It's Time....

It's time....

Time to go back to the basics

Time to trust in who I say I trust in

Time to cross the line all over again

Time to go all in

Time to surrender

Time to lay it all down at the feet of Jesus

For some time now, I have been taking advantage of God's mercy. Knowing that He will always love me no matter what, makes it a bit easier to mess up. I've kept this truth of God's mercy in my back pocket and have not made the best decisions at times. Interestingly enough, I stumbled upon this thought, or perhaps God gave me this thought, before service this morning. Today, the pastor was talking about how sometimes we abuse the freedom that God has given us. (Shout out to God: Thanks for the affirmation on this - got it.). And this is exactly where I find myself: guilty of abusing the freedom that Jesus gave us. Just like Paul writes to the Galatians, "For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature."

I am thankful that God extends new mercies to us every day and I am thankful that He has not and will not give up on me.

He's let me take my freedom and use it how I choose because that is who He is. Now I choose life, the life God has promised me.

"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying Him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life..." Deuteronomy 30: 19-20

I Wonder...

Stating the obvious here: Bruce Jenner is not perfect, no one is.

I wonder how many of us look closely at ourselves….how often do we take inventory of our own shortfalls and sins and call ourselves out, confess our sins to each other and to God (as the Bible says we should)? Truly repent and turn from that sin. A sin is a sin is a sin, right? It’s interesting to me that to us not all sins are equal; it appears that, for some reason, some attract more attention than others. Why is it that we are so quick to assess a sin of that of a public figure? Are we this quick when we ourselves sin or our own family and friends? I know that I'm not.

“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21)

I wonder how many of us go through on a daily basis one sin from the list above or have loved ones that do. And I wonder how many of us gently and humbly help those (or ourselves) who are overcome by some sin back onto the right path as we are ought to do? Why are always so quick to call out those in the public eye? And this is not about whether they are right or wrong; this is not about standing up for what you believe it. This, ironically, is what has been on my heart all year, sin; the act of sinning.

Truth be told, as a parent of two toddlers, outbursts of anger on my part, are more common than I'd like to admit. Selfish ambition - check, envy - check, jealousy - check....and the list above is not even all inclusive. I am self aware (sometimes), and all I can do is confess and trust that God knows my heart.

I wonder how often we apply the following verse in our life and to others in our life?

"Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same tempation yourself. Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important." (Galatians 6:1-3)

It's sad that we so often are not "quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry." (James 1:19).

It's sad that we so often pick and choose which parts of the Bible we like to apply in our lives and the lives of complete strangers such as Bruce Jenner.

Only scratching the surface here....