My heart is heavy. How have we gotten here? To this place of justified disobedience? Where we truly believe that God is OKAY with our sin? He's OKAY with our disobedience? He's OKAY with our ignorance of who He is and what He does require from His children? Since when did God start giving us a standing ovation because we decided to stop "MAJORING IN THE MINORS OF SIN" ? Where does this thought process even come from in a believer? SINCE WHEN did ANY SIN become MINOR?
As I sit here and read quotes and statements and blogs from fellow believers my emotions well up and my heart becomes heavy for my brothers and sisters in Christ. And it's not just what I read but also what I see with my own eyes that tells me that even though I know that they WANT to live a life that pleases God, some have fallen into the enemy's trap of believing in less than what God is telling them.
I believe that the enemy has been working in our churches for a very long time. We've grown up in it. We have centered everything that we talk about today around God's love, and even though that is how it should be, the problem is we have a very skewed version of what God's love actually is. God's love isn't some hippie kind of love that says "it doesn't matter", "whatever goes", "it's all good". God's love is what keeps us from going to Hell. God's love is what brought Jesus to the cross to pay for our sins. Jesus did not die on the cross so that we could continue in our sin with no consequence...why do we think this? Jesus died so that we can OVERCOME sin and become His RIGHTEOUSNESS. Sin is not righteousness. There are SO MANY verses that God tells us to turn away from sin, to not sin, to be spotless, to be blameless, without blemish, to do what is holy and acceptable, to walk in righteousness, ect. There are no verses that I have ever found that tell me that God is okay with my sin, that there are different levels of sin, that I shouldn't major in the minors...?
When did God let us know that our lives are no one else's business? When did He inform us that we are only to live for ourselves and do whatever makes us happy? When did we become so self-righteous that we believe that we can sin and it's no big deal? I find it strange that we are so quick to lash out at people that strive to live a holy life and we call them prideful, and arrogant, and self-righteous. Why? Is it because we really believe that they are simply taking God too seriously? That it is so radical for them to bring Him into every aspect of their life and base every decision on whether it is God's absolute best for them or not? Is it this radical belief that they do or don't do something not because they have a "right" to do whatever they want, but they make their choices based on what is the best way to love one another, by putting other people's best interests before their own? Is this really that radical or is it that this IS CHRISTIANITY and we've strayed so far away from it that it just seems radical?
"'I don't care what anybody thinks about me or how this looks', is an irresponsible Christian ethic." - Beth Moore
Maybe the crazy thing is that it is more prideful and arrogant and self-righteous... to live within our "rights" as "Christians", to cut God out of our daily decisions and believe that He is good with whatever we choose to do, to believe any cute phrase or saying about God as truth instead of making ourselves sit down with His Word and spend time talking with Him about our decisions, our opinions, our lives. How can we be content with knowing so very little about Him and feel good about it?
God is not okay with any form of disobedience from His children. He loves us unconditionally and He is able to forgive us IF we sin, BUT His desire for us is to walk in His grace and NOT sin. We were created solely for HIM. I'm afraid that we forget that sometimes, and that honestly what we want...doesn't really matter. And that's not cruel, that simply is the Truth. God created us for Himself. He has a beautiful plan for each one of us. Better than ANYTHING we could ever dream up for ourselves. The problem is, we are letting our selfishness get in the way of His design. He is PERFECT, but He WILL ALLOW us to mess things up. Our free will has no boundaries...unless we place them in the hands of the One who loves us most.
I am learning in my journey with my Lord, that only when I am striving daily to please my Jesus in every area of my life, that I am fulfilled. I am content. The Holy Spirit is always there to convict us or warn us if we get off track, and to give us complete peace when we are in the right place with our Lord... It's God's way of keeping us on the straight and narrow. But it will ALWAYS be up to us if we choose to ignore Him, or listen. Truth is Truth, we can believe the lies if we want to but in the end...we will face Truth as we look into the eyes of our King. I know that I will strive daily to be in right standing with my God, so that on that day... there won't be any shame, only love.
So please, brothers and sisters in Christ. STOP MAKING SIN OKAY. It's not. That is a lie from the pit of Hell and the people that we set this example for will suffer. God is not happy when we justify sin in ANY way. God tells us to "Aim for Perfection" so stop making the excuse that nobody's perfect so your sin, my sin, isn't that big of a deal. It is a big deal, it will separate us from God. No one is perfect until we are standing in Heaven, but it does not change the fact that God is REQUIRING His children to aim for it. He says if we abide in Him there is no unrighteousness. That does not mean that our sin just disappears, it means we no longer do it.
I know some of these thoughts may be hard to accept because we've grown up hearing differently but the Truth is...it doesn't matter what we grew up hearing. Not everything we've been taught, no matter what church background any of us are from...were from God. So before you brush this off and call me names... I challenge you... sit down with Jesus and ask Him to show you what you should believe. Look up scriptures and determine whether or not your opinions about how you should live is really how God wants you to live, or you've been straying off the path God has for you. And then decide if you REALLY want to be His or not. I've had to change quite a few beliefs in my life the last few years and it is hard to "unlearn" things that have formed who I am, BUT I would rather change my mind and live in obedience than continue down my own path and lose.
Praying whoever reads this, that you have the courage to be COMPLETELY HIS. :)
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