How are You? Does it Really Matter?
To be sinless is different from to sin less. Christians are not sinless individuals. They do, I hope sin less. There is a big difference when it comes to really following God. One for certain is the recognition of someone’s violation of the Word which is called sin that we try to water down and say, “My bad.”. To take responsibility for any actions done or motives fed that causes ourselves and others astray from the Truth is an act only truthful people can accept and do.
I have been walking with God for a couple of years now. There were times when I felt like I was not prideful (seriously?). Funny, I even verbalized it in one of our victory meetings. The point of the matter is, I didn’t recognize who I really was. I was blinded - so blinded that I was deceived by my own self-righteousness. As I rewind that time, I can’t help but to pray for myself intensely. I didn’t know what I was talking about.
Being with fellow Christians, as I observed, the individuals that I thought to be godly are the most broken when confronted by the sins in their lives. I believe that it is the working of the Holy Spirit in them that made them to be so broken that led them to confess before God.
What is confession? It is to speak the same thing which means that I don’t just say sorry, but I do agree with what the condition of my heart is. For example: “Yes, I burst in anger for a very small thing because my expectation was not met. I am in need of your grace to help me recognize that I am not in control of everything. Please search my heart and transform me." I doubt if someone will even dare to utter this if there is no true brokenness.
How then can it be possible for us to recognize that we do sin before God? There is a verse that states,
How can I hide something if I don’t even know what to hide or a better question is, what am I hiding in my heart? Because I believe that everyone agrees that the more we expose ourselves into something, we become the by-product of it. Do you agree?
It leads me to another question - How much time do we devote ourselves in the presence of God? I wonder how many of us - Christians spend so little time in our deep devotion (prayer, worship, study) of the Word that is made available within our reach. The enemy of our souls has no doubt to assume and even celebrate victory over us because we don’t have the power to say no to the lies and temptations offered before us. It is not just a foothold, yet we widely open the door for our defeat. Don’t we?
Let me share to you another interesting verse that says, “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone…” Temptation is not from God - so clear as crystal. Anything that opposes the standards of God is obviously not of God Himself. We have to put in mind - we, Christians have no unity with darkness and sin.
Do you still remember the time when Jesus was tempted by the Devil? He was tempted, so to be tempted is not a sin, but to give in to temptation is. Think about this, out of nowhere, there is a deadly snake that entered your room. Are you going to play around it? Are you going to reason out with it, or you would rather flee for your life? Sometimes, what we do is an apparent defeat. Why? Simply because we play with it. We meditate on it. We place ourselves in the environment where we are not supposed to be. It seems like we have amnesia every time we face the temptations that are hard to resist. So, it is the opportunity we allow sin to grab us quickly to cycles that leads to death (if we don't cease).
Christian, We are not sinless, but we sin less. Let’s build a stronghold that will protect us from giving in. Let’s value our devotion with God. Let’s fight for it and not easily trade it. Lastly, whenever the enemy will offer us counterfeit which is always counterfeit, be ready to recognize that our God is good. He has the best for us - reject to be deceived because sin is deadly and monstrous like the author of it.
I hope you are blessed. ^_^