So, I definitely didn't expect another Facebook note to come in consecutive days, but God absolutely blasted me last night and I can't help but let my fingers rage across this keyboard in order to get this down.
Last night at halftime of the Eagles' game, me and 3 other friends decided to take a Sheetz run. We got our food and got back in the car. Just as we did that, a lady in a minivan pulls into the parking space beside us, almost hitting my car as she pulls in. She was probably about 55-65 years old with a cigarette in one hand and a little runt of a lap dog climbing all over her steering wheel. She motioned for my friend to roll down the passenger's side window, and she asked "are you all from Messiah??" Thinking she liked Messiah students (and 1 alumnus), we all said yes with smiles on our faces. She says "oh ok," and then pauses for a few seconds and says, "so which one of you jokers knocked down the cigarette dispenser by the door?" Now something you should know about me...I'm the son of a retired sheriff's deputy. My dad is a rather quiet man, but absolutely commands respect, and he'll show respect to people that also show him respect. I definitely inherit that from him...my friends may poke fun at me from time to time, but I don't tolerate being talked down to or being labelled as the typical "college kid". So when I heard "jokers", I could feel an inferno burning inside of me that had a strong possibility of coming out had my friends not been in the car with me (2 of them being ladies). So we exchanged a few words and she gave us a brief apology after she realized that it wasn't us. But I never officially got to say my peace, so with my temper still intact I ripped out of the parking lot with my friends in the car, saying a few words under my breath which weren't curses, but might as well have been with the angry thoughts I was having. Unacceptable.
On my ride home last night, God got to me. Our sermon in church yesterday was about guarding our thoughts and how our thoughts can be a sin against God if we're not keeping track of them. To quote the pastor, we don't think about thinking. This was based out of Philippians 4, focusing on verses 8-9, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." I considered this and realized that even though I may not have fully lost my temper, my thoughts against that lady were NOT God-honoring. If I truly claim to stand for God and strive to fulfill the mission given to me in Matthew 28, then I failed my mission miserably tonight because that lady saw no part of God in me. And at what cost? So that I could have the last word? If I truly thought of God first before myself, I could've got out of the car and picked up the cigarette dispenser in question. Think she would've saw God then? I certainly do.
God broke me. He tore down my walls tonight as I drove home, and I confessed my sin in the car and asked for God's forgiveness. And as the famous promise goes in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." But it wasn't enough to just confess my sins and act like everything was great and happy after that, I wanted my friends' forgiveness too, so I took a hard face of humility and apologized to each of them as well. I don't find it acceptable to give in to our sins the way that I did to that lady.
Which brings me to my point...why do we tolerate our sin? I'm sure most people that read this would say that I'm overreacting about the whole thing. I mean, really? Apologizing to my friends even though they probably moved on by now and probably didn't see anything I did wrong? I mean, it wasn't THAT bad, right? Well friends, yes it IS that bad. I'm hard on myself...I hold myself to a much higher standard than most people do, a standard that I believe God established. Consider the Ten Commandments...they're not called the Ten things-you-should-try-to-keep-as-best-as-you-can. They're called the Ten COMMANDMENTS. It's the Law...keep these commands or die. You can't just say "oops, I forgot about the Sabbath day. Oh well, I'll try again next week. Oh but that's not a good time for it...I have tons of work I need to get done." God wouldn't have commanded it if it wasn't meant to be kept. Yet we look at this one and consider it a lesser commandment. Now murder, that's a REALLY bad one...we should NEVER do that. Murder and rape is no worse than forgetting to keep your Sabbath day holy. If anything, forgetting the Sabbath is worse than murder (keeping the Sabbath holy is #4 on the list...murder is #6). Yet we tolerate this as if nothing's wrong. Why?
