It's time to focus on our sin

My youngest daughter Lena is two and a half years old, and her favorite place this summer is ...the pantry. She brings me snacks to open all day long, and she loves that there's a shelf just her height! Summertime is the time for too many snacks, as we're all home all day long, a nice reprieve from the busy school year - but it does increase our grocery bill. One morning, she asked me if she could have a snack. It was 8:30am and she was already asking for a snack, like cookies, she suggested. :-) I told her she could have something healthy, such as a cheese stick or an applesauce. We had just eaten breakfast, and I knew that she was merely bored, not hungry! I heard her rummaging around in the pantry, and a few minutes later I heard a bag rip open and cookies poured into her plastic Minnie Mouse bowl. 

"It doesn't sound like applesauce in there!" I called to her. 

She started cracking up laughing as though she didn't realize that she had grabbed a bag of cookies, and said, "Oh, it's cookies!" The cookies just magically appeared into her bowl. What are the odds?

We both laughed, and then I proceeded to move the box of cookies to a shelf she cannot reach, so that the cookie battle won't last all summer long. 

Was she distracted and just accidentally grabbed the cookie bag (like she wanted me to believe), or did she deliberately choose the cookies, knowing that I had already said "no" to having cookies at 8:30am? (I think we all know that it was a deliberate choice of assuming mama wouldn't hear the cookies in the bowl.)  

In that moment, the Lord brought to mind how I can be just like Lena in my approach to sin. Maybe you can relate to these tendencies. Oftentimes, we preach so much about how God's grace covers our offenses and how He forgets and forgives our sins, and while all of that is amazingly true, sometimes we don't focus on our sin enough. This practice can cause us to not view sin as evil and terrible and destructive as it truly is. So while I don't want us to dwell on sin or feel guilty or ashamed, I do think it's wise to consider the next few questions about how we can combat whatever entangles us.  

I was challenged to ask myself these questions, and I hope you will be encouraged to evaluate your own struggles in this area. Over the next few posts, I want to unpack some of these sinful motivations to uncover why we have these mindsets and how we can combat them with the Word of God. 

Why am I engaging in sinful habits, practices, behaviors, etc?

- Do I sin because I am too distracted by lesser things? What is stealing my time, attention, focus, talents, finances, etc. that cause me to prioritize anything other than stewarding my life and the things God has given me to further His kingdom, not my own little kingdom?

- Do I sin because I am deliberately making a choice to engage in what will bring me fleeting pleasure, even though I have studied the Word and experienced God's presence enough to know that there is fullness of joy in His presence, and emptiness and pain in the wake of deliberate sinful choices?

- Do I sin because I am dulled to the severity of my sin? Do I actually believe my sinful choices of omission or commission are truly as offensive and evil as God's Word depicts, or do I make excuses because certain behaviors are culturally acceptable, even within the American church setting? 

- Do I sin because I deem my personality traits or "flaws" as good excuses to disobey in certain areas where I would be taken out of my comfort zone with obedience? Those tasks are for someone else, and I'll sit here with my introverted self who prefers to stay home rather than serve in hard places or engage in Gospel conversation that may be mocked or rejected. Ouch! 

Why does it matter?

As believers, we cannot sit complacently in our sinfulness when we are called to be holy as the Lord our God is holy. No matter what our particular sinful inclination is (distracted, deliberate, dull, or the excuse of personality type), we cannot stay in that state of mind. We must fight back because there is too much at stake in our Christian walk of sanctification, obedience, and ultimately spreading the Gospel message so others around us can have the same living hope - Jesus Christ! 

1 Peter 1:13-16 - "Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 

Where is our hope?

As we seek to root out the source of own personal sin struggles, Psalm 32 is a balm for the soul. This psalm of repentance is one that I cling to and read each evening before I lay my head down as a sweet reminder that confession, repentance, and forgiveness are fresh blessings that are offered to me every single day. God's mercies are new every morning, and no matter the current struggles that are entangling me, I am never too far from the mercy of our compassionate Father. 

Psalm 32 // Blessed Are the Forgiven // A Maskil of David.

   1 

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;  I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Always, Jacquelyn