The Spin on Sin

Last night I had a most cool opportunity to serve as the Public Information Officer for an emergency drill for the county I where I work.  As a PIO, my job was to deal with the media and get a message out to inform the citizens of the disaster, safety issues and rescue efforts.  My main focus was to get factual information out without creating a panic.  Tough stuff to do in a drill...even more difficult in the midst of a real disaster.  I could see how easy it would be to put a 'spin' on something in an effort think one was calming fears, or appearing to have it all together.

This got me to thinking about life as a believer.  Recently, I have become more and more convicted about what I shall coin the 'acceptable' sins that seem to erode the effectiveness of our testimonies.  The issues that we tend to gloss over because it isn't one of the 'big' sins listed in the Bible.  The sins we tend to put a 'spin' on to make them sound not quite so bad.  Yet, a simple study shows me just how out of whack that line of thinking is from a biblical standard.  In Proverbs 6:16-19, we are told there are seven things that the Lord hates.  As I peruse through that list, there are several on there that I know I have personally treated as not big deals...a 'white' lie here, a proud look there.  Oh, and sowing discord among the brethren... yep, my gossiping has certainly caused problems between other believers.  How easy it is to get sucked into the worldview (and, I believe mainstream religious view) of patting ourselves on the back because we haven't committed one of the big sins.  It seems we are in some kind of ranking system and assuring ourselves that we are doing ok, and quite possibly better than the person sitting next to us in the pew on Sunday.

But not according to His word. Galatians 6:7 says, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, so shall he reap." And verse 8 explains, "for he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption..." God takes sin seriously and He is not playing when he says we will reap what we have sown.  I am convinced that He expects me to be serious about calling out sin in my life and repenting of it.  That means I must walk away from it. And in His name and power, I have the capabilities of doing just that.

Just this past week I had coffee with my friend, Shannon, and I shared that I have been convicted about this.  I shared one particular issue that has been bugging me.  I will admit, it was hard confessing such a weak area of my life.  As I said to her, I am old enough that this ought not be an issue, yet it is.  There were two reasons for sharing with her: first, I know God's word in James 5:16 tells us to confess our faults one to another so that we can be prayed for and healed, and I know Shannon will do that for me.  Second, I wanted her to understand that even though I've known the Lord for a long time, I realize that I don't have it all together, that this is a lifelong process, and that the Lord is so gracious to use me in spite of my weaknesses. Oh the humbling of confession...and the peace of it as well.

Hugs ~

The Silver Lining

Ugh.  As I prepared to head to work this morning, I happened to look out the kitchen window only to notice that my sunroof on my car was completely opened.  Not a problem most days, but we had a heavy duty thunderstorm that started in the wee hours of the morning.  I raced out to close it to find a few inches of rain in the cup holders and everything else drenched. Great.  It has been a stress filled week and honestly, this did not help matters in the least. 

However, I am choosing to look at this as an opportunity.  First, I need to take a serious look at my schedule and eliminate some activity.  That window was left open because I was in too big of a hurry to get to the next thing last night after being late from the last thing I had to do.  Not a good way to live life.  Second, it's just a car.  Yes, I want to be a good steward of what I've been given, but it's just a car.  It will dry out, hopefully not have damage to deal with, and if not, well, it's just a car.  Third, I will have the chance to visit with my mom as she drives me to work, God bless her!  We don't get to do that often enough, so I will take advantage of it today!  Finally, it was a great added bonus to my reading this morning in 1 Corinthians 15-16.  The Lord wants me focused on the eternal, because that is what is important.  Who Jesus is, what He has done, and what He will do is truly what is important.  Not a car, or a delay in my schedule, or the annoyance of it all.  Jesus.

Thank you, Lord, for silver linings!

More Questions, Less Answers

1 Corinthians 8:2 ~ If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

This verse was my humble undoing this morning. I have found myself in week three already panicking over grades for graduate school.  I sat here at my desk this morning and poured out the ugliness of my heart attitude to Jesus.  I confessed that I had already broken my vow to myself to seek excellence, not perfection.  I want to truly LEARN, not go through the motions for the sake of a grade. I must be willing to humble myself and admit that I do not know.

The truth is, I am a recovering 'know it all'.  Now some may say that I haven't recovered enough, but that's a blog for another day. ;)  I was one of those who hated to ask a question for fear of looking stupid.  Little did I realize that by not asking, I confirmed that I was. A dear friend of mine, after assessing the downward spiral anothers life was taking, made a profound assessment: too many answers, not enough questions.  It perfectly described the situation.  Too many times, we believe we have correct answers, when in fact, we couldn't be farther from the truth.  Sad truth is, that could be said about portions of my life.

I see this in all stages of life.  Young adults who think that they are far brighter than anyone around them, middle-agers who think that because they've walked a few more miles that they have more  answers, elderly who think the other two groups are completely clueless.  However, the truth of this Scripture drills it down to this point...we ought to be asking far more questions than giving out answers.

Believers in Jesus Christ, this is especially true of us.  It's so easy when we get a bit of the Bible under us to get in over our heads with 'counseling' others.  We use lofty jargon or pat 'christianese' answers to address them. Sometimes we are guilty of beating others up carelessly with the Word, without giving a moment's thought to whether this really answers their need.  The verse today should remind us that we must be very careful with our words, understanding that we may (probably) don't know as much as we think we do.  I know I have been guilty of this so many times that it makes me cringe.  So thankful that He is changing me, little by little!

Heavenly Father, thank you for your not so gentle reminder today that knowledge puffs up.  Thank you for reminding me that I don't know nearly what I need to and that it is only by submitting to You and Your Word that I will really understand anything at all.  Please remind me daily to ask more questions than to give out answers.