I spent a lot of time thinking about my future wife on my car ride home tonight. I thought about her in terms of my temper. I understand that she will have her own sins that she deals with and I will have mine. But why should she "settle" for that? I think of experiences I had with my past girlfriends, and I remember times where I would mess up on something and tell her that I'm sorry. A typical response is, "It's ok. I still love you despite what you did. It's no big deal." And this would bring a smile to my face, as I would think "WHEW! I'm glad that's over. She loves me...I don't have to do any more work." And with that I wouldn't change, I wouldn't work, and I'd end up sinning some time later. I don't think that's acceptable. My future wife deserves the absolute best from me every day, and that involves me not giving in to my temper or other sins. I don't want her to just "settle" for my shortcomings. I want to "wow" her daily by showing her that through my unwavering faith in God, I can overcome anything. THAT'S strength. THAT'S the honorable way. There's no reason she should deserve anything less from me. And neither should God.
There's another thing that's been bugging me recently, and that's how absolutely numb we've become to the gospel. If you weren't reading this I'd ask you to close your eyes, but just imagine this scenario. Imagine that you're face to face with a man in a ski mask pointing a pistol at your head. Obviously you're scared...you don't want to die. This guy is a madman, and he's getting ready to pull the trigger as you're begging for your life. Now imagine your best friend. Out of nowhere, your best friend, that guy/girl that you've grown up with and has been with you through thick and thin, pushes you out of the way as the man's bullet goes flying through their skull. Your absolute best friend saved your life, and now he/she is lying dead in a massive puddle of blood. I know this is graphic and something no one wants to think about, but if this actually happened, wouldn't that change your life forever? Wouldn't you always think about the sacrifice they made for you, and wouldn't you likely make a vow to never forget them and live on their behalf? It would absolutely destroy you inside. But there was a reason I made this graphic and painful to think about: THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. How many of us consider Jesus our best friend? How many of us thank Jesus daily for dying on the cross for our sins, and how many of us say it in a prayer in those exact nonchalant words? Let me hit you with a few facts. First of all, Jesus was a real man...as real as the person in the next room over from you. Second, Jesus lived his life for 30 some years, facing many of the same temptations we face in our lives, so He knows what we go through. Third, Jesus died what is arguably one of most gruesome deaths in all of history after living a completely sinless life. This man was whipped and had patches of skin taken clean off his body. This man had 5-inch thorns shoved into his skull. This man had his beard pulled out at the roots as he screamed one of the most agonizing screams in history. He died so severely because He loved us so much that He would face the fires of Hell on our behalf. Yet we stand in church and sing our "Jesus Loves Me" songs, and barely realize what Jesus truly did for us. And every time we sin, we spit in the face of the agonizing death He went through. "Thanks Jesus, that was cool of you to do and all. And my bad for yelling at that car that cut me off the other day...that probably wasn't nice of me." No, that wasn't just "cool of him to do". We can't afford to undermine what Jesus went through, nor should we. Yet we live our life as if Jesus never existed...as if a little bit of sin doesn't matter. So I pose my question again...WHY do we tolerate our sin????
Friends, dare to hold yourself to a higher standard. Every sin we commit spits in the face of the God that gave us life. Every sin we commit spits in the face of Jesus, the man who lived a perfect life and sacrificed his LIFE out of unconditional love for us. We don't deserve such love. But I know we're going still sin. We've lived in sin for so long, and in this world it's impossible to truly break free from it's bonds. Yet Jesus still volunteers His perfect help to us in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." With Jesus' help and love, we CAN break free from the bondage of sin. He calls us in Matthew 5:48 to "be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." We're not going to be perfect, but we must strive for this ideal in order to stay as far from sin as possible. Even in small amounts, sin is not to be tolerated. The only thing we should tolerate is the full passionate pursuit of the arms of the God that loves us. God doesn't tolerate sin...why should we?
Before I began this, I prayed that God would use this to change someone's life. Please don't consider this my note, but consider it the words that God gave me to write. If you find this to hit home for you, don't credit me...credit God. He's waiting with open arms for us to come to Him, so we have a choice to make. Either continue to live in our ignorantly blissful state of sin, or run to the loving arms of God. I pray you choose God.
