to get them ready to be shelved. While doing this I spotted a book about writing your own Christian wedding vows. Now this book caught my attention because lately a lot of people I know have either gotten engaged or are about to be married and whenever something is that prevalent in my life I tend to notice things that have to do with it. So I picked this book up and began to flip through it. The first thing I noticed was that someone had gone and filled their the blank lines provided for answers to the many questions in the book. At first I was irritated that someone had written in the book but then I decided to take a closer look at the answers, because truthfully I’m a sucker for romance and I was hoping for an interesting first meeting story.

Well the first meeting story was interesting, just not in the way I’d hoped. The woman who had written in the book described her first meeting as being wonderful, that he was funny, kind, and made great love. That last part stopped me in my tracks, wasn't this book suppose to be the complete Christian vow book? What happened to no sex before marriage? I looked through other passages in the book and sure enough they were filled with sexual reasons for loving him. I closed the book disappointed but then a thought struck me. What other things in our lives do we ‘cheat on’ like this? Which teachings of Jesus do we choose not to follow even though it’s obvious we should? And what affect does this have on both God’s image of us and the world’s image of God’s children?

The bible tells us that we are to be salt and light to this world. Jesus says in Matthew 5:13-14 “¹³ You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. ¹⁴ You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” So we are to be the flavoring of this world and a light to its people. Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 5:16, “¹⁶ Let your light so shine before me, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” We are suppose to follow His laws and do His works so that others may see the glory of God and come to know Him. In doing so they will in turn glorify the Lord. If we don’t do this then we are setting a bad example for others.

Christians are a walking example of our faith to others and people often only meet lukewarm Christians or people who profess to be believers but actually aren’t. These meetings turn people off of Jesus, because they see people who say they love God but then turn around and cuss out the lady in front of them in line at the supermarket. People who are not living for Jesus but say they are a follower of Him are making it harder for the word to go out. So what can we do to fix this? Well it’s simple, we need to start walking the walk as well as talking the talk. We need to get real in our walk with Jesus.

Christians need to let go of the idea that because God loves us and has forgiven our sins that its ok to sin. It is not and will never be ok to sin. God’s grace is much like a safety net there to catch us when we fall but it shouldn’t be abused. God forgives those with a repentive heart. He is not pleased with a, ‘Opps I’m really sorry God that I had sex with my neighbor last night’ then that person goes and does it again the next night, kind of heart. Luke 13:5 Jesus says, “I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" You might initially think dang that’s harsh, but it’s not really, Romans 12:2 tells us, “ ²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” If you love God and follow Him as a true believer then you’re naturally going to begin to change and have a repentive heart. If we are following God then we will turn away from the things of this world in pursuit of Godly things.

This thought process gets us into a lot of trouble, not only does it hurt our viewpoint with the world but it leads us away from Godly things and opens more doors in our life for us to walk away from God altogether. Someone who is constantly going out and sinning without repenting is wrong. Now I’m not saying that just because you repeat a sin your going to Hell. There is a difference between people who are struggling with a particular problem and people who are doing something just because they feel they can. We are not perfect and we will make mistakes in life but that doesn’t give us an excuse to kill someone.

The bible says that all sin is equal in God’s eyes. In Luke 13:1-5 Jesus says: 

“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

He tells us right here that none of these sins are greater than the other, so why in the world would we think that a little white lie won’t hurt? Or that taking a candy bar from a grocery store is ok because it only costs a dollar. Or that it is ok to look at soft porn because it’s not as bad as hard porn. See how even my examples seemed to escalate? Allowing ourselves one ‘small’ sin will only lead to worse ones in the future. Where do we get these thought processes and how have we as Christians let ourselves be convinced that a little sin here and there won’t hurt anyone? We need to start making an effort to chase after God and not the things of this world. The more we seek after God the more things will begin to fall into place in our lives and the easier it will be to keep ourselves from repeating the same mistakes over and over.

So at work the other day I hadn't gotten a wonderful love story but I had gotten something better, a revelation from God on the importance of walking the walk and talking the talk. Begin to start living real for God by following His commandments. Remember that yes God loves us but no its not ok to sin. And finally know that we are all examples for Christ so what kind of example are you going to set for others to see? Try it and find out I dare you.

More Verses to Consider:

Mark 9:50

James 4:8

James 2:10-11