I have been challenged in my faith many times over the course of my life,
I have stumbled, I have questioned, and I have grown through it all.
God has remained faith to me even when I haven't been.
I was in a discussion today with a man about sin.
We had differening opinions and what was and what wasn't a sin, without going into too much detail, I took a little more conservative approach while he went for more of a liberal standpoint.
He is a very intelligent man, well read and very quick and he brought up many reasonable questions, to which I had some replies, some opinions and some stock answers. All of which I trusted, few of which had been tried by fire.
He came then to the "7 Deadly Sins" and pointed to the fact that they are not addressed in the Bible.
Now I'll be the first to admit, though I am ashamed of it, I have not read my Bible cover to cover.
I trust in it, it's the Word of God.
That said, I couldn't tell you if they are or not.
However, he assured me they are not, we pressed on and he challenged me to explain how some of them were practical.
Practicality, it's a pretty broad term really. What is practical?
Is Pratical just another way to say easy.
We don't seem to like to do unpractical things, because it isn't normal, it takes us out of our comfort zone.
But is the call to act "Christ-like" an easy thing to pick up and run with?
We're called to set ourselves beyond reproach, not to be of this world, only in it.
Sin is of this world, it causes us to faulter. It causes us guilt and shame.
Guilt is a useless emotion, it's a tool for Satan and his minions.
We lose sight of God when we fall into sin, we turn a blind eye to the green pastures He offers us.
But The Lord is gracious and compassionate, He's slow to anger and rich in love and He constantly calls for us.
No man or woman is above sin, we all fall short, we all deal in sin, it is all around us, we sin constantly.
Yet does that give us an excuse not to fight?
Did Jesus ever say it was too hard?
We're called to be "Christ-like" people, it's not an easy call.
It's time to get off our high horses and crawl to the foot of the cross.
He will be waiting with open arms and a wash of forgiveness.
Grace, Peace and Blessings,
Brent
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Keeping You Updated On My Travels And Experiances On The Continent Of Africa
3 comments:
i have this feeling that you are going to a return a much more mature man.
just a hunch.
One can hope anyways ;)
Hey Brent,
Love reading about your experiences...sounds like you're having a impacting time.
I think a more important question than, "Are the seven deadly sins mentioned in the Bible?" is, "Am I supposed to be bringing a tent to Africa for you?"
Let me know
PS. all seven sins are clearly listed in the bible but they were not categorized as a special 'list of seven' until some time later.
Grace & Peace Brother
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