Last night at halftime of the Eagles' game, me and 3 other friends decided to take a Sheetz run. We got our food and got back in the car. Just as we did that, a lady in a minivan pulls into the parking space beside us, almost hitting my car as she pulls in. She was probably about 55-65 years old with a cigarette in one hand and a little runt of a lap dog climbing all over her steering wheel. She motioned for my friend to roll down the passenger's side window, and she asked "are you all from Messiah??" Thinking she liked Messiah students (and 1 alumnus), we all said yes with smiles on our faces. She says "oh ok," and then pauses for a few seconds and says, "so which one of you jokers knocked down the cigarette dispenser by the door?" Now something you should know about me...I'm the son of a retired sheriff's deputy. My dad is a rather quiet man, but absolutely commands respect, and he'll show respect to people that also show him respect. I definitely inherit that from him...my friends may poke fun at me from time to time, but I don't tolerate being talked down to or being labelled as the typical "college kid". So when I heard "jokers", I could feel an inferno burning inside of me that had a strong possibility of coming out had my friends not been in the car with me (2 of them being ladies). So we exchanged a few words and she gave us a brief apology after she realized that it wasn't us. But I never officially got to say my peace, so with my temper still intact I ripped out of the parking lot with my friends in the car, saying a few words under my breath which weren't curses, but might as well have been with the angry thoughts I was having. Unacceptable.
On my ride home last night, God got to me. Our sermon in church yesterday was about guarding our thoughts and how our thoughts can be a sin against God if we're not keeping track of them. To quote the pastor, we don't think about thinking. This was based out of Philippians 4, focusing on verses 8-9, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." I considered this and realized that even though I may not have fully lost my temper, my thoughts against that lady were NOT God-honoring. If I truly claim to stand for God and strive to fulfill the mission given to me in Matthew 28, then I failed my mission miserably tonight because that lady saw no part of God in me. And at what cost? So that I could have the last word? If I truly thought of God first before myself, I could've got out of the car and picked up the cigarette dispenser in question. Think she would've saw God then? I certainly do.
God broke me. He tore down my walls tonight as I drove home, and I confessed my sin in the car and asked for God's forgiveness. And as the famous promise goes in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." But it wasn't enough to just confess my sins and act like everything was great and happy after that, I wanted my friends' forgiveness too, so I took a hard face of humility and apologized to each of them as well. I don't find it acceptable to give in to our sins the way that I did to that lady.
Which brings me to my point...why do we tolerate our sin? I'm sure most people that read this would say that I'm overreacting about the whole thing. I mean, really? Apologizing to my friends even though they probably moved on by now and probably didn't see anything I did wrong? I mean, it wasn't THAT bad, right? Well friends, yes it IS that bad. I'm hard on myself...I hold myself to a much higher standard than most people do, a standard that I believe God established. Consider the Ten Commandments...they're not called the Ten things-you-should-try-to-keep-as-best-as-you-can. They're called the Ten COMMANDMENTS. It's the Law...keep these commands or die. You can't just say "oops, I forgot about the Sabbath day. Oh well, I'll try again next week. Oh but that's not a good time for it...I have tons of work I need to get done." God wouldn't have commanded it if it wasn't meant to be kept. Yet we look at this one and consider it a lesser commandment. Now murder, that's a REALLY bad one...we should NEVER do that. Murder and rape is no worse than forgetting to keep your Sabbath day holy. If anything, forgetting the Sabbath is worse than murder (keeping the Sabbath holy is #4 on the list...murder is #6). Yet we tolerate this as if nothing's wrong. Why?
