Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Cor. 15:58

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Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Day 5: The "Levels" of Sin?

Romans 3:23-24~ For everyone has sinnned; we all fall short of God's glorious standards.  Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penality for our sins.

This goes along with what we talked about yesterday--All have sinned, so we best not judge.

But today's verse goes a bit farther.

Do you know the difference between big and little sin?

Yeah, of course, that is a trick question.  To God-- all sins are equal.  Murders are no better/worse than liars.  Adulterers lumped with prideful people....

I don't know about you, but that's hard for me to swallow.

I, with my little white lies (at times), am no better than a cold, hearted murderer in God's eyes.

Well, Kelly!  I thought these were supposed to be UPLIFTING!  That's pretty depressing! (I love how I can read your mind....)

It IS uplifting.... Read on!

God doesn't catagorize sin like human's do.  He used Saul-- a murder-- to become a leader for Him-- to bring people to Him.  What would have happened to Saul, to those Gentiles, to the Bible, to us,  if God hadn't forgiven Saul his sins?

Saul was the worst of the worst (a man who killed in the name of 'God')-- but became Paul, the best of the best.

All sins are equal in God's eyes, that true... but the good in that is that all forgiveness is equal as well!  We don't have to sacrifice a dove for lying and a hundred bulls for murder. Jesus died and came back for ALL sins.  "BIG and small"-- you just have to ask.

See, I told you it was uplifting!!!! 

Thank you, Lord, for forgiving my sins. 

God bless you :)

Kelly

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Day 4: "I Will Blot Out Your Sins"

Isaiah 43:25-- I, yes, I alone will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.

This... (an elephant)


is God's mind when you haven't asked him to forgive your sins.  God has the memory of an elephant.

This... (a piece of paper)

is God's mind when you ask him to forgive you sins...

See the difference?

Who among us has never sinned? (yes, that is a rhetorical question).  Everyone (except Jesus) has sinned-- has some sort of past.  Now, some of our pasts are much different than others, but the point is that we all have 'something' there that we wish we didn't or that we are sorry for.  And, if you are like me, you can't forget it.

It's easy to get caught up in our past sins-- and even easier to get caught up with other's past sins! 

Oh--- yeap--- hitting my nerve there a bit....

Judging other is SO easy-- so.easy!  We all do it at one time or another whether we realize it or not.  Suzie from high school who was a major.. um... lets say 'popular' girl with the boys.... we remember.  Tom who used to pull our hair in gym.  Mr. Santo, the meanest boss ever!  (And yeah, those names are made up, and situations changed to fit everyone).  The point is that we ALL know something about other people, and it's hard not to judge them by their past sins.

I, personally, am very forgetful--Having kids will do that to you.  I have had to resort so something called a 'Homemaking binder' which I LOVE!  I won't get into details, but basically I use it so I won't forget important dates, appointment, bills, etc-- because if I didn't have it, we might not have any electricity because I'd forget to pay the bill.

Basically, I have a horrible memory--- except when it comes to sin.  Sin, my own and others, tend to be easy to remember.  Quick, who won the Stanley Cup 6 years ago?  Um... I have no idea.  BUT: Which former Governor cheated on his well known wife resulting in a child that looks about like him?  Yeap, I can tell you that! 

God (thankfully) isn't like that.  Once you accept Jesus, you can ask God for forgiveness and

This (an elephant)

Turns to this (a piece of paper)

A new, fresh clean slate.

Your sin is GONE.  Forever Gone in God's mind.  Maybe not the world, but who cares what the world thinks? (easier said than done, I know). 

God forgets our sin when He forgives it.  We get a clean slate... a clean page every time we ask for forgiveness-- God's own dry erase marker board as it were.

God makes things SO easy--but we make them so hard.

We aren't God, but we do need to get in the habit of forgiving and forgetting.  The past needs to stay there.  How much happier would we all be if we left it there?

God bless you :)

Kelly