Birthdays and sin
Birthdays are emotionally distressing. People always give me books that I will never read. I'm beginning to freaking hate books. It wouldn't be so bad except that they write in the front so that it is impossible to return them. I'm left having to lug them around with me every time I move, two to five times a year. It's like carrying a freaking bag of bricks around.
A bag of bricks both in the physical and the spiritual sense. It's fairly obvious what I mean by a bag of bricks in the physical sense. It gets to the point where it's freaking ridiculous. I think I have a good-sized storage container's worth of books of which I have never cracked the cover -- and I never will.
The latest is entitled "Experiencing the Cross: Your Greatest Opportunity for Victory over Sin" by Henry Blackaby. Talk about a spiritual bag of bricks. This is the last book I need to read. Oh, alright. So "The DaVinci Code" might be worse. But honestly. I think I've had sufficient revelation about the topic of sin and there is no reason why it needs to be addressed in my life at this time. I am by no means saying that I'm perfect and sinless. I'm not. I just get it. Perhaps better than most people do. Perhaps better than even the author of this book does.
First off, the author clearly has issues with pride if he thinks his book is our "greatest opportunity" for anything. Perhaps he should take a look at his own advice.
And secondly, God is not a God of condemnation. I have no need and no desire to expose myself to teaching that belittles or condemns that human condition. God certainly doesn't behave toward or think about us in the way that most Christians think He does. My God is full of mercy and abounding in love. Yes, it's true that He will not tolerate sin for any reason. But He knows that we aren't little Gods and He is not surprised when we sin. This is not to say that sin is not an issue. It is. But what no one seems to get is that God doesn't beat us over the head when we're naughty -- and neither should we. We need to realize that we have a sin nature and that we will never measure up to His standards by our own good works. But we should not glorify our sin nature by giving it undue attention. Don't go around calling yourself a sinner all the time. Sinners are like actors. Actors put every drop of energy they possess into becoming the best actor they can be. Likewise, sinners put every drop of energy into being the best sinner they can be. Sinners are people who have not repented of their sins and refuse to live for His glory alone. It's not being human that makes one a sinner (although either way, the sin nature still exists). What makes someone a sinner is his or her refusal to acknowledge God's gift of Salvation and refusal to follow Him. When we accept both, then the title of sinner is removed. The sin nature still stays -- it is inevitable that we will sin. But we are no longer under condemnation.
As far as I'm concerned, the "greatest opportunity for victory over sin" is to quit condemning ourselves. God, who is holy and the only one who can really condemn anyone anyway, doesn't. So why should we? By condemning ourselves, we're being more "holy" than God, and that don't cut the mustard. When we go around thinking we have to be perfect in everything we do and never sin (although that would be wonderful and very honoring to God, it is ridiculous to even think that's possible), we're only setting ourselves up for failure. Don't make sin a non-issue. Do confess it and be sorry when it happens. But don't expect yourself to be perfect. Don't beat yourself over the head about it. When we expect ourselves to be perfect, we're putting unreasonably high standards on ourselves. We're bound to fail. We develop a psychological condition called "learned helplessness." We give up on our pursuit to please the Father because we always fail. Strive to live a holy life. But don't be surprised when you fail. It will happen. And when it does, go to the Father and repent. Ask Him to give you victory over the sin. He will. But it's a process. It goes by baby steps.
~MJ
A bag of bricks both in the physical and the spiritual sense. It's fairly obvious what I mean by a bag of bricks in the physical sense. It gets to the point where it's freaking ridiculous. I think I have a good-sized storage container's worth of books of which I have never cracked the cover -- and I never will.
The latest is entitled "Experiencing the Cross: Your Greatest Opportunity for Victory over Sin" by Henry Blackaby. Talk about a spiritual bag of bricks. This is the last book I need to read. Oh, alright. So "The DaVinci Code" might be worse. But honestly. I think I've had sufficient revelation about the topic of sin and there is no reason why it needs to be addressed in my life at this time. I am by no means saying that I'm perfect and sinless. I'm not. I just get it. Perhaps better than most people do. Perhaps better than even the author of this book does.
First off, the author clearly has issues with pride if he thinks his book is our "greatest opportunity" for anything. Perhaps he should take a look at his own advice.
And secondly, God is not a God of condemnation. I have no need and no desire to expose myself to teaching that belittles or condemns that human condition. God certainly doesn't behave toward or think about us in the way that most Christians think He does. My God is full of mercy and abounding in love. Yes, it's true that He will not tolerate sin for any reason. But He knows that we aren't little Gods and He is not surprised when we sin. This is not to say that sin is not an issue. It is. But what no one seems to get is that God doesn't beat us over the head when we're naughty -- and neither should we. We need to realize that we have a sin nature and that we will never measure up to His standards by our own good works. But we should not glorify our sin nature by giving it undue attention. Don't go around calling yourself a sinner all the time. Sinners are like actors. Actors put every drop of energy they possess into becoming the best actor they can be. Likewise, sinners put every drop of energy into being the best sinner they can be. Sinners are people who have not repented of their sins and refuse to live for His glory alone. It's not being human that makes one a sinner (although either way, the sin nature still exists). What makes someone a sinner is his or her refusal to acknowledge God's gift of Salvation and refusal to follow Him. When we accept both, then the title of sinner is removed. The sin nature still stays -- it is inevitable that we will sin. But we are no longer under condemnation.
As far as I'm concerned, the "greatest opportunity for victory over sin" is to quit condemning ourselves. God, who is holy and the only one who can really condemn anyone anyway, doesn't. So why should we? By condemning ourselves, we're being more "holy" than God, and that don't cut the mustard. When we go around thinking we have to be perfect in everything we do and never sin (although that would be wonderful and very honoring to God, it is ridiculous to even think that's possible), we're only setting ourselves up for failure. Don't make sin a non-issue. Do confess it and be sorry when it happens. But don't expect yourself to be perfect. Don't beat yourself over the head about it. When we expect ourselves to be perfect, we're putting unreasonably high standards on ourselves. We're bound to fail. We develop a psychological condition called "learned helplessness." We give up on our pursuit to please the Father because we always fail. Strive to live a holy life. But don't be surprised when you fail. It will happen. And when it does, go to the Father and repent. Ask Him to give you victory over the sin. He will. But it's a process. It goes by baby steps.
~MJ
posted by Mari Kate @ 10:03 PM
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