I spent a lot of time thinking about my future wife on my car ride home tonight. I thought about her in terms of my temper. I understand that she will have her own sins that she deals with and I will have mine. But why should she "settle" for that? I think of experiences I had with my past girlfriends, and I remember times where I would mess up on something and tell her that I'm sorry. A typical response is, "It's ok. I still love you despite what you did. It's no big deal." And this would bring a smile to my face, as I would think "WHEW! I'm glad that's over. She loves me...I don't have to do any more work." And with that I wouldn't change, I wouldn't work, and I'd end up sinning some time later. I don't think that's acceptable. My future wife deserves the absolute best from me every day, and that involves me not giving in to my temper or other sins. I don't want her to just "settle" for my shortcomings. I want to "wow" her daily by showing her that through my unwavering faith in God, I can overcome anything. THAT'S strength. THAT'S the honorable way. There's no reason she should deserve anything less from me. And neither should God.
There's another thing that's been bugging me recently, and that's how absolutely numb we've become to the gospel. If you weren't reading this I'd ask you to close your eyes, but just imagine this scenario. Imagine that you're face to face with a man in a ski mask pointing a pistol at your head. Obviously you're scared...you don't want to die. This guy is a madman, and he's getting ready to pull the trigger as you're begging for your life. Now imagine your best friend. Out of nowhere, your best friend, that guy/girl that you've grown up with and has been with you through thick and thin, pushes you out of the way as the man's bullet goes flying through their skull. Your absolute best friend saved your life, and now he/she is lying dead in a massive puddle of blood. I know this is graphic and something no one wants to think about, but if this actually happened, wouldn't that change your life forever? Wouldn't you always think about the sacrifice they made for you, and wouldn't you likely make a vow to never forget them and live on their behalf? It would absolutely destroy you inside. But there was a reason I made this graphic and painful to think about: THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. How many of us consider Jesus our best friend? How many of us thank Jesus daily for dying on the cross for our sins, and how many of us say it in a prayer in those exact nonchalant words? Let me hit you with a few facts. First of all, Jesus was a real man...as real as the person in the next room over from you. Second, Jesus lived his life for 30 some years, facing many of the same temptations we face in our lives, so He knows what we go through. Third, Jesus died what is arguably one of most gruesome deaths in all of history after living a completely sinless life. This man was whipped and had patches of skin taken clean off his body. This man had 5-inch thorns shoved into his skull. This man had his beard pulled out at the roots as he screamed one of the most agonizing screams in history. He died so severely because He loved us so much that He would face the fires of Hell on our behalf. Yet we stand in church and sing our "Jesus Loves Me" songs, and barely realize what Jesus truly did for us. And every time we sin, we spit in the face of the agonizing death He went through. "Thanks Jesus, that was cool of you to do and all. And my bad for yelling at that car that cut me off the other day...that probably wasn't nice of me." No, that wasn't just "cool of him to do". We can't afford to undermine what Jesus went through, nor should we. Yet we live our life as if Jesus never existed...as if a little bit of sin doesn't matter. So I pose my question again...WHY do we tolerate our sin????
Friends, dare to hold yourself to a higher standard. Every sin we commit spits in the face of the God that gave us life. Every sin we commit spits in the face of Jesus, the man who lived a perfect life and sacrificed his LIFE out of unconditional love for us. We don't deserve such love. But I know we're going still sin. We've lived in sin for so long, and in this world it's impossible to truly break free from it's bonds. Yet Jesus still volunteers His perfect help to us in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." With Jesus' help and love, we CAN break free from the bondage of sin. He calls us in Matthew 5:48 to "be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." We're not going to be perfect, but we must strive for this ideal in order to stay as far from sin as possible. Even in small amounts, sin is not to be tolerated. The only thing we should tolerate is the full passionate pursuit of the arms of the God that loves us. God doesn't tolerate sin...why should we?
Before I began this, I prayed that God would use this to change someone's life. Please don't consider this my note, but consider it the words that God gave me to write. If you find this to hit home for you, don't credit me...credit God. He's waiting with open arms for us to come to Him, so we have a choice to make. Either continue to live in our ignorantly blissful state of sin, or run to the loving arms of God. I pray you choose God.
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